Getting caught up on the DVR. I’m not sad to see Sam go but my question is: if the judges saw Lyma’s partner trying to help her and her blowing him off with a “No! Lyma do!” attitude would she have gone home?
Oh, that reminds me of something I’ve been meaning to ask. They’ve referred several times to how Lyma is a body painter. In terms of a job, what is that?
…
That is a good question. Lyma was given advice and said she was doing the painting, trust her judgement. Her judgement was wrong. If the person on the chopping block was her partner, then that would definitely be relevant. As it is, I think it’s still in the "which is worse, the bad paint job, or the horrible sculpting, lack of creative design, and bad application? I think it still slanted to Sam being gone.
They go to festivals and street parties and paint images and pictures on people for display. Think “face painter”, but they also work on other parts of the body, like torsos, legs and arms, etc. Often they work at Mardi Gras, paiting women’s boobs so they can go around topless. I’d google up some images, but not at work. 
I liked the challange today, walking art pieces was a nice change of pace from yest another monster.
Laura’s was amazing! How can she get so much done, and of such a high quality, compared to all the others? Such a deserved win.
And I agree it was time for Scott to go. The piece today wasn’t horrible, but he’s been on the bottom so many time, it was time to put him out of his misery.
Yeah, I’ve been mostly tuning the show out this season, just seems like more of the same. But both of the Cubism looks last night (particularly the deservedly winning one) were just stunning works of art.
Anyone know where I can find hi-res photos of them?
Again, another awesome result from Laura. I love her.
It was cute how many people pitched in to help Tate. That’s one of the reasons I like this show – most of the people are genuinely nice, and the show (as far as I can tell) doesn’t seem out to deliberately set up interpersonal drama. It’s not a reality show about people being mean or catty. (There was one season where it looked like maybe it was going to go this way, but as I recall, the worst offender got booted fairly early on.)
Once again, I loved Laney’s concept … but was a little surprised she was in Top Looks because there was just something about it that looked sloppy to me (similar to how I felt about last week’s clown). Maybe this is just her style, and it doesn’t work for me personally. The face make-up, for example, didn’t seem very precise – the lines looked blurry, and the overall look was a little gloopy (it seemed too thick, too shiny).
Miranda’s face was AWESOME. It really looked sad. It was incredible, even if the rest of the piece was a little blah. I continue to find her to be a bit of a whiner.
I had no idea what Frank was going for in the scenes in the workshop … but then I was extremely impressed when I saw the finished piece. I personally would have switched this out with Laney for top looks.
I’m glad Scott is gone. The one thing that always amazes me is that he seems happy with his creations that are clearly subpar compared to the others. It’s like he has no self-awareness or ability to self-assess. While the judges made a big deal about how Tate didn’t really get the “look” of surrealism, I don’t think Scott did either. I like how kind Ve was to acknowledge that this work was very personal to him, and then to separate that from the critique of the actual design.
Honest to goodness, I think Eddie just isn’t all that bright. He did not seem to get AT ALL that his look wasn’t really capturing anything about Starry Night, and even AFTER Mr. Westmore explains to him that the intense blue is what makes the painting.
Last night started very fun, with the Foundation Challenge on reenvisioning Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Elvira showed up to judge. And looking exactly like she’s looked for decades.
Roy had the most conventional approach to the challenge - he made Elvira with a fresher new look. He did a great job. Tate had a good concept and good execution on a similar character to host monster movies, but it wasn’t Elvira. Some of the others had less success than that. And then there was Scott going for a swamp creature approach. Um, yeah.
Then we got the Spotlight challenge, and this one is one that really threw me for a loop. I haven’t really studied art, so I don’t know a lot about these movements. Especially Constructionism (me and Alana). At least with Cubism and Surrealism and even Expressionism, I have works in mind I can envision that involve people (Picasso, Dali, The Scream). Whereas I’m totally lost on Constructionism, don’t know much about it, and don’t know how people are presented. So I’d have been googling the hell out of it. Or just not picked it.
Laura’s was stunning - so vibrant, the color popping out, the planes and geometries. It did feel like bright-colored cubism. I’m not familiar with cubism being that vibrant, but it worked.
I also liked Roy’s, so I’m mildly surprised he was only Safe. Especially with Frank’s in the Top looks. I don’t know, I didn’t quite know how to connect his result to his style. The beam was a neat effect.
Tate got in a rush and didn’t “think 5”. He’s got a huge heavy mold and he turns it himself and crushes a finger. Yep. I did like the others jumping in to help him, cleaning and prepping the mold. Good on them. Even when they’re racing for their own works, they still squeezed in time for his.
Miranda’s was confusing to me. Maybe I was overly colored by her insecurities and how the edited to focus on that, but I thought she’d be a bottom look. While the sculpt definitely conveyed the sorrowful look, I didn’t think the planar edges really conveyed my impression of cubism, which involves a lot less symmetry and structure. She was too human.
I also was expected Alana to be bottom looks, and the one to keep Scott around another week. Instead she made Safe. Good for her. I really wouldn’t have known what to do there, either.
I agree with the results, Tate did a lot of great work, but it didn’t really convey surrealism, which uses an lot of swoopy curves and bright color contrasts. His was probably the worst at meeting the challenge, but given his otherwise reasonable record, he had leeway to stay around. He made an honest attempt.
Eddie has technical ability to sculpt and apply, but he lacks experience to help conceptualize and understand more subtle aspects of application. He didn’t get the colors were too muted and blended, and didn’t have any contrast. He added blue in the smock and pants, and he wasn’t really copying Starry Night so much as the idea of the swirls. I think he just needs experience and coaching.
Then there’s Scott. I understand the idea to make a personal piece of art, and he had a few interesting ideas in expressing the concepts - the volcano head and the cigarette crutch were best explained. But his actual application was just dreadful. The volcano didn’t look like rock and had the wrong shape, the thing on top was a whiskey bottle? What the hell was the heart sticking out of his chest, why was the ear in a cage? It was just bad all around. I’m glad he’s the one gone.
I do appreciate his attitude, though. He’s happy he had the chance.
Laney’s was another that confused me. I didn’t know what to make of her result, I guess I see Pop art in it, but it was just a confused mess to me, and I agree her application isn’t always smooth. Regarding the face, she said something about having a mask and then an underlayer to reveal, but that wasn’t done. The blurry and gloopy seems to me she did a clear face mask mold like Roy did that other time, but then didn’t remove it. I don’t know, it didn’t work for me, and I’m confused why the judges liked it.
Yes, they’re really focusing on that with the editing. Asking Frank for advice and him telling her he’s not telling her how to do her piece. Her complete insecurity with her result and fear she was bottom looks while the judges were thinking she was top looks. That is starting to be a big thing they show is drawing out.
I get that her last time on the show she didn’t so well. She has come a long way since then, as the results of this season already display, but she still seems to be lacking actual confidence in her abilities even while pulling them off.
Agreed.
Agreed.
I actually thought Tate’s was very surreal. Reminded me (in good ways) of the Neverending Story or a Dark Crystal sort of vibe. I think the judges got hung up on Surreal=Dali. There’s more to surrealism than swooshy flowing shapes. Sadly, due to his injury, the execution wasn’t what I was hoping for. But at least he didn’t get sent home for it.
Laura’s was amazing. beyond amazing. perfect. This show is hers to lose right now.
I don’t think it’s that one-sided. I think Miranda, Laura, and Roy are in a dead heat for the win. Looking at the record on wikipedia, Miranda and Laney are the only ones that have not had a Low score.
Laura has 3 Highs and 2 Wins up against 1 Low and 1 In. That’s pretty strong.
Miranda has 1 High and 3 Wins, up against 0 Lows and 3 Ins. She’s had more solid wins, and her low performance hasn’t been as bad.
Roy has 3 Highs and 0 Wins, up against 1 Low and 3 Ins. But he has also won 3 out of 4 Foundation Challenges. He’s not quite getting the Spotlight Challenge wins, but is doing impressive stuff.
Ratings of Highs and Wins vs Lows
Laura 5:1
Miranda 4:0
Roy 3+:1
You might give Laura a slight edge for having 5 tops, but Miranda has 4 tops and no bottoms. Roy has only 3 tops and no Wins, but the Foundation Challenge is his to command. That puts him in a slightly weaker record.
Tate, Alana, Frank, and Laney have similar records with some success but some struggles.
Eddie’s record shows his best success is merely adequate, i.e. In, and he has 3 Lows. I predict he goes out next, barring any bizarre occurrences (mold breaks, injuries, etc).
I think it’s a tight race, and any of the top 7 could reach the finale, but the likelihood is that it will be the top 3 in the finale, and the makeup of the teams will affect who wins.
Tonight just has me perplexed all around on the judging.
For Miranda and Eddie, I do agree that the sculpts were impressive. And I do have to give Eddie serious credit for following Miranda’s sculpt and making it look cohesive. I do think the purple shading made the texture stand out. However, I thought there was something off in the mouth area, too wrinkly or something, and I thought the color was a little flat. It needed something more to pop. And the chest was definitely lacking - it had the star texture boobs that were totally monotone, not even defining the texture. It was unfinished.
For Tate and Frank, I agree the head was pretty good, and agree the chest/stomach was a mess, sculpturally and paintwise. But I didn’t get the love for the colors. The blues and whatnot just read as lots of bruising. It wasn’t sexy.
Then there is Roy and Laura. They should be awesome together, they were the powerhouse duo. And I really liked their result. I liked the blue, I thought it really popped out. Maybe something in the face was a little too Odo from Deep Space Nine, but it worked. I thought the parasite was interesting, though didn’t see much head movement I could recognize. I thought it was a different choice to mount on the belly, though I might have gone chest. I just don’t get the criticisms of them.
And finally we get to Alana and Laney. They had problems integrating their concept and Alana had problems expressing what she felt was wrong, how it didn’t work. Their communication problems made their paint job last minute, and that didn’t help there be any sense to the colors or patterns. I guess I see how the face didn’t have enough differences to read alien - it was too much to the reputed Star Trek “humans with nose ridges” aliens. I get why they were the bottom looks.
When Glenn commented that it did not feel sexy or alien, and that was primarily the face, I knew it was Alana going home. Laney was trying hard to be a team player, trying to adapt and work to make it fit, but Alana couldn’t express during the sculpting phase how the cohesion wasn’t being met.
So Eddie was saved this week by his pairing with Miranda, and to be fair, his work was good this week. Alana has shown lots of improvement, she grew in the season she was away. She still needs improvement in application texture and in confidence in how to express herself, but she fared much better and can be proud of her efforts this season.
When Alana and Laney were standing there as the two bottom people with their sad gothy teeny frailty it was half full-of-pathos and half bizarrely hilarious.
I gotta say that maybe it’s just because the seem to have a new season of this show every two months but I’m pretty much just not paying attention to this show at all except for the judging where we can actually see the completed looks… pretty much zoning out during all the building and so forth. Although I do think last week with the artworks was an all time series highlight.
Oh gawd, yes. I would love to know what Glen was thinking during that.
I knew this wasn’t going to be my favorite episode as soon as they announced the challenge. A sexy alien that is … in a circus? That just seems so sad, like a Comicon reject. Equally sad was how the contestants did their best to act like their most secret wish had always been to create a sexy alien circus. Good game face, guys!
I ended up not loving any of them.
How much did Eddie luck out on getting paired with Miranda? He actually must have more skills than I’ve been giving him credit for, because he did a good job but I assume it’s because she was providing the vision and direction.
Tate and Frank’s punk character was weird to me. (Or pretty much everything Irishman said.)
Laura and Roy’s was pretty good, and I liked the head, and I didn’t have a problem with the color. I was a little surprised that Laura was having such a tough time with the design. “Sexy alien” should not be that hard (although maybe it was … I didn’t think ANY of them ended up being particularly sexy – I wondered why none of them started with a sexy person design and then adapted it to look alien). It sounded like the parasite’s head was supposed to be moving, but I couldn’t see that at all. I definitely liked this one better than the judges did, but I don’t think it’s close to either Laura and Roy’s best work.
Alana and Laney were clearly at the bottom. I know it’s hard to tell with all the make-up, but we were laughing at home because it looked like the model was sad that his look was being trashed so soundly by the judges. We always wonder if it sucks for the models to have to listen to people talk about how terrible they look – I get that’s a job for them, and they probably do a lot of work wearing stupid things, but still, I can see how it would sound harsh.
Contortionists are sexy. Acrobats can be sexy. Clowns, not so much. Apparently there’s a real “sexy circus” - Cirque Berzerk. Who’d a thunk it?
I didn’t really have a problem with the concept. It’s not “They’re aliens, so put them in the circus.” It’s “We’re aliens and we’re throwing a circus.” I don’t have a problem with coming up with sexy aliens. I didn’t think any of the faces really said sexy. For that, they kinda gotta be more human. YMMV.
I liked the punk chick’s hair. I thought there was some subtle shading to the coloring on Laura’s alien. The blue and green were complementary. Miranda and Eddie’s cowl was intriguing and eye-catching. I liked the idea of Laney’s cowl, but they did not blend the design well. At least they spotted that before they were done and tried to compensate. Did they consider filling some of the scales and using paint to help the blend more?
Last night’s episode was interesting. The went to a Gothic revival church to get their spotlight challenge, to remake one of the Seven Deadly Sins, and incorporate the specific historical color. When given the challenge, Glenn specifically told them to try to avoid the obvious.
Eddie made a weird choice in his design. He had the sin of Envy, represented by green. Eddie was inspired by the gothic architecture and the stained glass, and designed his demon to have structural elements from the head and stained glass eyes. When reviewing the concepts, Michael Westmore pointedly asked how the design represented “envy”, how it conveyed that concept to the audience? Eddie listened but stuck with his original concept. When it got time to judging, he finally felt insecure about the choice, but oddly the judges found enough in the concept to make him safe. There were some elements of the sculpt they liked and some elements that could have been better.
I was expecting him to be bottom looks for that. I didn’t get envy out of the look. It was just weird.
Laura had Wrath and red, so she envisioned the woman being so self-angry, she was ripping her own skin off. She sculpted a skull face and tearing skin. It was definitely the creepiest look of the bunch, and she incorporated the red well. For some reason the judges felt like her amount of work was too little or something. She was merely safe.
Laney had Greed and yellow. She devised a greedy woman with age makeup and a dress of money, and then crafted candles for the shoulders. She made the woman pustulous drawing upon the description from Dante’s Inferno, and incorporated yellow via the pustules. Her work was deemed safe.
Roy had the sin of pride and the color purple (violet). He took it as vanity, and conceptualized a woman who was so vain that she engaged in extensive plastic surgery and whatnot, until her face was destroyed and her skin easily bruised. The purple was drawn in via the bruising and her dress. His concept was pretty smart, but the execution had a lot of points lacking. First off, while he did a credible job with the hair loss, his edges were crappy (which he realized during application). But more importantly, the way he tried to represent the plastic surgery gone wrong just didn’t convey that. He didn’t have the face drawn tight, the botox fixed features, the misshapen lips and face. Instead he had the hair mostly fallen out, and various scars with sutures. He didn’t even have fake boobies. In the end, he got bottom looks for poor execution technique.
Frank was a real mess. He had Gluttony and the color orange. Even though Glenn specifically challenged them to step beyond the obvious, Frank’s immediate thought was a fat slob, so he started with the concept of a giant fat suit. And then he did something strange with the face. He was trying for so excessively fat that it was remarkable, but it didn’t work right. He did do one thing well, doing the skin tone body painting on the fat suit. But the overall concept was obvious and weak and without any creative elements, the neck bag didn’t tie into the face, and he did not have a way to incorporate orange into the makeup. Instead, he just had an orange apple as a prop - the apples being how they were assigned the task. The judges weren’t happy at all, he got bottom looks, and was the one sent home.
Frank can be happy with his overall performance. This time he took the show seriously, he put in effort, and he worked to help other people instead of be a giant ass. That’s his take away.
Miranda had the sin of Lust and the color blue. Her concept was a lust demon chick with big horns. She used the blue in the accents of her demon color and in the dress. She had another lovely and symmetrical sculpt, and the best beauty makeup and best application of the bunch. She got a top looks, but failed in one element. Her sin was Lust, but she put her lust demon in a fairly demure blue dress. As the guest judge said, for a lust demon there needs to be more T&A. She needed to go sexy. She needed to go revealing. She needed to sell sex with the outfit.
Also, Miranda needs to get her shit together. She had another near meltdown through insecurity. It was okay the first couple episodes, when her return to the show marked a dramatic improvement in skill set, but now it’s pretty ridiculous. She’s begging Frank to stop what he’s doing to come show her how to fix the water gun that she can’t figure out how to trade out, but he’s in the middle of gluing his fat suit together. She ended up getting Tate to stop his work to help her - two different times - even though Tate had probably the most work out of any of them this week and was struggling to get his own stuff done. There was also a scene where Roy had to chide him to grow a set of balls and take care of himself.
I’m happy Miranda is doing better, but it’s harder to root for her when she pulls this shit.
Finally, Tate had the sin of Sloth and the color light blue. He claims he was big on Dante’s Inferno, and this challenge really connected for him. He drew upon the description of hell for Sloth with a pit of snakes, but also drew upon the decor of the church where there was a large suspended crown over Jesus. He devised his person as tied by snakes to a post with a spiral staircase rising above to a crown suspended overhead with the eye of God. It was rather more abstract on the representation of sloth, but that really fit with the challenge as given by Glenn. He rolled in the light blue with highlights on the skin, with his sickly snake-bitten sinner. He made a giant snake wrapped around the body and a small snake sculpt around the neck. He was racing to get the painting done but somehow pulled it off, and ended up with not only top looks, but the win. Yay, Tate.
So Eddie got to stay around another week by having passable if not excellent work, while Frank got sent home because he bungled the creative element and didn’t incorporate the color and just generally didn’t have a great concept. Roy had another disaster week, this time not the result of a foam error, but rather just poor design choices. Tate pulled off a well-deserved win, and Miranda displayed once again her excellent sculpts, but left a bit to be desired in full concept of the piece, and needs to work on her stress-handling.
And I previously made predictions that Scott and Eddie would be the next two out, barring miracles. Well, Scott was an accurate call, but Eddie has apparently had two miracles.
First, getting paired with Miranda combined with a disasterous turn from Alana and Laney kept him in and got him his first High score. Then he pulled off something with a concept that was just different enough and some elements of sculpt to catch the judges’ attention and get him safe somehow. Meanwhile, Roy had an uncharacteristic fuck up in design choices, and Frank went obvious and uncreative combined with not including his color.
So I still think Eddie is due to be the next out, but I’ve been wrong several times (Scott got saved a couple times back when he should have been axed).
Miranda has added another High look to her record, while Roy has scored another Low. Tate has scored another Win. So my handicapping has Roy possibly knocking himself out of the top three, maybe even 1 disaster from going home. Tate is looking a bit better, but still not quite matching the others. Laney’s record is still overall remarkably good, thought I think her applications are sometimes rough. Miranda is definitely the contestant to beat, even with her emotional issues. Laura is holding strong in the number 2 slot.
Right now, I’d rank them
Miranda
Laura
Laney
Roy
Tate
Eddie
That’s a bit of a shift from before, where I had Roy above Laney and maybe vying with Laura. That number 3 slot is looking tight. Tate is going to have to execute like hell if he has a shot of making the finals. Roy can’t screw up any more. Miranda could have a complete meltdown, and as long as someone else screws up she can still make it. With only 6 competitors left, any screw up could knock any of them out if everyone else does reasonably well. Roy got lucky that Frank was a disaster. If Frank had done something original, Roy would be out.
And it wasn’t the problem using silicone in either case. The problem with the snake-lady wasn’t the material, it was the design choice of fangs through the lips, hair through the cobra neck. The problem with the Vain lady was the bad depiction of plastic surgery gone wrong, not the material for the skin.
Thinking about Frank and gluttony, instead of going with the obvious fat guy, maybe he could have gone for a starving thin guy with his mouth sewn shut surrounded by fabulous food. He’s starving and can’t eat the things he liked to eat when he was alive. Then the food could have been incorporated through the food elements, like icing on cake or donuts and cookies.
I think I agree with just about everything Irishman said, but I’ll still throw in my two cents, because you guys are the only other people I know who watch the show, and I don’t have anyone else to talk about it with!
Scott! HOW did he make it through again? I was so sure he would be the next to go. I didn’t understand how his design spoke to “Envy” at all (maybe we see an edited version of how he explained it to the judges). I’m convinced he’s an idiot. At one point, he talked about not seeing how the color green related to envy. I think envy is the only one of the sins whose color actually shows up in a common phrase – “green with envy.” GEEZ. I was also expecting bottom looks as well.
For Wrath, I liked Laura’s design but was surprised she had SO much blood, from what it looked like to me, it hid a lot of the neat details of her design. Mr. Westmore (the contestants all call him that, so that’s how I think of him, plus he looks like a nice old dad) even suggested to her that the blood be more of an accent than a gorefest. I think if she had made the blood effect more subtle, she might have had more of a chance for top looks.
Laney’s Greed being safe I generally agree with. As always, I thought her concept was great, but didn’t think the execution was tight enough.
I’ve never liked Roy’s designs as much as some people (but I appreciate that he always puts A LOT of work into them, and doesn’t mess around). I thought his Vanity was … okay. I agree with the judges points about how it wasn’t plastic surgery-ish enough (although how do you do that without ripping off Katherine Helmond in Brazil?), but I personally would have made Roy safe and put Eddie in the bottom.
Frank, Frank, Frank. How do you hear Glenn say “don’t go for the obvious?” and then do a fat guy? Terrible all around. I could not argue at all that he was the one to go. The idea I had (I like to armchair design at home, I think they should let me on the show and give me minions to actually make the characters) was a skin and bones skeleton type who is trying to stuff down food … but the more he eats, the more he is eaten away. You could even have gaping holes in the rib cage, where consumed foot would be spilling out.
Miranda’s character, Lust, looked great as usual, although I agree not sexy enough (but … what I really would have liked to have seen was for her to meet the challenge of doing Lust in a “not obvious” way in keeping with Glenn’s directive. Wouldn’t a revealing dress have been obvious?). She, as a person, is so annoying. I can’t believe she pitched a fit because other people wouldn’t stop their work to help her, she seemed honestly AMAZED that she wasn’t getting help. She was acting as if she injured herself and no one helped.
Tate’s was the one choice that I felt was a little … off. I liked his concept, I like how he incorporated the snakes. I liked the image of being bound to portray Sloth, I liked that overall the design was more conceptual. But the actual LOOK of the character was weird to me – the face looked both fakey, and slapdash to me. Again, I can only imagine the judges were seeing some technical excellence that I’m not qualified to evaluate.
To me, I think Roy is getting a little tired. This creation just wasn’t up to his normal standards of awesome. I’m really worried that he might get kicked out if it keeps up.
First of all Pride and vanity ARE NOT THE SAME THING Roy. In fact Roy’s concept to me seemed almost the opposite of Pride, the woman was so not proud of her appearance that she kept having plastic surgery. I n a religious sense the sin of pride is very closely tied to the idea of competing with God and is the most serious of the seven sins. I would have done something like someone who is trying to cheat death and therefore cheat God, maybe have a bunch of mismatched parts, scars all over their body where a new heart, a new liver etc. have replaced the aging ones. New eyes to replace those that have gone blind with age…something like that.
Why do you think I post so much? 
You mean Eddie - Scott was let go two weeks ago. Looking up wikipedia on the seven deadly sins, it discusses how the punishment in Dante’s Inferno for Envy was sewing the eyes shut. Thus, I can see how Eddie’s design used shuttering the eyes with stained glass and the gothic buttress elements from the church to make a creative take on the punishment in hell. Ve also made some remarks about some element of the sculpt that was intriguing. I do think the paint job as again a bit lackluster, but given that interpretation, I can see how Eddie gave a creative take on meeting the challenge, if a bit lackluster in execution. So that’s what made him safe.
You and I seem to be on the same wavelength - invert the stereotype. I was trying to think of some way he was forced to consume himself. I like your idea where his hunger is never satiated, and the more he tries, the more he suffers.
The concept has to speak to the sin of Lust. She needed some way to either incorporate the idea of sexy or the idea of the consequences of lust. I don’t think she had either, just a prettyish demon.
The face was a weird element to me, but he seemed to be going for the effects of hell, the venom rotting the face. Thus the sickly color and texture and all. I think overall the concept was so strong and original that it overcame any weakness in face application.
Except according to wikipedia, they are.
So while he could have taken a different track for pride, going the vainglory route seems acceptable.
She desired to be more attractive than anyone else, to the point of deleterious effects to her looks. Kinda like the witch in Snow White.
Certainly trying to compete with God is the main interpretation for pride.
Yikes, you’re right! They both drove me equally crazy. I still can’t believe Eddie is still on.