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Balloon Twisting From Scratch 4 - The Tiger

Equipment:

1 modeling balloon1 pump1 felt-tip marker

Level:Easy

This photo tutorial is a complementary resource for the video Balloon Twisting From Scratch 4 - The Tiger whichyou can also find on Môssieur Ballon's YouTube channel.

Here's another slightly more elaborate sculpture, but as with the frog, the skills used have already all beencovered in the first two tutorials: the doggy and the sword. So this is just yet another practical exercise and anew sculpture to add to your portfolio.

Reminder: To learn balloon twisting, make real progress and get past the stage of eternal beginner, it isimperative that sooner or later you should perfectly master the basic skills. Please feel free to go over the skillsused for this figure one more time:

Skill 1: KnotsSkill 2: BubblesSkill 3: How To Curve A BalloonSkill 5: Pinch-TwistsSkill 6: Air Pressure Control

1- Inflate a balloon leaving amargin at the end of slightly morethan the width of a hand. Then tiethe knot.

2- Starting from the knotted end,make a first, well-roundedbubble.

3- Make a second, identicalbubble, following the first.

4- Follow these with a thirdbubble, this time a little widerthan the first two.

5- To finish the row of bubbles,make two more bubbles identicalto the first two. If need be, reviewhow to make a row of bubbleswithout them getting undone.

6- Holding the knot to the base ofthe row of bubbles, twist thebubbles several times togetheraround their base to block them.

7- You should get a shape similarto this one.

8- Form another well-roundedbubble,

9- then, a second bubblefollowing it, a little longer than thefirst (about double).

10- You should now have ashape similar to this one.

11- Feed the new little bubble,then the larger one, through theloop formed by the first row ofbubbles.

12- The fold between the last bigbubble and the remaining portionof balloon should fall into placenaturally to form a right anglewith with the first large bubble.

13- Front view. With a littleimagination, you can alreadystart to see the tiger's cheeks, itsforehead, its muzzle, and its earssticking out a little on either side.

14- In fact, we are now going totake the bubble representing theright ear (or the left ear if you areleft-handed). And we're going topinch it...

15- to make a 'pinch-twist'.

16- Here is the first ear of thetiger.

17- Next turn the head to pinchthe bubble representing the leftear (or right ear if you are left-handed and you started on theother side).

18- Make another 'pinch-twist'.

19- Now, here is the head of ourtiger with both of its ears wellshaped.

20- For the rest, it's exactly thesame body as the little doggy's.Form a round bubble for the neck(it can be slightly oval, but makesure it isn't too long!)

21- Holding the head so thebubble for the neck won't getundone, form a long bubbleabout three fingers wide to makethe tiger's first leg.

22- Still holding the head, twistthe remaining portion of balloonagainst the first leg to form asecond leg of equal length to thefirst.

23- Firmly pinch them together attheir base.

24- Twist both bubbles togetherto block them.

25- Our little tiger is starting totake shape.

26- Make another oval bubble forthe stomach.

27- Make another oval bubblefollowing it, making sure it's thesame size as the front legs.

28- Then one last bubble for thesecond hind leg. You will have tomake sure it's the same length asthe previous bubble.

29- Pinch the hind legs togetherat their base and twist themtogether to wedge them in place.

30- Now, here is our little tiger.Let's perfect a few details tomake it a little less stiff and a bitmore natural-looking.

31- Hold both ends of thestomach bubble and gentlymove them back and forth, to rubthem gently against each otherat the center of the bubble.

32- Next, press the tail bubblebetween your hands, to form anS shape, and like previously, rubgently at the folds of the S.

33- With curved shapes, our littletiger looks much better now,doesn't it? All we have to do nowis to draw a few features on it tobring it to life.

And that's it for today. See you soon! For another lesson... with Môssieur Ballon!