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 20 - 8-bit Zombie

"In those moments where you're not quite sure if the undead are really dead, dead, don't get all stingy with your bullets."

~ Zombieland (2009)

Earlier this year, Buster Balloon hosted a balloon lab where he went over in very fine detail the process he uses to create his show.  I don't perform, but it was chock full of valuable information nonetheless.  Additionally if you signed up for a certain subscription level - you were given the opportunity to have Buster design a balloon for you and share it with everyone in the group.

This was from the first of those videos, someone requested how to build a zombie face.  This was delivered in "lab" fashion - and I really like the conversational tone it has.  It is far more useful than a simple tutorial if you understand the reasons why something is this way rather than prattling on about a bubble sizes and twists.

I made a simple body to go with it.

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Other balloon designs by and inspired by Buster Balloon:

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October 19 - Eric's Pumpkin

Linus: Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He's gotta pick this one. He's got to. I don't see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one. You can look around and there's not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see.

~ Linus It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Here is one from the Eric Weinstein collection Party Delights (link).

This pumpkin looks great with those big giant eyes, and Eric proves that with some practice it can be made in under three minutes.

We are getting our pumpkins this weekend, and for many years now we've been using the stencils you can get at the supermarket to make elaborate designs.  It was a novel thing 5-10 years ago, but now it's something pretty common and I think now I prefer the "classic" look.  However this time I'm inspired to make a painted pumpkin instead.

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Other Party Delights:

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Other balloon designs by and inspired by Eric Weinstein:

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