So here is the low down on last nights episode.
Production claimed it was a random drawing that paired Nix and I. Neither of us have ever believed that.
From the moment we were paired together Nix and I agreed that I would lead sculpting and he would lead painting but we could not agree on an animal while we were in the aquarium.
I wanted to do a frog or a lobster. He had a couple fish he liked that I didnt. The turtle was a compromise that we both thought could be cool and, more importantly, different, as by that point we saw that everyone was doing fish.
We also agreed we wanted to do something fun and not horrific or 'monster'. We wanted a cartoonish character but not TOO cartoonish (which can be tricky).
We got along really well for most of the build. I sculpted the head and arms (there were actually two). Nix sculpted the back of the turtle shell, which I then went back into a little just to make it match the arms and head better.
One big mistake was only sculpting the top half of the shell but, in my defense, that was Nix saying he could blend it to the skin with paint.
We both made the molds and that went fine. We ran into some big problems casting the pieces for the arms and back that they didnt show. Nix has very little experience casting pieces, he is pretty much strictly a painter, so the arms he cast came out too thin and fell apart. At the last minute I tried to recast them but couldnt get it done in time.
The back was both of our faults. We didnt get the molds for the back shell done in time to get a flexible foam latex casting (this has to be baked in an oven overnight) so we had to make the back shell out of 'Halloween mask' latex, which is NOT flexible and simply would not stick/stay on the back. It had nothing to do with types of glue or anything like that...no one could have ever got that shell to stick to someones back. Its just the wrong material to use.
In hindsight we should have just not used the back piece.
So then Nix starts painting and I am just assisting. After about an hour I stand back and look at it and say, so everyone can hear, I dont like it and we should rethink it. I did this so when the judges came back and hated the paint (which I knew they would), my ass was covered by saying early on I didnt like it.
Anyway, to Nix credit he listens to my comments and makes some changes but there just isnt enough time to totally redo it. He was running out of time so he asked me to take the reigns in painting the back shell, which I did.
Then it was time to put on the arms, which were falling apart and even stuck together in places. Here is where I made my biggest mistake of the challenge. I used baby powder to lubricate the rubber arm to get it on. This is the standard method of getting a tight rubber piece onto someone HOWEVER I brain farted and didnt think about how the powder was going to cloud the water tank until after it was too late. So that was totally my fault.
Now, interestingly enough, I wasnt the only one who made that mistake but our turtle was the only one where they showed it. Another interesting tidbit is that EVERYONES makeups were falling apart in the water. The winning girls crotch piece came off almost instantly and her ______ was completely exposed. It was happening to everyone. We simply didnt have enough time to use the proper materials for underwater. They showed the turtles shoulder pieces falling off but that was after he was in the makeup for over 2 hours. But the shell did come loose instantly, which we unfortunately knew was going to happen.
Whats interesting is after the show I finally got a chance to hang out with Nix and see his work. He is INCREDIBLE. I mean, his body painting is mind blowingly fantastic. Google him and see for yourself. He is also a great guy and we are good friends.
After this challenge I realized the show was not for me. It was more about theatrical masquerade costumes than what we do in the film industry. While I love Tara and Matt, their character looked like an off-broadway Cirque De Sole reject with pieces of iridescent fabric hanging off it and sculpted pieces that wouldnt even qualify as 'rough outs' in my world. To me, having seen everything in person, the shark was BY FAR the best. Sure the costume floated in the water but it was the ONLY one you could have put in front of a film camera and shot. It was great and showed skill in all the disciplines required to be a professional makeup artist.
We started to call it 'Art Off' instead of Face Off as the 'makeup' aspect was not a dominant part of the show. It was more about crazy costuming using some techniques from the makeup world.
This was the 'Great Equalizer' as we called it. Suddenly we all realized it didnt matter that I was a much better sculptor than anyone else or that I knew how to make top notch molds, etc...none of that really mattered. What really mattered was concept, concept, concept and the truth is, Im not a great designer. Never been my forte', I HIRE great designers.
So thats your Episode 2 wrap up !
real life ones do come out of the water for air
