December 28 - Dagon

I cannot think of the deep sea without shuddering at the nameless things that may at this very moment be crawling and floundering on its slimy bed, worshipping their ancient stone idols and carving their own detestable likenesses on submarine obelisks of water-soaked granite. I dream of a day when they may rise above the billows to drag down in their reeking talons the remnants of puny, war-exhausted mankind -- of a day when the land shall sink, and the dark ocean floor shall ascend amidst universal pandemonium.

~ H.P. Lovecraft Dagon

Dagon is one of the earlier works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and details the account of a man who escaped capture at sea only to later be washed up on an unnatural shore, seemingly thrust from the bottom of the sea by a volcanic expansion. Upon exploring this wasteland, he comes across a monolith with pictorial carvings and hieroglyphics the likes of which he had never seen, with aquatic symbols and ominous marine humanoids with bulbous eyes.

He flees in horror when he catches sight of one of these grotesque creatures, but is endlessly pursued even after returning to San Francisco. The creature haunts both his waking moments and dreams, and the narrator believes that only morphine or death will will give him any respite. There is a sloshing sound from the hallway and the story ends rather abrup...

This balloon design is based on one of Buster Balloon's head designs I used last year that I referred to as Surly Dudes.

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Other Lovecraftian balloon designs:

October 30 - Surly Pig

I break the walls
Get away from me
Leave me alone
Like the pig on the stairs Hanging
In a groovy purple shirt
~ The Cure Give Me It

Once again it's time for me to try the balloon concept on a purple pig -- and I'll be honest, this one almost stumped me.  The connection point for the nose is a bit sunken and I played with a few different configurations of the head in order to get it to attach in a way that didn't leave it levitating over the face.

I figured I'd try and keep with the Halloween theme and give him a bucket to collect candy with.

I've enjoyed exploring this balloon concept, Buster has something here that is very different from a "traditional" design.  It requires a bit of a squish and some imagination, but it gives you a nice big-head framework to work with.

Thanks Buster!

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Other Surly Dudes:

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Other balloon designs by or inspired by Buster Balloon:

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October 29 - Surly Ghost

When the crypt goes creak,
And the tombstones quake.
Spooks come out for a swinging wake.
Happy haunts materialize,
And begin to vocalize.
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize.

~ Buddy Baker and F. Xavier Atencio
Grim Grinning Ghosts

We're getting close to the end of the month, so I only have a few more of these surly dudes left to post.  I always find it surprising that I run out of days before I run out of designs to use a balloon concept for, and this one in particular I started by having no idea what I would make.

It worked out pretty well I think.  My brother presented me with a quote the last time I visited, "the absence of pressure is the enemy of art".  I think this exercise is proving the converse of that statement true - the pressure of building another 10 of these without any sort of template has encouraged a lot of creative exploration, and I've probably half-built and trashed more than I have shown here.

This ghost is probably the simplest uses of Buster's form.

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Other Surly Dudes:

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Other balloon designs by or inspired by Buster Balloon:

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October 28 - Surly Fish

“Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail never clinking.”

~ J.R.R. Tolkien The Hobbit

I played around with the shape of things for today's post.  This is a little more loosely based on what I'm referring to as the "surly dudes" concept that Buster Balloon has used for a few of his Halloween designs.

Again the beauty of building a fish is that the adage of a "million fish in the sea" is true and it's easy to play around with the shape of things.  I first built the blue one but wasn't happy with the big gap that I had to fill - I built things a little more efficiently with the green.  It's less triangular, but I like the way the 646 uses up a lot of that room.

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Other Surly Dudes:

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Other balloon designs by or inspired by Buster Balloon:

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October 27 - Surly Frank

I'm a teenage Frankenstein
The local freak with the twisted mind
I'm a teenage Frankenstein
These ain't my hands
And these legs ain't mine

~ Alice Cooper Teenage Frankenstein

Here is Frankenstein's Monster using the structure shown in Buster Balloon's 31 days of Halloween balloon montage.

This is the first one of these surly dudes that I've built with hair.  The technique doesn't really give you attachment points up there so it's rather limited what you can do without some sort of cheating.

I've mentioned before that one of the complications I run into at times is that these things need to stand and be somewhat poseable.  This balloon had one leg ever so slightly longer than the other and it took some finesse to get him to stand up straight.

The original idea was to have Purple wielding the torch and Frankenstein's Monster cowering, but I having hands cover his face obfuscated the design.

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Other Surly Dudes:

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Other balloon designs by or inspired by Buster Balloon:

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October 26 - Surly Devil

Prayed like a martyr dusk to dawn.
Begged like a hooker all night long.
Tempted the devil with my song.
And got what I wanted all along.

But I, And I would,
If I could, And I would
Wish it away.

~ Tool Jambi

This is a devil using the Surly Dudes technique Buster Balloon has demonstrated.

The teeth give a nice snarl, something he showed in the mummy.  Since these need to be "accessorized", I gave him a soul to hold on to.

I prefer Qualatex red, one of the few Q balloons I use - it's more opaque and richer in my opinion.  I accidentally popped the upper lip which was the last red in my bucket so I used one of my reds from a junk bag that happened to be Betallatex.  You can really see the difference in colors with those two, but I think it works out well to have the lip color slightly different so it's a happy accident.  (I've since restocked my reds.)

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Other Surly Dudes:

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Other balloon designs by or inspired by Buster Balloon:

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October 25 - Surly Alien

You and I, we are strangers by one chromosome
Slave to the hormone, body and soul
In a struggle to be happy and free
Swimming in a primitive sea

You and I, we must dive below the surface
A world of red neon, and ultramarine
Shining bridges on the ocean floor
Reaching to the alien shore

~ Rush Alien Shore

I was once again playing with the "Surly Dude" balloon concept introduced by Buster Balloon in his 31 Days of Halloween, and came up with this alien.

I thought about making this in grey, but the little grey men have a very distinct look, so I went for the classic little green men look.

I feel like these creations need an accessory, because as great as the head structure is, the body is a bit plain vanilla.  So I gave this guy a space blaster to complete the look.

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Other Surly Dudes:

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Other balloon designs by or inspired by Buster Balloon:

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October 24 - Surly Pumpkin

I used to be a little boy
So old in my shoes
And what I choose is my choice
What's a boy supposed to do?
The killer in me is the killer in you
My love
I send this smile over to you

~ Smashing Pumpkins Disarm

With just over a week until Halloween, here is one a little more fitting for the season.

Last weekend we went and got our own pumpkins to carve, which served as inspiration for creating this guy.

This is once again based on a balloon concept shown by Buster Balloon in a few designs on his image montage "31 days of Halloween" (Instagram link).

This one looks a bit like a member of the pumpkin mafia in his pinstripe suit.   Gourdo Zucca wants his protection money or things are going to get "smashy".

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Other Surly Dudes:

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Other balloon designs by or inspired by Buster Balloon:

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October 23 - Surly Bee

Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch
Who watches over you
Make a little birdhouse in your soul
Not to put too fine a point on it
Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet
Make a little birdhouse in your soul

~ They Might Be Giants Birdhouse in Your Soul
   (video)

Before TMBG began making children's albums, they created a masterpiece called "Flood".  The songs are corny and catchy at first, but are filled with symbolic meaning and depth.  This one (to me, as it is obviously open to interpretation) is about growing up and facing your fears, initially with the help of the inanimate object of a nightlight - but then encouraging you to take the step beyond needing this crutch.

I have a good number of yellow 646s that I've used to make minions with, so I thought I would play with this Buster Balloon concept (surly dudes) with those.

This surly bee came out of that. I thought about drawing on the stripes, but I think a woven body works a bit better.

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Other Surly Dudes:

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Other balloon designs by or inspired by Buster Balloon:

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October 22 - Surly Bulldog

It's good to be king and have your own way
Get a feeling of peace at the end of the day
And when your bulldog barks and your canary sings
You're out there with winners, it's good to be king

~ Tom Petty It's Good to be King

Here is one of my first attempts at playing with this Buster Balloon "Surly Dude" concept.  I have a number of 646/660s in my "extra junk" bag that I was going through just to play around with the design when this guy sort of appeared.

I'm really enjoying this play - the design base is very different from the others, and it really creates an interesting look.  The big protruding chin gives a good bulldog look.

If you look carefully in the image with Purple - you can see not only the professional camera setup I use ... ... ... but the Werewolf from yesterday is on display to help with our Halloween decorations.

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Other Surly Dudes:

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Other balloon designs by or inspired by Buster Balloon:

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October 21 - Surly Werewolf

It's close to midnight
Something evil's lurking from the dark
Under the moonlight
You see a sight that almost stops your heart
You try to scream
But terror takes the sound before you make it
You start to freeze
As horror looks you right between your eyes
You're paralyzed

~ Michael Jackson Thriller

The second balloon concept I'd like to explore this month is something that Buster Balloon has used a few times on his 31-days of Halloween image montage he does every year.  I built two of them last year, Mummy (link) and Creature from the Black Lagoon (link), and this Werewolf is one other that I've seen him build.

It's certainly more complicated to attempt to build something that there are not instructions for, but in this case it's worth it - it's such a unique looking head.  Great for an angry creature, I believe I will refer to these as Buster's Surly Dudes.  I can't wait to play around with the idea a little bit more.

His pants ended up a bit big and poofy...

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Other Surly Dudes:

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Other balloon designs by or inspired by Buster Balloon:

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October 25 - Mummy

Look mummy, there's an aeroplane up in the sky

Did-did-did-did you see the frightened ones?
Did-did-did-did you hear the falling bombs?
Did-did-did-did you ever wonder why we had to run for shelter when the promise of a brave new world unfurled beneath a clear blue sky?

~ Pink Floyd Goodbye Blue Sky

Okay okay okay okay.

Okay.

One more Buster Balloon before I try to go on to other things. I couldn't resist attempting to build his mummy. It's so simple, yet it's so amazing.

This speaks to the next level ballooning that Buster does.  Not overly complex, but so stylized and so unique - the kind of balloon art that makes you smack yourself saying "why didn't I think of that!?"  Thinking in the simplest terms a mummy is "angry wrapped in gauze", and that's exactly what he pulls off to great effect.

Taking my mummy to the theater	Heiroglyphics?  I write in cursive.
... now was that 3 lefts and one right? .. or ..

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Other posts with Busters's designs:
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October 24 - Creature from the Black Lagoon

Ain't it hard to stumble
And land in some muddy lagoon
Especially when it's nine below zero
And three o'clock in the afternoon

~ Bob Dylan Outlaw Blues

I make no promises that this will be the last Buster Balloon image this month - I can't help myself.  He exists on a higher plane of balloon art, he doesn't just twist balloons - he operates in latex. He is to latex what Willie Wonka is to chocolate, and also similarly enough, Halloween is obviously one of his favorite holidays - he's tearing it up with his month long daily project.

This Creature is one that he did early on in the month, it took a couple attempts but I think I got the design pretty close, mounting the legs is a bit weird, and I ended up with a funny looking tukas. It's a bit hard to tell how things are put together behind. Maybe creature got back?

Thanks (again!) Buster!

Creature from the Black & White Lagoon	Fish are friends, not food. People, people are food.
There's certainly something fishy going on...

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Other posts with Busters's designs: Show all