December 13 - Pennywise

"Terror is the anticipation. Horror is the reveal."

~ Stephen King

The last episode of "Welcome to Derry" is tomorrow.

It's filmed beautifully, there are long single-take shots that are amazingly well done, the special effects are incredible.

But ... I have issues.  So if you haven't watched up until the last episode, I don't know if I might spoil things for you - no one should read the rest of this probably.

It does not feel very ... It. 

It's should be the embodiment of terror and mind-breaking cosmic energy, now it's an alien that likes to eat people - but likes them spicy with scared.   

It's so ... reductive?

So much horror comes from the tension built before you ever see "the monster". What's scarier than my own imagination in the darkness?  We don't really get that any more, instead we get things over-explained, some shock-value gore layered over the far more unsettling backdrop of the era's brutal racial hostility.

Yeah I'm going to watch.  I just wish it got the Peter Jackson treatment instead of the Jack Peterson treatment (no offense to any Jack Peterson's intended).

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This uses Patrick's "Holy Snail" technique - I felt like the bulbous head kind of matched for Pennywise. 

(view other Pennywise)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Patrick Van De Ven:

December 12 - Great Apes

"There is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental faculties."

~ Charles Darwin

I always feel drawn to the orangutan exhibit when visiting the zoo, but it always sits a bit heavy on my chest.

The way they move - slow, deliberate, impossibly bored, unmistakably intelligent.  So ... human?  

Even knowing the good intentions, there's a part of me that keeps doing the math and not liking the result.

What's the difference between a zoo and a prison to an animal?  A prison you might eventually get out of.

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These are using the Holy Snail technique from Patrick Van De Ven, I tried a couple different ideas for getting the orangutan forehead, a bigger ridge would work but it sort of overshadows in a picture.

(view other great apes)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Patrick Van De Ven:

December 11 - Savannah Animals

"The wilderness holds answers to more questions than we have yet learned to ask."

~ Nancy Newhall

There's a strange sort of peace at a watering hole in the Savannah.

Creatures that normally keep a healthy distance drift into the same circle. Even the biggest bodies and sharpest horns manage to leave room at the edges.

No creature claims the resource, they simply take what they need and step away.

Can you even imagine a creature behaving otherwise? Truly unimaginable ... ...

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These are another couple examples from Patrick Van De Ven's "Holy Snail" design technique.   So far so good for handling ANY creature!


(view other rhino or zebra)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Patrick Van De Ven:

December 10 - Lion

"Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting."

~ Joyce Meyer

... and Pigs and Bears - oh my!

Yes.  Bears again.

There is an optimal "slowness" with which to work through a set of lessons, that sweet spot where you linger just long enough to absorb something before moving on.

There is also too slow.   Like making the polar bears yesterday, only to read ahead and discover that Patrick's next step is his own version that is approximately 200% more adorabubble™.

(view other lions or bears)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Patrick Van De Ven:

December 9 - Bears

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

~ John Muir

I saw a video recently of a polar bear doing its absolute best to rescue a poor cameraman who had somehow gotten himself sealed inside a fiberglass box.  

The bear worked every angle with a toothy determination - one single rivet not seated properly could have made all the difference.

I'm not sure how it ended, but I really hope they were able to free that cameraman.

Mother nature provides.

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These use the panda bear form shown by Patrick Van De Ven in his Holy Snail tutorials, I like the "chewing" face more than I care to admit.

(view other bears)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Patrick Van De Ven:

December 8 - Koala

"In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect."

~ Alice Walker

I heard audio of a koala recently and I'm not even sure what to call it - a warbing bellow?  

Whatever the sound was, I would have never matched it to something so naturally ... snuggly.

Be that cute and no one cares if you burp.

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This is another one of the examples Patrick uses to demonstrate his show the "Holy Snail" technique.  I love how the nose looks on the face, and even more once I started seeing it as a happy yelling face. 

*burp*

(view other koala)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Patrick Van De Ven:

December 7 - Kalisan Mirror White Gold

I'll bet you're his masterpiece
I'll bet you're his self-control
Yeah you'll become his legacy
His quiet world of white and gold

~ Insider - Tom Petty (1981)

After being so delicate with old expired chrome balloons, getting a new pack was kind of an amazing experience.

Chrome .. well "Mirror" in Kalisan vernacular, have an interesting and different feel to them than normal latex, there is a .. smoothness?   They lack that elastic springback and need 'encouragement' to get the pressure correct because of it.

These were sturdy, but like "I could probably twist up a replacement motorcycle parts" sturdy.  I tended to overinflate and deflate the amount I was going to twist, these are certainly not meant to be inflated by humans.  

Overall impression of Kalsan mirror white gold?  Great balloon, the color is what I would consider Platinum (about 5 gold pieces in classic D&D) - how many things do you need to be platinum though, this is another chrome color that needs a specific purpose to get got and remains simply a novelty.  

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Other "color day" balloons: