May 14 - Angel & Devil Cuties

And she spoke again saying
"Know, my child,
That there is no devil seekin'
To cause guilt in the hearts to men.

No evil, save blind faith, ignorance,
And the desire for the unprepared
To blame others for the devastation
Left in the wake of change

~ Puscifer Sour Grapes

This is another one that I couldn't wait to build once the idea hit me.  The idea that Purple would be waffling over the tragedy of passing or purchasing low priced bacon ...

I have been attempting to force myself to keep to a two week maximum when exploring these various balloon concepts, so this will be the last (as always "for now") of Shana Brenion's cutie dolls here. As with the other balloon concepts, I have really only scratched the surface with the things you could do with this with only slight modifications.

It actually would probably do me well to try for another two weeks - I've been purposefully studying creativity recently as I've been lucky enough to participate in a trial run of Scott Tripp's Creativity Blaster course. It's helped me realize that creativity is like a muscle - you can't learn by watching, you have to actively practice. When I'm in a comfortable place of recreating a design by someone else, my brain is off, I'm thinking mathematically and at most I'm wondering how I might stage the purple pig photo.  When I have exhausted those designs and force myself to make something else, it's much more exciting and fulfilling.  It's also extremely frustrating at times .. but it's worth the effort, worth the exercise.

These cutie dolls have been great exercise.

Thanks Shana!

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Other Cutie Dolls:

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May 13 - Bride of Frankenstein Cutie

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Love is the only thing that can save this poor creature, and I am going to convince him that he is loved even at the cost of my own life. No matter what you hear in there, no matter how cruelly I beg you, no matter how terribly I may scream, do not open this door or you will undo everything I have worked for. Do you understand? Do not open this door.

~ Young Frankenstein (1974)

I love that movie ...

We are nearing the end of our exploration with this form and I didn't mean to turn this into a pre-Halloween monster cutie session, but this was the other one that occurred when I was wondering what I could build besides princesses with this Shana Brenion cutie doll form.

This one is pretty much a blend of the Poppy troll for hairstyle and a normal princess. I had thought to go for a black and white image, but the addition of a black rose to add some color adds a neat effect - especially on the black and white background.

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Other Cutie Dolls:

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May 12 - Medusa

Perseus: How may a mortal man face and defeat the Kraken?
Stygian Witch: The Kraken is invulnerable. 100 men could not fight him. An army could not kill him.
Perseus: Nothing is invulnerable.There must be a way.
Stygian Witch: Perhaps, one way.  But a way even more dangerous than the Kraken itself.
Perseus: Tell me.
Stygian Witch: Give me the eye and l'll tell you.
Perseus: First, tell me.
Stygian Witch: The head of Medusa. The Gorgon!

~ Clash of the Titans (1981)

I was wondering if I could use Shana Brenion's cutie doll technique to make something less "princess" and cute, so I tried for Medusa.

The story of Medusa is truly a terrible one, I remember being shocked about the circumstances of her transformation as a kid.  Originally one of three "ravishingly beautiful" gorgon sisters and the one mortal one of the three, she was defiled by Poseidon in the Temple of Athena.  Athena punished her by turning her hair into serpents and made her face so horrible that anyone who looked at her would be turned to stone.  Punishing the victim ... I think she's a bit justified in wanting to turn the whole world to stone.

I tried to give her a sinister expression, but smiling vs. smiling malevolently is subtle and I'm not sure I pulled it off.  I also had a hard time making the snakes "snakey", they still look like jolly worms to me.

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Other Cutie Dolls:

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May 11 - Poppy

Trolls in the dark
The dawn took them all
Caught in the wood
By the wooden kings' men

~ Blind Guardian The Bard's Song: The Hobbit

These are my attempts at Poppy using the Shana Brenion cutie dolls balloon concept.

Trolls is another movie that I haven't gotten around to seeing yet, but the characters are so distinctive I thought Poppy would make a good candidate.

I've made Poppy a couple times already, so I used a similar hair style, and even though I made two versions, they ended up quite similar to each other.  This got me thinking about how easily things map between balloon concepts.  Once you have a base, you are merely adding accessories to give detail to the form - in this case it is the hair and headband.  Provided you have similar anchor points the base is almost interchangeable.

Pigsqueak -- yes it's a thing!

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Other Cutie Dolls:

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May 10 - Miss Piggy

I was a bit worried and thought this might be the first time I break my rule of making a purple pig with each of the balloon concepts.   Shana Brenion's cutie dolls are a fantastic balloon concept for making females, but I struggled with how I was going to make it a pig.

I was driving when I got the idea of building Miss Piggy and couldn't wait to get home and try - I'm a huge Muppet Show fan. I remember watching new episodes as a child, I must have seen the original Muppet Movie well over 20 times and still get choked up at points (Kermit musing in the desert or his speech to Doc Hopper at the end just got me again).  I got lost in a long YouTube search when looking for the right clip to post above - there are so many great memories, I really wish "The Muppets" recent TV series captured some of that original charm.

This design was easier than I imagined, it really only uses the basic princess form with the addition of ears and some pen work.

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Other Cutie Dolls:


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May 9 - Disgust

Joy: Hmm... this looks new.
Fear: Think it's safe?
Sadness: What is it?
Disgust: Okay, caution, there is a dangerous smell, people. Hold on, what is that? That is not brightly colored or shaped like a dinosaur, hold on guys... it's... broccoli!

  ~ Inside Out (2015)

I consider Inside Out to be a great family movie with a good message.  Spoilers forthcoming if you haven't seen it.

It details the story of a young girl and her inner emotion avatars of Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust. Generally governed by Joy, her family moves to another state - turning her comfortable world upside down. Her emotion avatars struggle to help the girl deal with this, but stress gives way to Sadness and hilarity ensues as Joy struggles to maintain control. The important message that the avatars (well .. the girl) come to understand is that you must embrace all of your emotions to have a rich and meaningful life.

This is the first time I've tried to have "digust" as a facial expression.  I first built using a dark green dress, but felt the colors were off and decided to cheat around not having the right balloons.  I couldn't figure out a good way to match the short cropped hair though ...

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Other Cutie Dolls:


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May 8 - Poodle Skirt Girls

Flat top cats and the dungaree dolls
Are headed for the gym to the sock hop ball
The joint is really jumping
The cats are going wild
The music really sends me
I dig that crazy style 'cause

~ Elvis Presley Ready Teddy

When I thought to make these poodle skirt gals, the first thing that popped into my head was my cousin, whom I have always known as Aunt "Poodle" Lynn.  So named because of her pet care service in San Francisco, The Royal Bark and Meow.  She owns a few poodles herself; Moe, Maya and Mika - and boards a number of others.  If you ever get a ride with her, expect to be picked up in a car filled with 4-5 dogs at least.  She has an amazing Dr. Doolittle way with them, they just "understand" and acknowledge her as pack leader.  Love you Aunt Lynn!

These use Shana Brenion's Cutie Doll form, and is very similar to some of the standard princesses, with the addition of a belt and sashes.  It was good practice for drawing faces and making eyes, but I might have gone a little too slanted on the pink - the almost look like horn rimmed glasses!

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Other Cutie Dolls:


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