Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Part 4. Beginners Guide to the Elements & Principles of Design - Rhythm

As we continue our journey to having a greater understanding of the elements and principles of design,  the next principle of design that we are going to look at is RHYTHM.

Rhythm is quite simple to understand,  Rhythm means movement, which creates interest within a design, if you think of music it's like the beat, there is always an underlying beat that takes us through a song or piece of music and rhythm in design is the same.

There are four main ways of creating rhythm within a design:

Transition
Repetition
Radiation
Variation

The primary purpose of rhythm is to guide the eye to the focal area but without trapping it there.



Transition:
Transition helps to create greater impact, similar shaped balloons can be graduated in size to add variety and therefore transition within the design, if you think about music again, the transition in music is when it changes from one key to another, so with balloons it can be when we change from one balloon size to another.

So looking at the 'Dolphin Arch' below, the transition in this design is where the balloons are decreasing/graduated in size from the base to the centre.

This design also uses repetition to create rhythm, this has been formed with the use of the 260Q curly spirals in the centre of the design.

The Very Best Balloon Blog


Wednesday, September 17, 2014

A centrepiece design idea for Halloween

In my last blog 'Part 3 The Beginners Guide to the Elements & Principles of Design- Texture & Balance', I talk about how it can be harder to create designs that have contrasting textures as balloons  generally have a similar texture, however if we can create contrasting textures within a design it can give us a design that has greater visual impact!

So with 'texture' in mind, I set about creating a centrepiece design for Halloween.


Jack O'Lantern Qualatex Bubbles #18494 


Every centrepiece needs a strong focal point, and for my Halloween design I chose to use the 'Jack O' Lantern' 22" Bubble, there is another Bubble also 22" called 'Magical Jack' (see below) that is also perfect for this design!



I personally love these Bubbles and the vibrancy of the the colours, to me, they look like they are lit up and radiate a warm glow!





Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Part 3 The Beginners Guide to the Elements & Principles of Design - Texture & Balance

Texture is the final 'element' of design that we are going to look at in this series of blogs, we have already looked at Colour in Part 1 and Line in Part 2.

Texture

When working on balloon decor it is often harder to create a design that has contrasting textures as the visual texture of a balloon is the same. However if we can include other components with a different textural difference we are able to create designs with greater impact, therefore we need to look at other mediums to help us achieve this.


The Very Best balloon Blog


This is a great example of texture, this centrepiece design is based around the Peacock Accent Pattern Diamond AccentsTM Microfoil® Balloon #41227. To enhance this centrepiece design a feather boa, faux feathers and coiled metallic decorative wires have been used, all giving different visual textures that strengthen's the theme, making this a fantastic design.


This design can be found on the Qualatex website in the Wedding Business Booster along with the instructions on how to make it!











Thursday, September 4, 2014

Drawing a face on a balloon.

A face can be the most important feature when creating a character, it is the first thing that we look at, it’s the focal point of a design.

A face can be simple, or with a little more detail they can show some great expressions!

Design by 游小白 - I love this design and the face, it's simple but it's perfect!

I know that many of you will be saying that you are not artistic (I can hear you), but I hope that I can give you a few pointers that will help you to have a go!

I would say that I am not a natural artist, but I am pretty good at copying, so when I am creating a character I look for idea’s and inspiration to help me.

So where do I find my inspiration? I use a variety of different sources including Google search and Pinterest using key search words to help me to find what I am looking for.