March 31 - King Leonidas

It's been more than 30 years since the wolf in the winter cold.  And now, as then, it's not fear that grips him... only restlessness. A heightened sense of things.

The seaborne breeze coolly kissing the sweat at his chest and neck. Gulls cawing... complaining even as they feast on the thousands of floating dead.

The steady breathing of the 300 at his back... ready to die for him without a moment's pause.  Every one of them... ready to die.

His helmet is stifling. It narrowed his vision, and he must see far.

His shield was heavy. It threw him off balance... and his target is far away.

The old ones say we Spartans are descended from Hercules himself. Bold Leonidas gives testament to our bloodline.

 ~ 300 (2006)

THIS ... IS ... SPARTA!

300 is both a visually stunning and powerful story, seasoned with testosterone and wrapped in bacon. It's perfect.  It's one of those movies that I don't click past. ... I couldn't even keep myself to just one quote:

Dilios: "Remember us." As simple an order as a king can give. "Remember why we died." For he did not wish tribute, nor song, nor monuments nor poems of war and valor. His wish was simple. "Remember us," he said to me. That was his hope, should any free soul come across that place, in all the countless centuries yet to be. May all our voices whisper to you from the ageless stones, "Go tell the Spartans, passerby, that here by Spartan law, we lie."

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 21 - NOlaf

Hi, everyone. I'm NOlaf and I like warm bugs!

Before the first time at the one gig I ever do in a year, I was pretty nervous and wanted to do all I could to be prepared.  They had just released these Olaf printed rounds and the perceived new hotness of them made me rush to buy two bags.  ... I didn't use a single one. 

Cut to today where there is a veritable plethora (go go 11th grade English) of balloon prints.  Even... a dog.  Instead of making the simplest most iconic balloon in the world, someone blows up a round dog face and attaches it to the same body they use for a bear/cat/panda/cow/duck/monkey - it's just with a different printed head.  This seems almost tragic ...

So for a couple years now I've not only had these in my supplies, but also a spare bag in a drawer; and every time I come across them I wonder what I'll ever do with them.

In one of the recent Balloon Blast Video Shows, Sam and Scott reworked a balloon print to make a good variety of creatures -- I thought I would give that a go with some NOlafs.

March 19 - The Thing

We're gonna draw a little bit of everyone's blood, 'cause we're gonna find out who's the Thing. Watching Norris in there gave me the idea that every little part of him was a whole. Every little piece was an individual animal with a built-in desire to protect its own life. You see, when a man bleeds, it's just tissue. But blood from one of you Things won't obey when it's attacked. It'll try and survive. Crawl away from a hot needle, say.

~ MacReady The Thing (1982)

I had the pleasure this weekend of hanging out with some of my best friends and watching the original The Thing.  It's been 20+ years since I've seen this movie, and it still holds up.

The movie tanked pretty hard at the box office, competing with a few other science fiction and fantasy films at the time - people were enjoying the fun fantasy of E.T. and weren't thrilled by the nihilistic tone and hopelessness here.

Also, Wilford Brimley without a mustache? (!!!!)  Seriously weird stuff. 

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Other Dorb balloon designs:

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March 18 - The Pale Man

A long time ago, in the underground realm, where there are no lies or pain, there lived a Princess who dreamed of the human world. She dreamed of blue skies, soft breeze, and sunshine. One day, eluding her keepers, the Princess escaped. Once outside, the brightness blinded her and erased every trace of the past from her memory. She forgot who she was and where she came from.
Her body suffered cold, sickness, and pain. Eventually, she died. However, her father, the King, always knew that the Princess' soul would return, perhaps in another body, in another place, at another time. And he would wait for her, until he drew his last breath, until the world stopped turning . . .

~ Pan's Labyrinth Intro

The Pale Man is one of the more frightening monsters in the movie Pan's Labyrinth.  This is one of those creature images that really stick with you and I've been wanting to build him for a while.

The Pale Man sleeps at an overflowing banquet table and wakes if someone tries to eat from it.  Presumably bait because the the room has painted frescoes of him eating children and a pile of shoes is in the corner.

Guillermo del Toro posted early last year on his twitter (Feb 2, 2017 - link):

‏The Pale Man represents all institutional evil feeding on the helpless. It's not accidental that he is a) Pale b) a Man. He's thriving now.

March 17 - Leprechaun

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I made this balloon a little late in the day to bring to a friends house, but figured it was better to post now rather than tomorrow.  So here it is, quick like!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

March 15 - Pinhead

The box. You opened it. We came. Now you must come with us, taste our pleasures.

~ Pinhead Hellraiser I

I am very selective with the horror movies I watch.  I like a good monster but I really can't stand watching anything rooted in some sort of feasible reality.  I don't like a human villain.

I'd say it's mainly because I don't have firm control of my imagination, I don't have nightmares - I have day-mares, and I can't stop myself from thinking about how horrible the situation was, or what I would do to escape, or worse.

Hellraiser is one of the good ones and I thought it might be amusing to build Pinhead. 

I didn't get the face as angry as I wanted, I was trying to get a bit of a snarl - it looks a little like a zombie instead of the Leader of the Cenobites.

March 14 - What It Is

I would do anything anything
Not to bring who I am to meet me
This useless suffering
Ugly part of me is screwing me
As it feeds me

But it is what it is
You don't know how to live with what it is
But it is what it is
It may seem impossible
But I will embrace who I really am
If it's a son of a bitch or a terrified kid
Then that's what it is

~ Jonathan Davis What It Is (video link) 

Jonathan Davis is the lead singer of Korn and has released a video of a song called "What It Is" from his upcoming solo album.

I drew inspiration from this idea of a man finally confronting who he truly is inside.  It brought to mind an image of someone in a straitjacket thrashing about facing his inner demons.

March 12 - Giant Space Tardigrade

“Since, in the long run, every planetary civilization will be endangered by impacts from space, every surviving civilization is obliged to become spacefaring--not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable: staying alive... If our long-term survival is at stake, we have a basic responsibility to our species to venture to other worlds.”

~ Carl Sagan

Candice Westberg posted a picture of her tardigrade creation last week, which was the inspiration for me thinking that as fascinating and virtually indestructible as these creatures are, it's a good thing they are both microscopic and harmless to us!

Hmmm ... but what if ... ?

Giant Space Tardigrade is often referred to as the Great Devourer to those civilizations aware of it's existence.   Though it does no harm to animal life, the wake of it's appetite leaves a husk of a planet unable to sustain life.  One displaced race that simply refers to themselves as "The Heralds" has appointed themselves vanguard to the beast - but not every civilization is prepared to accept the cost of their alliance.

March 11 - Vengeance of Daedalus

His eyes are ablaze,
See the madman in his gaze.
Fly, on your way, like an eagle,
Fly as high as the sun,
On your way, like an eagle,
Fly and touch the sun.

~ Iron Maiden Flight of Icarus

No father should ever experience the anguish that Daedalus felt when Icarus fell into the ocean, so great was his grief that the goddess Athena took pity and granted him the wings of a god.

The Chronicle of Orphestus contains one of the few records of what happened next:

Lo, Daedalus did take to the skies with fist and fury of vengeance.  Past Great Olympus and soaring to heights unforeseen, for great and ferocious was his resentment of that celestial oppressor.  God wings do not burn and to this day the sun is forced to flee to the west every day to escape a father's wrath.

The idea for this balloon occurred when I was listening to the song Flight of Icarus and imagining how grief stricken Daedalus would be.

March 10 - Space Satan

“Christianity may be good and Satanism evil. Under the Constitution, however, both are neutral. This is an important, but difficult, concept for many law enforcement officers to accept. They are paid to uphold the penal code, not the Ten Commandments … The fact is that far more crime and child abuse has been committed by zealots in the name of God, Jesus and Mohammed than has ever been committed in the name of Satan. Many people don’t like that statement, but few can argue with it.”

~ Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

This week during Sketch4Sketch, Alex had an old friend and fellow artist visiting.  Skinner is a self-taught artist living in Oakland who's style I would describe as a intense, bizarre and creepy fiend folio. 100% awesome - but don't just take my word for it, see for yourself on his Instagram @ theartofskinner.

At one point he was talking about how sometimes his art is poorly received.  Other artists will make amazing approachable designs and (sic.) "I'll be all, 'wanna see my Space Satan?'"

He spoke the words, I grabbed my balloons.

Space Satan.

March 9 - Mutter

~ Rammstein Mutter 

The video above is an awesome version of the song Mutter by the band Rammstein but sung by a children's choir.  It was the inspiration for this balloon.


Buckle up though.  This is an enjoyingly disturbing song, only read on if you are prepared.

The song tells the story of a child born in a laboratory, outside of the womb - thus having no 'true' mother or father, under observation as an experiment and not allowed to be a child.

He sets out on a plan to kill both the mother who never birthed him and himself, but in the end only succeeds in maiming himself and realizes that he is no better off and now he has even less than he had.   From the Wiki:

The child begs, possibly prays, for strength, but his dead mother does not answer. The narrative of the song is similar to Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, in that the character takes revenge for his misfortunes on his 'parent', and then ends up no different from before the 'parent' died.

March 8 - Vampire Snail

“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.”

~ Albert Einstein

For years vampire snails flourished in the heartland of Romania, but in 1982 at the start of Transylvanian Salt Mine Wars - they were forced to flee their homes.  Many neighboring countries initially reached out to help, but there was public outcry that vampire snails were unwelcome, and that harboring these refugees would bring harm to the established status quo.  "No slug is going to come in to my house and drink my blood!" 

The reality was these snails were completely harmless, only named vampire because of their comical teeth, and people made the dangerous association that because one vampire was evil, that all must be.  So much more harmful were the local residents as they began to violently protest - creating great and powerful memes to influence the minds of simpletons.  The violence and propoganda were relentless and the snail refugees were forced "for their own safety" to live in terrible relocation facilities.  Families were separated, Xenophobia and misinformation ruled the day.  It was a dark time for us all.

We're much better now.