January 23 - Gummy

"Flattery is like chewing gum. Enjoy it but don't swallow it."

~ Hank Ketcham
(Cartoonist - Dennis the Menace)

Gummy was a piece of gum
Who came to life one day,
He thought that he would have some fun
And join in all the play.

But children laughed and jeered at him,
Those rotten little drips.
They picked up gummy where he stood
and bit off Gummy's lips.

He wanted just to make new friends,
But something broke inside him.
Gummy barred his teeth and screamed
Then grabbed the kids to bite 'em.

Now children all have disappeared,
And Gummy's craving meat.
So hide your kids and don't chew gum,
They say, "Revenge is sweet!"

December 27 - The Candy Cane Man

On the day after Christmas, in the dead of the night,
Make sure you're asleep, and your kids are tucked tight.
For tonight is the night of the midnight explorer,
Who goes house to house, a peppermint horror.
He's searching for those who have taken his young,
Wrapped them in plastic and decoratively hung.
Heed this warning, though it's no guarantee -
But make sure you've eaten the canes off the tree.
Throw them away, or do what you can,
To avoid the wrath of the Candy Cane Man.

This balloon was inspired by Alex Pardee, who posted another of his amazing monstrosities with an after-Christmas poem about "Fun Henry".  It's so good, you should go read it now: link.

It got me thinking of the nozzle-monster I made last year around this time, and I thought to recreate him with balloons and candy cane fingers.

I tried a few ways to get some snarly teeth, but eventually scrapped the idea because it kept creating too much separation between balloons.  Perhaps if I had drastically under-inflated the middle section ...

May 2 - Gall Biter

Galladnium Bitoris or "Gall Biter" is a predatory and parasitic worm.  Though practically blind, this jaundiced leech uses olfactory nerves at the tips of its appendages to sense infected and perforated gallbladders, a primary food source.

This was inspired by both Alex Pardee, who is just now recovering from gallbladder surgery (Gall Boy cannot be stopped!) and Zipper Von Don Groshong (zippertpaints) who offered a challenge based on the word "monster".

March 30 - Green Bottle Fly

Help me. Please... help me.

~ The Fly (1986)

Here is my next submission for the latest sketch4sketch challenge.  I tweaked a bit how the base structure was assembled and saw those as pincers of some insect.

The final result ended up looking like a fly, which prompted the final build using the metallic green.

I took some liberties when making the final build with the shape, changing the pincers to a sucker, and building the body in a way that would make the wings easier to attach.  I don't see it as cheating because the whole goal of the exercise is to inspire creativity.

One factoid jumped out when reading about the green bottle fly - their maggots prefer to consume dead tissue, and there was a time when they were sold as maggot therapy.   "The more you know!"

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Other balloon designs inspired by Alex Pardee:

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March 29 - Alligator With Finger Food

The most recent and last for a while episode of Alex Pardee's Sketch 4 Sketch show had this challenge, which was to draw something based on a sketch that he was using that evening.

There are some inherent difficulties in trying to build balloons vs. drawing a picture.  There are less liberties to take because balloons are (for the most part) three sizes of cylinders and some rounds, and yet it still has to look like a "something". 

Additionally, any pen work on a balloon does not look as well as it would on an image because it is difficult to give things a 3D look when a slight change in viewpoint will destroy the illusion.

However, there is one major advantage that modelling provides in an example like this.  I'm able to look at things from more that right-side up or down.  In this case I turned it to face the camera and saw a baby alligator.

When I built the first on the left, I wasn't content with the nostrils, nor the difficulty with positioning the body on the feet.   I built the one on the right but felt he needed something that I couldn't put my finger quite on (Dad jokes FTW!), so I added the hand-kabob.

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Other balloon designs inspired by Alex Pardee:

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March 22 - Bunnywith Human Feet

... And the LORD spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it."

~ Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Last night I only side-watched Sketch 4 Sketch while playing Sea of Thieves with some friends.  The challenge was to build your own Bunnywith. 

Bunnywith, like Butterboy is a character created by Alex Pardee's - he is a bunny with ... ?  Name it.  The more bizarre the better.  He has a book available for purchase on his website - (link).

I went with the idea rather than the design, my bunny doesn't look like his outside of the color.  I also initially built mine with arms, and it was only this afternoon when I really got a chance to listen to the stream that I heard Alex say that Bunnywith has no arms.  "You can put arms on it, but I won't like it." he said in jest -- but that's what I want most, so I'm not risking it! 

March 6 - The Unconscience

“Grandson, there are two wolves inside of you. One wolf is good and altruistic, generous and kind, and the other wolf is mean and greedy, violent and angry. The two wolves are in a constant fight within you.”
“But which one will win, grandpa?”
“The one which you feed.”

~ Cherokee Story of Two Wolves

Most of my inspiration of late has been coming from outside the balloon world, and today's sculpture is based on one of Alex Pardee's disturbing and amazing drawings.

Almost everyone is aware that they have a conscience, but few are aware of the Unconscience.  The Unconscience is the antithesis of your conscience, it is the voice whispering in your other ear;  indifferent, unethical, amoral, spiteful.

It's the voice that lumps everyone into a group and defines them based on fear and misunderstanding, so if you've ever referred to liberals as "libtards" or conservatives as "racist xenophobes" - if you post pro-gun propaganda in the wake of a school shooting, if you claim news and science are fake for disagreeing with your world view, these are all signs you are listening to your Unconscience.

So which one will you feed?

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Other balloon designs inspired by Alex Pardee:

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February 20 - Butterboy

butterboy: (n)- a living being who continues to thrive in the misery of the world, despite all outside forces causing their bodies to gradually melt every moment.  Butterboys are those who deal with it.

I have been drawing a lot of inspiration from watching Alex Pardee TwitchTV recently on his show "Sketch 4 Sketch".  It's not an instructional art show, it's more of a hangout and really just an exercise in his own creativity as he creates sketches from other people's drawings.  ... and it's become my weekly jam.

I usually twist balloons while watching, but this time he challenged us to make a butterboy.  The definition is above, but effectively is a little cube guy Alex would draw on other sketches that would help show perspective and give a sense of scale.  A number of people sketched theirs while watching and posted during the stream - I was inspired to join in.

I first built the giant cube guy - but felt his face was lost behind the structure.  I think the smaller works better for the form, but I have fallen in love with the pair of them together, butterboy and butterdad.

So here are my 4 sketch 4 sketches from sketch 4 sketch. 

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Other Dorb balloon designs:

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