F.A.Q.

Just the FAQS

What is the Daily Purple Pig?

This website was built as an attempt to both inspire and better myself as an artist.

I don't do balloon art professionally—many of the things I've learned I've only built once for my own amusement. This site gives me a place to try hard, make things look their best, and push myself without flooding my Facebook feed.

Are you for hire?

No. But I'm flattered. It's a soft "no"—I can be won over by a cause, I suppose. But I'm woke AF, so make it a good one. Also, I tend to spend 10x the hours I originally plan, so budget accordingly.

What do you build here?

Anything? I’ve accrued a ton of balloon designs from PDFs, DVDs, webinars, YouTube, conventions, and jam sessions. I have folders of inspiration images. I'm happy to make something cutesy, but I lean toward the weird stuff. Ugly balloons for terrible children—there has to be a market.

Do you have any rules?

No. And if I did, I’d break them. That said, I try to build things more than once, depending on complexity. And the purple pig must appear once in every post. I’ve let that one slide a bit...

What is the Purple Pig?

The Purple Pig is a holy relic, first exposed by the Balloon Blast Show. Like rubbing a Buddha belly or pulling the cord of Spongebob’s holy conch shell, a balloon artist of certain faith gives a squeeze at the start of a session for luck, squeeze-squeeze for inspiration, and squeeze-squeeze-squeeze-squeeze-squeeze-squeeze-squeeze when frustrated.

What is the Balloon Blast Show?

Balloon Blast is a YouTube show created by Scott Tripp, later joined by Sam Cremeens. Scott is one of the most creative and obsessed balloon nerds around. The show’s tagline is "Let's Improve our Art," and it includes all sorts of bizarre hijinks: Mentos & Diet Coke in a balloon, homemade latex, leftover nozzle creations—you name it.

Who would they be as Muppets?

Sam Cremeens would be Professor Honeydew. Scott Tripp would be Gonzo. There is no debate.

Am I a man, or am I a Muppet?

If I’m a man, then I’m a Muppet of a man.

Hey, your quotes are wrong!

Oh? I liked the way something sounded. I'm not trying to validate the authors stance on the cattle industry by quoting them. To that point, if someone was anti-trains but wrote a magical symphony, I would admire their artistry and have no idea or care or interest in what they thought about trains. I mean, what would someone who writes symphonies even know about trains anyways? It's like being interested in Picasso's flatware, an odd focus but ... okay? Anyways, I AM happy to make amendments to correct mis-quotes but apologize if any author is potentially toxic to you in particular.

What about AI?

I love it. But I have opinions ...

I read a post once about a Sales/Marketing Manager who put together a team building activity for his crew where everyone was to set up a society based on a few different creative conditions and come up with marketing strategies based on the evolution of that society. He was shocked when people finished so quickly because this was just step one in the process, they were all to discuss the various decisions that caused their strategy pivots, and to a team - each of them had ChatGPT generate the entire output, turning the fun exercise into a homework assignment. It was not creative, it was not a learning experience, it was a 'this party is ruined' kind of day for the team lead.

Similarly this blog is not for "generating cool images", it's a motivational tool and an exercise to try and become a better artist. Cheat on the homework for the classes you don't care about - I think that's what I'm saying.

What I DO use AI for nowdays is creating the background images. I used to scour the internet for images big enough and uncluttered enough to be a background, it's SO nice to be able to create something instead of hope and hunt. Also, original Purple is also a bit sun-bleached at this point, so I've used a couple saved images to have AI create various versions/bugs/doodads based on those.