This week in the creature shop we join our top four
creators, who are both excited and stressed with a spot in the top, and final
three hanging in the balance. Everyone
is taking it to heart, and in very different ways. The most notable reaction to the position is
Ben. Now, I like Ben and believe he is insanely
talented; however he has a real problem with failure and critique. You need to be okay with both in the arts. In the first half of the episode all he wants
to do is sulk about his bottom finishing “boldermunch” and it’s hard to feel
bad for him because in the last episode’s first half he was sulking about
Melissa’s win. All in all, I think he
listened closely to the idea of “If you aren’t first you’re last.”
This week’s challenge was a multiphase piece that required
the designers to first create an alien and then an outer housing that works as
a disguise for the alien. So basically,
an alien within an alien, in three days, no problem, oh and they must be mechanized
and be able to reveal on camera. I
swear, when they said they were going to make them work for it, they were not
kidding, especially when you have people like Melissa, who had no previous experience
with a mech before now creating blinks and shifts. I’m so beyond proud of her.
The person completely struggling in the shop this week was
Jake, and this really was too bad because I like Jake and his want to be more cerebral
in his approach. His problem lies in his
execution, and I think it comes from having a finished product and then trying
to work back a story instead of designing the backstory and building off of
that. This week’s alien was no
exception. First the shell’s face was
way too small for the opening, and although the judges didn’t say anything
about it, I caught glimpses of the alien inside before the reveal. Now, not to say that it was a bad piece, the
mouth and eyes were quite lovely actually.
He used a kind of flat black on the eyes which really sold the other
worldly appeal and the pallet on the inside really helped with the character,
however it read as too much time on small nuances and not enough on the picture
as a whole.
Robert’s alien was by far my favorite this week. I really think that he brought the challenge
home with the amount of finishing that was put into both phases of the
character. The outside of the alien
looked in no way human, and really that’s what I want sometimes, I don’t want
to feel like all life is shaped like it is on our planet. But, when the head opened, if you are familiar
at all with Farscape… The alien was a tug on the heart strings! It really was its own little personality that
gave you a sense that there was attitude and life. The accessories alone made me smile, as he
just won me over completely.
Melissa’s adorable creation came with the plus of a well
hidden head. I love her fabrication
techniques and her ability to craft a well thought out plan in fabrics and raw
materials. Also, her paints are
stunning. Still there were a few issues
and those really hurt her in the strong turn out this week. The biggest, was that her alien seemed to
have a floating head in such a wide opening.
It really would have benefited from some kind of shoulder or perhaps a
narrower opening.
As for Ben, the real whinner of the week, I really didn’t
like his design until it came closer and I got a second look at the show. Sometimes you just have to watch it again to
really appreciate the work that someone has put into a creature piece. The color is what put me off the most I
thiunk, it read so dark and yet just dingy and gross, and not in a good
way. Still, his sculpt in the articulated
mouth and the paint job on the eyes actually made this a top contender and in
the end his fully puppet-ed mouth assured him another victory.
Sadly, this is a week I hate because you have to
say good bye to someone talented and this week we say toodles to Jake. While I think he has a prosperous future in
the industry, I do believe that the right decisions were made and am happy
about the top three. I can’t wait for
the finale next week, Go Melissa!
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