-
Step 1
Master the traditional characters and animals before you attempt to expand your repertoire. It'll be much easier to be creative if you can build off of shapes you know well.
-
Step 2
Take classes or study websites to keep your skills up to date and uncover any new, innovative techniques.
-
Step 3
Study instructional books, online ideas or the creations of other performers and use their ideas as jumping off points or idea starters as you brainstorm new characters.
-
Step 4
Use new colors and unusual combinations to give traditional figures an updated look.
-
Step 5
Make 2 existing forms and then decipher ways you can dismantle and recombine them to create something new. Try topping a hat with a new decorative shape or a making a mini version of a hat to place on a plain animal or character.
-
Step 6
Go on a field trip. Look at objects in nature, animals at the zoo, trendy cartoon characters at a video store or beloved characters at the toy store. Experiment until you find a way to recreate them with balloons.
-
Step 7
Think whimsically. It'll be easier to devise new models if you're not concerned about them looking like exact replicas of the originals.
-
Step 8
Find other items you can add to existing shapes to spruce them up. Stickers, bits of colored tissue paper or lengths of ribbon, for example, all make great additions to traditional embellishments like marker doodles.
