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Artist Finds His Dream Job With Balloons (Yes, He's The Balloon Guy!)

Joe Donovan says while he's always been an artist, he found his true calling as a balloon artist while he was just looking for a way to pay his bills

Joe Donovan is cranking out dogs, giraffes, and just about anything else you can think of made out of balloons.  Donovan has always been an artist, but for it took a little twist of fate for him to find his calling.

After being laid off from his job as a graphic artist at a magazine, he started creating balloon art for kids, as a part time job.

What started as a “pay the bills” job has three years later turned into something pretty unexpected.

Joe’s Party Animals is a one man-business, but one that’s booming, with regular customers like dentist offices and kids parties.  He's currently in the middle of a stretch where he's worked 15 straight days.

Joe’s Party Animals, is at the point where he’s making as much as he was working for a magazine, Donovan says. From his perspective, making a bunch of two, three, and four year olds and their parents laugh and smile is much more rewarding that trying to please an editor.

Donovan admits that sometimes the best things in life start with something bad, or at least unexpected.

He believes he’s found his calling; a calling that leaves him, and a lot of kids, smiling.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.