June 23 - Minion

"Ba-nah-nah na-na-nana, Ba-nah-nah na-na-nana,
 Bananaaaaaahhhhh, Potato naaaaaaah ..."

 ~ Minions, Barbaranna (I'm guessing)

This Minion was one taught by the Balloon Brothers in their Geo Domes 2 tutorial series.  I thought making an evil minion would be a fun way to play with the idea.

This was probably more fun than I should admit to in coming up with an idea for a photo of these two together, and settled with a light BBQ roasting.

It feels at times a bit of a cheat to always go for the cyclops minion, but it's really perfect for this style.




(view other minion)

---

Other balloons like this:

September 26 - Smoosh Minions

So you call in your minions
And see what you can find
Night time or morning
These hands are sticky but I don't mind

~ Sinéad O'Connor ~ You Cause as Much Sorrow

This started as an attempt to recreate a minion that Scott Tripp posted to help showcase his Smoosh! video concept (link). I made the hair a bit short, and only the tiniest of tufts sticks up above.

I also found an image of John Justice's smoosh minion, he always has such a clean look and oftentimes he creations are full of great sharpie artwork. This one is no exception, I really like his two-eyed minion face, something I probably wouldn't have even hazarded attempting before seeing his example.

---

Other Smoosh:

---

Other balloon designs by Scott Tripp:

Show All

September 10 - Two Faced Minion

Gru: The 21... fart gun... salute!
Dr. Nefario: I counted 22.
Additional Minions: Hehehe.

~ Despicable Me 2 (2013)

This Two Faced Table Decor design is mainly based on the big center balloon - so as I was looking at my variety pack colors looking for inspiration on what to build next.  Yellow might have made a great Pikachu, but I went with this Minion instead.

Unlike Mike Wazowski, this eye was made in a more traditional manner because I wanted it thick enough to wrap the grey around for the rim of the goggles.

My "takeaway learning experience" for this one is that it's better to draw on the balloon before you assemble everything so you have more angles to draw from.

---

Other two-faced balloons:

Show All David Brenion Designs

December 2 - Santa Minion

I passed through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest, through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops, and then I walked through the Lincoln Tunnel.

~ Buddy the Elf Elf

I've had these balloons queued for a little waiting for this month. This is the last of the set of Minions from the Seasonal Help set by CJ Nelson. This series was a kickstarter bonus for supporting the website redesign, but they are also available for purchase directly from Twisters Cookbook (link).   I went ahead and made another to play with because I though Santa needed an elf.  The presents are a design by Dylan Gelinas

As with all of these minion designs - I think they look best with that giant single eye monocle.  I have successfully made a two eyed minion using a similar technique with a 360, but I'm not convinced it's worth the effort - on this big version the big gigantic monocle works so well.

His actual name is LLorafallyne, Guardian of the Sacred Hidden Glade of Tears.  For a couple months in winter he works a side job and goes by 'Jangles'.

Other posts with CJ's designs:


Show all

October 14 - Minion Frank

Love is the only thing that can save this poor creature, and I am going to convince him that he is loved even at the cost of my own life. No matter what you hear in there, no matter how cruelly I beg you, no matter how terribly I may scream, do not open this door or you will undo everything I have worked for. Do you understand? Do not open this door.

~ Dr. Frederick Frankenstein Young Frankenstein

Though CJ Nelson didn't actually teach this design in his Seasonal Help video download, he did show this as an image on one of the videos that I was able to copy.

I love the response these large sized minions get.  The gigantic head and big monocle really sell the design, and as a concept video CJ does a great job exploring so many potential ways of using the technique.  Using these techniques, I believe you could make a multitude, a mosaic myriad, a measurable multiple, a mix of many, a motley multiplex, a multifarious mingle, a miscellaneous mixed-up manifold of minions.

So here is Frankenstein Minion.  Frankenminion.... Frankinion?

buh-nahhhh-nuhhhhh?	Have to sit, I'm dead on my feet ...
I better bolt outta here ...

Other posts with CJ's designs:


Show all

October 5 - Vampire Minion

Scarlett Overkill: Work for me, and all this will be yours: respect, power...
Stuart the Minion: Banana!
Scarlett Overkill: ...Banana!

~ Despicable Me 2

CJ Nelson released his Minion Helper downloads as part of a Kickstarter to rejuvenate his Twisters Cookbook website.

I've built a number of these on this blog so far, but this one I've been saving for the right time of year. The form of each of his helpers are all slightly different, which is what I really love about concept videos. Exploring how you would build something from all different angles is such a help to the creative process. I am sure I could theme many minions (miniminions?) off of what he has shown.

This was the weekly balloon that I brought into the office.

Stack banana 'til de morning come, Daylight come and me wanna go home.	Blood Donation Drive at the office..
Peeling bananas and finding them empty ... except for two small puncture marks

Other posts with CJ's designs:


Show all

May 1 - Mini Yon

Bananaaaaaa..

"If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play."
  ~ John Cleese

Another entry in Christine Belcher's Twistina's Five Minute Balloon Delights Volume 4 is this minion. (called 'Mini Yon' to avoid the potential litigation I imagine :))

I've built minions before on the blog, but never so quickly.  The longest part of minion-making is typically the monocle, and Christine has a simple yet effective technique to crank these out.  First time I've ever made a two eyed minion!

BAA-NAnaaaaaaaaa	BANANAAAAAAA!
... and meeeeee!!!!

---

Other posts with Christina's designs:	Other Minionss:
Show all

March 14 - St. Patrick's Minion

“May you always have walls for the winds, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you, and all your heart might desire.” — Irish Blessing

CJ Nelson sent out this as one of the minion designs in his package for people who supported his Kickstarter project.  This one used a little bit of a different body shape than the traditional overall-wearing minion, but it seemed to make the head too wobbly, so I gimicked up a tighter shirt.

This photo shows a good example of the difference between the two primary vendor dark green color types.  The 646 balloon is Qualatex, whereas all the others are Betallatex.

Bana.. (hic)  Ban... Nabana!

I guess I'm the designated driver ...

---

Other posts with CJ's designs:	Other St. Patrick's Day designs:
Show all	All St. Patrick

January 8 - Minion

I figure that if I didn't do a plain vanilla (banana?) minion - I would never get around to it!  Here again is CJ Nelson's minion design from his Seasonal Helpers pre-release.  I tried a couple ideas with double eyes but didn't get anything I like as much as the monocle.

---

Other posts with CJ's designs:


Show all

January 7 - Evil Minion

Potato?

Evil Minion design by CJ Nelson (http://thetwisterscookbook.com/)

Another favorite from the recent Seasonal Help videos, an early release for kickstarter supporters.  I tried giving him knuckledragger arms which I will make sure to make extra soft next time so I don't have to fight so much to keep it from sproinging in the air!  I can't wait to build this again and really play... such a simple but effective design, after watching these videos I feel like I could make just about any style minion.

---

Other posts with CJ's designs:





Show all

January 6 - Minion-ette

Banana?

CJ Nelson (thetwisterscookbook.com) released instructions for how to make a few minion types to people who supported his Kickstarter project.  When I was looking up images for making the mouth art - I saw a picture of this guy and knew I had to try.  Now that I see the two side by side, I wish I had give her (his?) pony tails a better shaping and I now see that the flowers were buttons and not just a decoration.  Oh, and the thumb is sticking out wonky too.  grrr. 

---

Other posts with CJ's designs:





Show all