I had all sorts of problems with writing as a kid, with terrible handwriting and undiagnosed dyslexic issues. To a large degree I retaught myself and now people tell me that I have really good handwriting. I can't write very quickly yet but things are generally much better. I didn't really have a plan, but looking back it was really important to change the way I felt about making marks on paper.
Two things that I think were important:
   1 Drawing lots of large abstract shapes by eye (on A3 size paper) particularly drawing straight lines .
   2 Practising calligraphy.

In both cases, the fact that I was doing this entirely for myself and nobody else was judging was very important.

As a rule, I don't do a lot of drawing on balloons, but I found copying manga style illustrations to be very helpful. Also the Andrew Loomis books go into more detail than you need, but are very good for judging proportion and are quite beautiful in themselves. Try googling them

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BevsH0jOMA

Excellent.

Wow!

Cool, but the best thing about Astro-boy is his bum rockets:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/no ... -astro-boy

Tricky to do in balloons I reckon

Quote from: "Suz Balloons"I hesitated to ask the parents to join in and help supervise their kids.  I didn't want to offend anyone, but I think maybe I should have asked for help.  What is proper in this situation?

Someone has been offended: you.

Most of all, well done for getting stuck in. I'm sure that you will find yourself managing more resourcefully next time anyway. I've often said that twisting the balloons is about 10% of the job, and the way to learn the rest is to just do it.

Rather than "asking for help", it's really about making it clear where responsibilities lie. They are neglecting their duty of care by leaving you unsupervised, leaving everyone in a vulnerable position. You have not been contracted as a carer, they haven't done their own CRB check on you, and they haven't met the required ratios of adult supervisors to children.

Perhaps you could put a clause in your contract saying something like "The entertainer does not accept in loco parentis responsibility for the welfare of children. Suitable adult supervision must therefore be provided by the client at all times"

My experience is from busking, rather than parties.  I get a lot less grief than I used to. There is no particular technique, it's more a case of spotting potential problems and acting quickly. Experience is the teacher.

Well done and good luck! I hope the adults are better behaved next time.

Terrific eyes!

Oh and poundland do usable 2-way pumps for, suprisingly, a pound.

The I.D.E.A.S. coaching methodology is universally useful. It makes things run very smoothly and it is easy to do. I won't go into the psychology much except to say that each step matters, and so does the sequence. I learned this as a canoe coach but it works anywhere.

Introduction : Hello, we are going to make a balloon dog today. Has anyone made a dog before? Well we will all do it together to start with. First of all I'm just going to show you. Then I shall explain. Then we will all have a go.

Demonstration.  DO NOT SPEAK AT THIS POINT.

Explanation . Repeat the demonstration, explaining as you go

Activity . Now is the time to give out the balloons and let them have a go

Summary . Well done everyone now that you can make a dog, you might like to try some other animals

After a quick bit of editing:

Adapted from Brenion. Gutted I had no green 646, I shall attempt photoshopping later

Really effective.

For my first attempt I used the multicoloured base approach from the first video to help keep things clear in my mind. Being miserly, I didn't want to waste balloons, so I came up with this clownish chap.


I'm very pleased. For a fairly moderate amount of time and effort, this approach has the potential for huge punter impact.

My first attempt at a David Brenion style mask.

Quote from: "Danny the Idiot"The Lovely Balloon Store

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