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Here is a slightly more complex figure, however, all the techniques used have all been already covered in the doggy and sword tutorials
This is therefore really only a new practice exercise and a new figure to add to your 'repertoire'.
Recommendation: After following the tutorial and creating this sculpture two or three times, start over, but this time paying very close attention to those small details that make the whole difference between work that's thorough and work that's shoddy:
- Are all the bubbles for the frog's eyes round and the same size? Or are they too long, or unequal?
- Are the bubbles for the front legs well-proportioned and small enough? Or are they too big and difficult to fit into the hind legs, which are now too small because there wasn't really enough length remaining to make them appropriately.
- Have the segments for the two hind legs been formed into two, long, separate bubbles? Or have they inexplicably been replaced by a single loop? What is the loop even meant to represent? Nobody knows.
- Have the eyes been drawn widely enough? Or are they just simple black dots, almost impossible to make out?
- Is the curve of the mouth drawn as a wave that's upturned at each end and takes up most of the available surface? Or is it just some kind of tiny semi-circle? (Tip: Take a sheet of rough paper, and practice drawing the curve in a single stroke, several dozen times if you have to, before trying it again on the balloon)
- etc.
Learning balloon modeling, like learning to play an instrument, develops muscle memory and dexterity. If you don't make an effort from the start to pick up the right habits and develop the right movements, you will instead pick up technical weaknesses you will have a very hard time getting rid of later on. There is no point in having hundreds of balloon sculptures in your portfolio if not one of them is carried out properly.
Items needed:
- 1 black marker pen
- 1 green modeling balloon
Balloon twisting techniques used in this tutorial:
Video Tutorial
Video in French, with English subtitles (if captions do not automatically display in your favorite language, you simply need to modify YouTube parameters at the bottom right of the video screen).
Hello, and welcome on Môssieur Ballon's website. Today, Môssieur Ballon will teach you how to make a frog.
This time I won't be teaching you any new techniques. What you've learned with the puppy dog, and with the sword, will be enough to make this frog!
So like we did for the dog, we're going to blow up a balloon, and leave about the width... the width of a hand. We're going to leave about a hand's width which won't be inflated. We tie our little knot, and we're going to start by making... a bubble... two bubbles... three bubbles... Remember, there is no need to hold the bubbles in the middle. You hold the beginning and you hold the end!
One bubble, two bubbles, three bubbles, four bubbles, and you take the knot of the balloon, which you then hook up to the base of the fourth bubble. So you can see I still have it between my fingers, and I'm just turning... and turning all four bubbles... And... there, to make sure it's secure, I'm passing the knot in the middle of the four bubbles.
And here's the shape I get, try to get this shape yourself. Then, we're going to make another shape that we've come across with the sword... a loop, a small loop! So, to give you an idea of the size of the loop, we'd want it a little bit bigger than the four little bubbles. So, this time, I'm going to press my balloon to push the air towards the reserve, so that this loop is not too inflated. It actually needs to be... quite soft. But not too soft! Try a couple of times until you find the right consistency.
Here's... what I've made! So, before you tell me this doesn't really look like a frog, here's what we'll do now, the two little bubbles on top are going to be wedged inside the loop. So to do this, I pass both of my forefingers through the loop on the other side. With my thumbs, i'm going to force these (top) two bubbles into the loop and then, take out my fingers! And you can see that here, we just have the frog's two eyes! What do you think?
We're going to keep pressing the balloon so that the lining (of the balloon) isn't too compressed. Another little bubble that you're going to make into a "bean", what's known as a pinch-twist! What's a pinch-twist? It's simple! All you have to do is place your finger above (the bubble), to pinch both ends (of the bubble, against each other), to pull (the bubble), and twist it around. And you can see you have a little "bean", the pinch-wist, wedging the head of the frog horizontally against the rest of its body.
Well this frog is almost finished, you can even see we don't have much air left. We're going to make two little front legs, it's very important that these legs shouldn't be too big. We'll twist them at the base of the pinch-twist, and they will come and sit there quite naturally.
Very good! The stomach of the frog will be located a bit further than its legs. Then, you cut... so to speak... you fold the balloon, at almost half way (of the remaining length). The end needs to be a little bit longer (so we can make one last bubble). So, the little stomach... one hind leg... two hind legs... and a little tail... that you attach like this.
Then all you'll need is to wedge the frog's front legs into its back legs! And here's our little frog!
As we've grown accustomed to doing, I'll make the frog again at my usual speed. Practise... try to go as fast as me, when you can do that... you'll be a professional ballooner! The day you can do this... you'll have reached the stage where you could be a professional ballooner!
The finishing touches... And here... we can really say... that a little touch of marker... brings a balloon sculpture to life!
What have we learned thanks to our little frogs? Well in fact... we haven't learned anything! Really! All the techniques used to make the frog, we've learned while making the little dog, and the air sword. But we've still used an important concept, What is it? Practice... practice! To be a very good ballooner, you need to practise, you need to train, you need to make a balloon... two balloons... a hundred balloons! So practise! You can now make a little dog, you can make a sword, you can make a frog.
Next time, I'll teach you how to make a little tiger, which doesn't take any particular trick to make, other than the ones I've already taught you... which are: the little sausage, the little bubble, the Pinch-Twist, air pressure control, and attention to detail!
So... See you soon! For another lesson with Môssieur Ballon!
Step-By-Step Photo Guide
Do you need more help to make this balloon frog ?
This tutorial has been updated recently and a comment section has been added. Do not hesitate to use it if you have any reaction or question or if you need any kind of help. I'm here to help.
