As Marc Maniac chisels the finishing touches onto a jack-o’-lantern’s grin, it’s easy to mistake the pumpkin carver for a surgeon. His eyes focus intently on the ridged gourd in front of him as his hands, clutching a linoleum cutter, make quick, sharp movements, hacking away at the pumpkin’s fleshy orange fruit.
Marc and his longtime pal Chris Maniac (born Marc Evan and Chris Soria, respectively), spend most months of the year painting separately as full-time artists. Both have successful careers — Chris specializes in murals, and Marc’s work has been featured in the Society of Illustrators’ Museum of American Illustration.
But come fall, the two set their brushes aside and pull out their carving tools.
When Marc and Chris met at age 12 growing up on Long Island, both were already in love with Halloween.
“I’ve got pictures of me from when I’m 9 years old, [carving] crazy Grim Reapers,” laughs Marc, 32.
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Throughout high school they developed a love of art, and while studying at Parsons they combined their two passions by carving elaborate pumpkins for display at local restaurants and bars, using an array of tools like clay loops and paring knives. They quickly became known for their etching and sculpting skills, playing with the way light hits angles to create the illusion of the pumpkin coming to life.
After seeing the duo’s newly launched Web site in 2008, Wired magazine reached out to them to create “Star Wars” pumpkins for an upcoming issue. The Yankees saw the Wired story and commissioned 50 pumpkins — brandishing the World Series logo — to be displayed in the stadium’s skyboxes for the 2009 series opener.
The Maniacs had just 36 hours to turn around the project, but thanks to some help from a few “elves” — the Maniacs occasionally bring in a rotating group of three or four art students as assistants to help with demand — the pair pulled it off.
Today, Maniac Pumpkins, based out of a pop-up studio steps away from the Barclays Center, creates one-of-a-kind pumpkin art for businesses and individuals alike. Chris and Marc spend an average of four hours on each pumpkin (though more detailed work can take up to eight hours) and charge between $150 and $500, depending on the intensity of the job.
With each of the two craftsmen taking a turn on Food Network’s reality competition “Halloween Wars” — Chris competed in the first season, Marc is on the current — requests for impeccable, over-the-top gourds are coming in like never before. In all, they will carve about 300 pumpkins this fall.
“Pumpkins are not just for Halloween, they’re in style for September, October and November,” says Chris, 33. As a result, the two need to begin carving earlier and earlier, with plans for the next season beginning in January. They’ve already got orders lined up for fall 2013 and 2014.
The Post stopped by the Maniacs’ studio to discover this year’s hottest trends on the pumpkin-carving scene. Take a look . . .
Branding
“We get tons of requests for logos,” says Marc. “Whether it’s their favorite sports team or their company, people love seeing their logo lit up in a glowing pumpkin.”
Marc says companies often come to them excited about breaking free from rigid branding rules come Halloween.
“When it comes to October, people feel like they can have a little more creativity and flexibility,” he says.
Requests for sports teams’ logos have been popular, thanks in part to the Maniacs’ working relationship with the Yankees. And right now, NFL pumpkins are especially popular.
“A lot of people want their local sports teams,” he adds. “We’ve been shipping pumpkins to San Francisco because the Giants are in the playoffs. Definitely the Yankees, as well. Not so much the Mets, unfortunately.”
Portraits
The customer’s not always right. While Chris and Marc are experts at creating portraits of real people, it can be risky business.
“We love doing portraits, but capturing a likeness is difficult to do, and it takes a long time,” Chris says. They work from photos the customers provide.
“We get so many requests where people are like, ‘I want a portrait of my mom, my dad and my spouse [together], and they send a blurry, old photograph with awful lighting and no contrast. It gets a little tricky,” Marc says. “People are very sensitive to portraits. You have to be careful to make sure the portrait’s flattering, and people don’t always send us flattering pictures.”
Case in point: One recent office wanted a portrait pumpkin of their boss.
“They said, ‘Here’s the photo, but we want you to make him look really creepy.’ And we didn’t have to do anything!” laughs Chris. “He was just a weird-looking dude. We were like, ‘Yeah, we can do that.’ ”
Lettering
“We’re doing a whole array of lettering and ornamental-type designs,” says Chris. “In addition to being able to render imagery, we have a great graphic sense. Really in-depth typography can make a beautiful pumpkin. Simple text in pumpkins can look so nice, and the carving can look really handsome.”
While the Maniacs frequently make greeting-card-style pumpkins with messages like “Congratulations!” or “Happy Birthday,” some of the most popular phrases requested are wedding-related.
“We get a lot of [requests for] ‘Just Married,’ ‘Will you marry me?,’ ‘Save the Date,’ ” Marc says. “The whole wedding industry has been big for us. It’s a beautiful time of year to get married.”
While simple words wouldn’t seem to create the most lavish of pumpkin art, Marc says it’s all about the attention to detail.
“Chris is like a computer when it comes to typography,” says Marc. “He just starts typing out and into the pumpkin.”
Sculpted
“There are really three different styles of pumpkin carving,” says Marc. “There’s the classic cut-out jack-o’-lantern style, which you can do some intricate stuff with. Then there’s the style that we are pretty well-known for, which is the etched style. It is making shallow cuts into the pumpkin and making different depths, allowing light to pass through.”
But where things really get crazy is when the Maniacs start to sculpt pumpkins, carving into them with a loop, a tool used to shape clay, without gutting the pumpkin or cutting all the way through its walls like people typically do at home.
Marc and Chris are among the leaders in pushing pumpkin boundaries, creating works of art you have to see to believe, from a sculpture of Yoda’s head to a very realistic baby alligator.
One downside to the sculpted style? “They don’t last as long,” says Marc. “But pumpkin carving is meant for the moment.”
PDA: pumpkin display of affection
Just like a pet, pumpkins require some TLC. The Maniacs say one of their creations can last between three days and three weeks, depending on the type of carving. Here’s how to make yours last:
1. Wash the pumpkin before carving: “A lot of people start carving straight from the field, but all the dirt from the farm is going to make the pumpkin decompose faster,” Marc says.
2. Spray the pumpkin with diluted lemon juice frequently while carving: “It helps with slowing oxidation and bacteria or mold growth.”
3. Rub the cut surfaces with vegetable oil or vaseline: “It’ll help lock in moisture.”
4. Once the pumpkin is carved, keep it somewhere cool and wrapped up if not on display: “You don’t want [unnecessary] air contact.”
gregorymiller@nypost.com