March 9 - Rolly Pollie Pigs

Always remember, a cat looks down on man, a dog looks up to man, but a pig will look man right in the eye and see his equal.

~ Winston Churchill

Alas, we have reached the end of the smorgasbord that was Rolly Pollies (for now). Dan Staples has a fantastic concept, great for line work and probably the best thing ever to practice your artwork on. Yes, you do need to have the Big Bear Heads - but it's worth it in my humble opinion. They are an unusual shape and entertaining, and you get a nice big fat body to work with.

I still want to explore long neck creatures and hunchback humans, so perhaps I might revisit these in the future, but I've already overrun my week - so that means it's time for the purple pig attempt. There was a pig design shared in the first downloadable, in Rolly Pollies 2, Lindsey showed how to "Pookify" this face to cute.

I used her eyes, but I wanted to play around with adding a raisin to the front lobe. It worked out pretty easily, I always had plenty of room.

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March 8 - Rolly Pollie Extras

However much you know giraffes, to see one in the wild for the first time feels prehistoric.

~ Jane Goodall

Just a couple more to explore with Dan Staples Rolly Pollie balloon concept.

It's very easy to use the regular balloons from my pile of extras - but difficult to remember/use the random shapes/prints, so it was great to pull aside all these remaining Big Bear Heads to try and make "something" with. The process was simply - grab color and decide what to make.

Blue was probably the toughest color. Having already built an elephant, I thought I might try for a whale by turning it on it's side and making fins - but imagined it would look very similar to the quad bod fishes I had already done. A hippo would have worked, but been mostly artwork ... In the end I'm glad I went with the bulky man body, I think it might be fun to spend some time coming up with good variations on that.

After bringing in some Pollies to the office earlier this week, someone suggested a giraffe in honor of April the Giraffe (link). Challenge accepted. Once again I think it might be neat to spend some time on building "neck" variations.

The Chicago Bull and the little devil are more in line with the classic form.

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March 7 - Rolly Pollie Frog

Jeremiah was a bull frog
Was a good friend of mine
I never understood a single word he said
But I helped him a-drink his wine
And he always had some mighty fine wine

~ Hoyt Axton Joy to the World

This design is another one taught in Dan Staples new release, Rolly Pollies 2. He showed how to make a mini one, but I had a fashion green in my bag of extras to make it big. Mini Pollies (perhaps tadpoles for these?) are great - perfect for a wrist wearable or headband, or accessory to another build - but the smallness does make it a little tougher to accessorize and get sizing correct.

So I opted to build another big lime green one for the photo this time.

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March 6 - Rolly Pollie Bumble Bee

According to all known laws of aviation, there's no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to lift its fat little body off of the ground. The bee, of course, flys anyway - because bees don't care what humans think is impossible.

~ The Bee Movie

I can't speak highly enough for the gigantic faces that these Rolly Pollies provide for practicing your sharpie skills. This bumble bee was actually on Dan Staples first Rolly release.

I have to say again what I love so much about using these various balloon concepts.  Starting with the base of a form removes most of the complexities to design.  I have built some bees on this blog already, I might have tried to build something more or less complicated than those and gotten mired in how I would construct it.  Using a base like this one gets you past that and allows you to focus on creativity with the given set of tools.

I had a red bear head in my bag of extras and thought a ladybug might make a perfect companion to the bees.

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March 5 - Rolly Pollie Tiger

Our noblest hopes grow teeth and pursue us like tigers.

~ John Gardner

I have been playing more with Dan Staples Rolly Pollie concept and Lindsey Foster's faces.

I have pulled out all of the random Big Bear Head balloons that I have amassed over the years from various jam packs and convention leftovers. So after watching the lion video, I noticed I had one orange one and thought I would try for a tiger. I think it ended up looking rather nice, but as I only had the one orange (and these aren't the most pose-able balloons for pictures), I figured I would make the lion as well for the added practice.

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March 4 - Rolly Pollie Elephant

On the fifteenth of May, in the jungle of Nool,
In the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool,
He was splashing…enjoying the jungle’s great joys…
When Horton the elephant heard a small noise.

~ Dr. Seuss Horton Hears a Who

Now that I've watched all the videos in Dan Staples' new Rolly Pollies 2 download (link), I wanted to try building one that wasn't on the list.  An elephant was the first thing that came to mind and got me wondering how I would attach the trunk.

My first attempt at a regular sized trunk looked terrible, so I scrapped it immediately. I imagine a grey 321 might work pretty well if they were available, but going with a thinner trunk was the only option really.

I first built the one with the thinner ears, and then the "Horton".

... after all, a person's a person, no matter how small!

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March 2 - Rolly Pollie Hamster

I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.

~ French Guard Monty Python and the Holy Grail

My goal of this year's balloon experiment is to try and spend as much time "off grid" as possible, using a technique to create something else. But these Pollies are such great practice I'm going to keep on task. Plus I've been feeling a little ill - and they are quick easy builds. In fact, I have a bottle of "Wal-Flu" next to me that I'll be taking as soon as I finish writing this.

This hamster design is the next in the Dan Staples and Lindsey Foster Rolly Pollie collaboration, and now that I've watched a majority of the videos I can say it was a great idea to work together. Dan focuses on design, showing not only ways to make other sizes and styles (mini pollies!) but also include advanced design techniques. Lindsey focuses on art, but adds a special something to each of the designs she explores as well, giving not only deluxe faces but also showing quicker line-work versions for when you are busy. This hamster on a wheel is a perfect example of that.

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March 1 - Rolly Pollie Panda

“Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose kung fu skills were the stuff of legend.”

~ Kung Fu Panda

I've been a big fan of Dan Staples' creations - and Rolly Pollies are definitely my favorites (link).

They are easily made and a great use of big bear head balloons, but on top of that they provide a HUGE canvas for you to practice art on.  So when he released a second video in collaboration with the artwork of Lindsey "Pookie the Clown" Foster, I noticed the advertisement 8 minutes after he posted it's availability -- an insta-buy for me.

Time to Pookify these Pollies!

I'd like to use Rolly Pollies as my next balloon concept to explore since it's so versatile, but I'm going to be stuck in these videos for a bit because I keep stopping them to play with painting the new faces!  This panda is one of the first shown.

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July 15 - The Secret Life of Rolly Polly Pets

CJ from Scary Movie (Snowball)

But who am I to doubt or question the inevitable being
For these are but a few discoveries
We find inside the Secret Life of Plants

~ Stevie Wonder The Secret Life of Plants

Dan Staples should be much more of a household name for balloon twisters.

His Rolly Pollies are such a fantastic and simple base for virtually any four legged creature and a great use of Big Bear Head balloons.  After making Snowball, he responded to the challenge and was inspired to create several "Pets" characters using this technique.  I copied these from those posts.

One thing I particularly like about the Rolly design is the gigantic canvas it provides for you to draw on.  Such a good wide and round face with which to practice, and I need lots and lots of practice!

We are scheduled to see the movie today, I'll bring these to our theater.

Cam from Modern Family (Duke)	Tom's Vampy Girlfried from Parks & Rec (Gidget)
Chloe - from .. "stuff".

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March 22 - RolyPoly Bunny

Lennie smiled with this bruised mouth. "I didn't want no trouble," he said. He walked toward the door, but just before he came to it, he turned back. "George?" "What you want?" "I can still tend the rabbits, George?" "Sure. You ain't done nothing wrong." "I di'n't mean no harm, George."

This design uses a concept published by Dan Staples recently using Big Bear Head balloons.  BBH balloons are shaped like a Mickey Mouse head with a balloon underneath, 4 large round chambers.  Like Geos - there are a lot of not-so-obvious uses for them.

I personally don't particularly care for the BBH "character" designs so much, because of their size they tend to be ... Simple?  Bulbous?  I've seen them used very well in some decor - I think Dan hit on a simple brilliant use by drawing them in and taking advantage of the pudginess.  

George & Lennie Rabbit