He just wanted to be the “cool neighbor” on Halloween — now, he’s squashing the competition.
A former mortgage broker became a professional pumpkin carver after his impressive artwork stunned friends and family, earning him an estimated $1 million over a decade.
When he was whittling pumpkin exteriors full time, California gourd artist Alex Wer was averaging 600 to 700 orders per year, he told the Daily Mail.
“Each carve takes about four to six hours, so I was working for 3,500 hours a year for 10 years,” said Wer, 56, who now splits his time as a Comic Con sales manager.
“I was making about $100,000 a year after expenses at the time.”
His creations, which cost at least $195 a pop, include notable mugs of the Joker, Spider-Man, Harry Potter, Yoda and Taylor Swift etched into the sides of seasonable faux gourds.
“My favorite design was for the movie ‘The Hobbit.’ I won an award in Hollywood for it,” said Wer, who touted his secret to success as “practice.”
He stumbled into his “Orange Empire” completely by accident after carving a pumpkin for his wife’s office’s open house in 2009.
His simple logo design gained enough traction to garner 35 orders.
“Not even knowing WHAT I was doing, The Pumpkin Geek was born!!!!” Wer, who goes by the moniker the Pumpkin Geek online, wrote on his website.
After starting his life over at just 50 years old, he told SFGate in 2017, he’s amassed a sizable clientele, many of whom “want another” carved squash after ordering their first — one fan even “built a shelf for his collection.”
The self-proclaimed comic book nerd never foresaw a future in art, but now he can’t imagine his life without his infamous pumpkin portraiture.
“Anything I see in my life now, I wonder how I could carve it,” Wer told SFGate. “I picture the world in orange.”
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