February 23 - Mr. Incredible

That was totally wicked!

~ Boy on Tricycle The Incredibles

Pixar is amazing.  I loved "The Incredibles" - so often superhero stories get caught up in origin stories and traditional tropes, but this story was so much more.  Plus it carries with it that special sauce of being one of the movies I watched repeatedly with my children when they were young.

I tried building Mr. Incredible, once again using the larger Hulk-style of the Scott Lanham Beefcakes design.

When using the larger balloons for the body style, you should show some restraint or things get out of proportion.  There are a few things I wish I had done differently and would if I were to build this again, like his torso being too long.  This was also the first beefcake that I tried adding ears and hair too, but I ended up with a younger look than I was going for.  He looks more like a grown up Dash than an aging Mr. Incredible.

I did create another head to use, which looks a bit older with a receding hairline before I tried using ears as attachment points - but the rest of the face is ... real bad.  So I didn't like any of the pictures with it.

... and in time, who knows?  He might make a great sidekick...

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February 22 - The Maxx

For her, I could be a HERO!

~ The Maxx

When I began collecting comics for the second time as an early twenty-something, I stumbled across The Maxx issue #1. Image was a newer company at the time, pushing the bounds of what I knew to be traditional comics. It was twisted and dark, I was instantly hooked and found myself re-reading earlier issues when the latest came out (which IIRC was fairly slow).

Pencilled by Sam Keith and written in collaboration with Alan Moore, you might thing of it as somewhat of a grown-ups Calvin and Hobbes. It is the story of a vagrant who waffles between this reality and "The Outback", where he is a powerful beast and protector of his Jungle Queen. In this reality the Jungle Queen is Julie, his social worker. She is unaware of the Outback and is pursued by the evil Mr. Gone, whom Maxx battles in both the Outback and reality to protect her.

I built Maxx similar to Hulk, using Scott Lanham's beefcake superhero form - but in most images he's hunched over so I had to come up with a way to get him to bend down. This is somewhat of the Achilles Heel of the design, especially the more musclebound ones is they are not very poseable.

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February 21 - Hulk

What makes Hulk afraid? It's himself. It's a version of himself that's weak. It's a version of himself that's vulnerable. It's a child inside of him.

~ Mark Ruffalo

Well I couldn't resist doing at least one traditional superhero, I wanted to play around with making Scott Lanham's Beefcakes a little beefier - and the natural selection for that would be Hulk.

I tried a good number of combinations of balloons sizes for his muscles before settling -- and in the end he still looks a little bit lean for Hulk - and I wish I had done something different with the calves.

This is the first beefcake balloon I thought I might try hair on, and it looks Lou Ferrigno late 70's weird, so s scrapped that and built a new head.

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February 20 - T-800

John Connor gave me a picture of you once. I didn't know why at the time. It's very old. Torn, faded. You were young, like you are now. You seemed just a little sad. I used to always wonder what you were thinking at that moment. I memorized every line, every curve. I came across time for you, Sarah. I love you. I always have.

~ Kyle Reese The Terminator

Here is another attempt at playing with Scott Lanham's superhero form (I'd really love to refer to these by a name ... Scott's Heroes? Muscle men? Latex Warriors? Beefcakes?)

This time I tried making a Terminator T-800 model. I made the forearms and calves out of smaller balloons to make it seem more endoskeletal, but it ended up looking a bit awkward so I went with the basic body shape.

The skull head took a few tries on practice balloons, once I thought I had it in a decent state I tried recreating it on the actual balloon and fumblefingered it. After taking a few pictures, I replaced the head with the practice version (upper right).

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February 19 - Doctor Manhattan

There is no future. There is no past. Do you see? Time is simultaneous, an intricately structured jewel that humans insist on viewing one edge at a time, when the whole design is visible in every facet.

~ Dr. Manhattan Watchmen
   (Alan Moore)

When pondering what superhero characters I should make with Scott Lanham's superhero form, immediately I started thinking of all of the traditional heroes and how I might build them - but I wanted something different.

From the DC comic books Watchmen, written by Alan Moore - Doctor Manhattan is Dr. Jonathan Osterman, a nuclear physicist who inadvertently disintegrated during an experiment, but was later able to reconstruct himself into a superhero with nearly limitless power. At one point he was falsely accused of causing cancer to his close associates, so he flees to Mars to contemplate whether or not he should use his powers aid humanity or let them either thrive or destroy themselves as natural evolution. That's the scene I tried to recreate here.

If you haven't read the comic, it's one of my favorites and available in graphic novel form. Well worth the read - who watches the watchmen?

I built two separate heads, I don't really have a good "male face" in my repertoire - and most of them end up having a bit of a sneer, which didn't seem appropriate. Jon would be contemplative and perhaps a bit sad. I like the first one (below and on the left), but did not take too many pictures before swapping.

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February 18 - Craig and Olo

You are a soul. You are a mind. You are not fat. You have fat. You also have fingernails, but you aren’t fingernails, are you? You have hair, but you aren’t hair, are you? You have fat, but you are not fat. You are beautiful.

~ Author Unknown

I would like to explore another balloon concept, this one was hinted at when I built the stormtrooper body, and it's a design that Scott Lanham created to share with people who attended his webinar.  It's perfect for a superhero, but before I build any that you know - first I need to introduce you to two of my superheroes.

Craig Long (instagram) and Olo Onuma (website) are my trainers.  Starting in October last year (with a short time off over the holiday) I have been going three times a week to a group class, and a fourth day private lesson.  I didn't have any goals when I began, losing weight or whatnot - I just knew that I needed to make exercise more of a priority in my sedentary life.  I shouldn't be out of breath running up stairs, I shouldn't be throwing my back out when standing up from the couch, I shouldn't be the one to end the game of basketball with my boys.

These guys are fantastic trainers, very inspiring and a great team - somewhat of a good cop/bad cop situation at times.  The pictures sum up their personalities, Olo is business first and will joke around when you take care of it, whereas Craig will tease you into working harder "were they out of the heavier weights?"

Thanks guys!

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February 17 - Rose

Moses supposes his toeses are Roses,
But Moses supposes Erroneously,
Moses he knowses his toeses aren't roses,
As Moses supposes his toeses to be!

~ Gene Kelly Moses Supposes

A last balloon before I get back on track exploring more balloon concepts here.

This bundle of balloons was something I made for my lovely wife on Valentines Day earlier this week - a dozen rainbow roses.

One thing I love about making balloon art is that I have a palette for creating most anything, given a holiday or occasion - there is something appropriate to build.  It might not be fancy, but it shows effort.

This type of balloon rose is one that I've made before (link), I believe I learned it originally from Dennis Bauyon - though this is not his "Twixter Rose".