S10.E10: Keep One Eye Open

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Five artists remain for the Focus Challenge of creating a unique Cyclops character. Actor Douglas Smith joins the panel as a guest judge.

[rustyspigot]

So Mel made a roided up Cyclop version of Mac from "Mac and Me". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5le9sYdYkM

 

I can't wait to see Mel panic for the entirety of another show next week.

 

I don't know otherwise. Melissa had a lot going on in that face.

[Frozendiva]

I was surprised that Mel received a biscuit/immunity for her dog-clops. Paws for thought for that one. She deserved to go home. More panicking next week when it's a double-elimination week as the season finale is the week following.

 

Yvonne's was passable, Walter only lived for another week because he won last week. Both Melissa's and Rob's were the best. Melissa did very good work. I still don't get the demon obsession with the facetestants. Greek mythology was full of the marvelous.

[Rhetorica]

Westmore seems to be giving more advice and nearly designing for them as the season goes on.

[iscoffy]

I can never figure out if the briefs are bad or lacking in detail, if some of the contestants don't have a lot of background knowledge, or if they just decide to ignore the parameters (or some combination thereof).  "Satan's blacksmith"  made me yell at the TV.  Yvonne, that is not a thing in Greek myth!  Hephaestus, yes.  Hades wasn't really demonic, but okay,  maybe the underworld needed a blacksmith.  Satan?!  And did Mel just not think about or know about Cerberus? If you're going to make a dog cyclops, you might as well tie it in somehow. Since they only got one eyeball and she was barely able to eek out one face, obviously three wasn't happening but still...  Although I don't think it was ever said that the cyclops had to be intimidating, other than it being implied since their models were humongous.  If she weren't so nervous, hesitant and second-guessing, she could have just gone all-out on a goofy character and said she meant it.

 

Westmore seems to be giving more advice and nearly designing for them as the season goes on.

 

 

Too bad half the time they still screw it up.  Different shades of light lavender without good shading just wasn't ever going to work out.

 

As an aside, the guest judge was really adorable.

 

Was Melissa's obvious D&D dorkiness over her cyclops character a sign she'll rock next week's challenge, or totally geek out and lose it?  

Edited March 17, 2016 by iscoffy

[GaT]

I was waiting for the save, I don't really think that Mel deserved it, but they were running out of time to use it. I'm going to be mad if Rob gets eliminated next week.

[SnideAsides]

I really like that they've been doing different types of mythical creatures (Cyclops, genie, Valkyrie) these last few weeks instead of defaulting to the usual "Alien! Werewolf! Zombie! Vampire! Zombie Werewolf in Wonderland!" thing most seasons seem to fall into.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Best quote this week:

Mel: Eyeballs are actually a passion of mine. I make them at home a lot.

 

Bonus: A few seconds later when she went to choose her eyeball, she made an "ewww" noise that sounded just like Pat from SNL.

[Primetimer]

A cyclops challenge raises the question: what does a cyclops use for the winky emoticon?

Read the story

[diebartdie]

Man Melissa knocked it out of the park with this challenge! She did something totally unique and amazingly beautiful and interesting to look at, I loved it! I see it coming down to final three of Melissa, Rob and Yvonne with the real contest being between Melissa and Rob. Rob's creation was top notch of course but not as challenging as Melissa's....I think if Rob had had one more day he could have figured out what he was trying to do with the mouth eye and he could have made something mind blowing but he did great with what he had anyway. Yvonne still with the awesome application but she really really needs to make the next creation so awesome you just swoon over it otherwise, meh. Final three could potentially be Walter instead of Yvonne, he's got the talent he just usually does not have that final level of polish to his designs and this one really suffered for that. Dude, to "go above and beyond" on a foundation challenge means doing something like what Melissa did, not painting the body. I knew they would use the save last night and that meant it was going to Melissa. She's not lacking talent, she's lacking grit. If she would just practice some radical acceptance, say YES to herself and her artistic vision, maybe she could make something awesome.....I'm not holding my breath. Anyway, I am now firmly Team Melissa (with a giant soft spot for Rob), I hope she takes it all!

[Ketzel]

I really like that they've been doing different types of mythical creatures (Cyclops, genie, Valkyrie) these last few weeks instead of defaulting to the usual "Alien! Werewolf! Zombie! Vampire! Zombie Werewolf in Wonderland!" thing most seasons seem to fall into.

Yes, the challenges have definitely gotten better. I just wish the skills and knowledge of the contestants had gotten better!

Yeah, Satan is not a being out of Greek mythology. Neither is a part-canine Cyclops soldier.

One of the things that all of the contestants seemed to overlook (no pun intended) was the need to focus the single eye. I thought all of the Cyclops were staring downwards or upwards. None of them were looking straight out at the judges.

[cee]

Dragons or dragon-inspired makeups have won for the past three weeks, I believe. Rob started the trend, then Walt, and now Melissa with the lizard/dragon.

Dog cyclops would have been a great concept for another challenge--like incongruous superhero.

[Merneith]

Mel's actual inspiration:

 

[Jamoche]

A cyclops challenge raises the question: what does a cyclops use for the winky emoticon?

http://previously.tv/face-off/face-off-has-its-eye-on-you/"> Read the story

›)

[Canada]

I find that a lot of Yvonne's creations tend to look a bit like her and, in this episode, I finally realised why.  It's because she spends so much time looking at herself in the mirror, trying to get the anatomy right.  Which is probably a good thing, but I think subconsciously, the sculpt then starts to share some of her features.  As soon as I saw her cyclops on the reveal stage, my immediate thought was "that's Yvonne as a male cyclops with weird looking skin".

 

Mel... sigh.  I really thought she should have gone home tonight.  She's been going downhill for weeks and should not have been saved.

[starri]

The only thing that I technically "mind" about Mel's save was that this is going to give us the inevitable "I really need to prove myself this week!" at the top of the next episode.  When she said she made eyes at home, I was like "Oh, thank God, we'll get a break from her doubting herself."  Not so much.

 

I understand that Melissa's was a lot of work, and I could appreciate the level of detail, but it was just too busy.  I was worried about Rob's, but shouldn't have been.

 

I did feel bad for Mel and Rob.  They're both on the short side, and that was a lot of model to work on.

[Canada]

I feel like the 'tall models' idea was kind of wasted here.  Maybe it looked more impressive in person, as a judge.  But for us viewers, a tall person standing by himself just looks like a person.  We have no reference to say "okay, wow, that guy looks really tall compared to that other thing".  Maybe this idea would have worked better if the contestants had to make two looks, one using the regular models, one using a tall model.  Then I think it would have had more impact.  I was disappointed.

[Maelstrom]

Finally, someone this season gave us a makeup worthy of remembering! Melissa's dragon-clops is the first look this year that could stand up against past gems. The amount of detail in her sculpting was amazing for just one's day work, and I especially liked how she camouflaged eyeholes for her model into it. And even though the paint job had a lot going on, it worked together really well. Brava!

 

Cyclops are always an odd one - I know when they don't look "right", but damned if I know how it should look. IMO, at least. Though Mel's lack of an orbital cavity was an obvious eyesore (no pun intended). This challenge really highlighted that a lot of these contestants are lacking in anatomical knowledge. Several of them sculpted multiple tiny little bags under the eye that made no sense to me. I was surprised the judges didn't call them out on it (though I guess they could've and it didn't make it to air).

 

Agree the guest judge was adorable.

 

So, when did animal-human hybrids replace gore monsters as everyone's go-to concept? Not that I ever mind fewer gory monsters, but still. ???

 

Can Mel go home next week, pretty please? She and both Robert should've been gone ages ago.

 

I find that a lot of Yvonne's creations tend to look a bit like her and, in this episode, I finally realised why.  It's because she spends so much time looking at herself in the mirror, trying to get the anatomy right.

Rod from season 3 is still the winner in that category - every makeup, every week, looked eerily like he did. And the worst part is that, even with the judges pointing it out to him every week, he didn't see it. Not one bit.

[Zanne]

I understand that Melissa's was a lot of work, and I could appreciate the level of detail, but it was just too busy.  I was worried about Rob's, but shouldn't have been.

 

 

I also thought it was too busy. It was pretty and had some skill to it, but when I first saw it, I had no idea what it was supposed to be and wondered where the eye was. There was just far too much going on in a small space. Then the crooked eyelid started to really bother me, once I could distinguish where the eye was in all of that mess. 

Edited March 18, 2016 by Zanne

[LittleIggy]

The young actor was super cute and gave a lot of really great observations.

[starri]

I always like when they have actors on (I think recurring Guest Judge Doug Jones goes to the top of the list), because even when they can give feedback on how it's going to look on camera, they can also give feedback on how wearing that stuff is going to feel.  They're not all winners, but this went pretty well.

[needschocolate]

Now that Robert is gone, Melissa has taken over giving the character a name and "humorous" back story.  The difference is that it doesn't annoy me when Melissa does it. 

 

I was waiting for the save, I don't really think that Mel deserved it, but they were running out of time to use it. I'm going to be mad if Rob gets eliminated next week.

 

I am guessing/hoping that the judges thought it over and came to the conclusion that Melissa and Rob were never going to be the worst looks - they are just too much better than the rest - and that it was safe to use the save on Mel.  Personally, I don'[t think they should have saved Mel.  I think she has been in top looks in the past - maybe even won a challenge - but it wasn't a surprise that she did this badly.  If Rob's had looked like Mel's, it would be obvious that he had a really off week, but for Mel this wasn't completely out of character.   

 

I also think that if Walter would have been declared worst, they would have used the save on him.  

[call me ishmael]

You could tell that they were going to save Mel when Glenn made his comment about how the fact that she knew she had messed up showed she had the ability to improve.  I didn't mind them using it on Mel since I always like her except that that makes next week a double elimination and in those all you need is one off week and Rob or Melissa could be up the creek without save.  Frankly the two of them are so much better than the rest it is sort of silly at this point.

 

I liked Melissa's a lot but then I like dragons.  I couldn't believe that a bunch of make up artists who were geeking out on cyclops seemed to know so little Greek Mythology though?  Satan?  Demonic?

[Pallida]

I don't know why, but I kinda wish Robert could have done the cyclops challenge. I guess maybe his absurdity would have been amusing? It was last time for him to go, but I would have preferred absurdity over droopy dog.

I think most of the eye folds were to hide eye slits for the models to actually see as they walk. And I thought aesthetically, most of those folds failed.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

I didn't mind them using it on Mel since I always like her except that that makes next week a double elimination and in those all you need is one off week and Rob or Melissa could be up the creek without save.

I think they ran out of chances to use the save on somebody worth saving, resulting in this week being a secret nobody-goes-home week to get the double-elimination they had planned all along.

[Kaoteek]

Not a huge fan of Melissa's cyclops (too busy, indeed, and a tad too Jem'Hadar for my tastes), and Rob's fetl derivative to me (I'm positive I've already seen that color palette & approximate sculpt elsewhere), but they were clearly top 2 here.

 

As for the bottom two... well Walter's looked good from afar, mediocre from up close, but still better than dogface and rough, basic, horned blacksmith. Those two were my bottom two, and no, I wouldn't have saved any of those.

[hincandenza]

Rod from season 3 is still the winner in that category - every makeup, every week, looked eerily like he did. And the worst part is that, even with the judges pointing it out to him every week, he didn't see it. Not one bit.

Oh man, I remember that guy- so amazing. Even on the old TWOP forums we talked about the sameness, before the judges called him out- but like you said, he never seemed to grasp how his work looked like a self-caricature. But yeah, Yvonne has a similar trait to her work, although sometimes it ends up coming out pretty well. Rod's really didn't...

Mel, I'm tired of, and find it astonishing she's made it this far. I knew she was in the bottom from the start, when her idea and the sketch looked really stupid. I'm on mobile so I can't easily see, but someone here aptly noticed the hilarious resemblance to Mac & Me.

There is a strong correlation between people who have no real creative spark, and people who suck on this show. When say Melissa or Rob talks about their ideas, there's a cohesion and internal logic to it: drawing in colors and shapes from related elements, etc. When sucky people talk about their ideas, it's random crap: oh let's make this a mohawk... army... dog... because, uh, reasons. Robert did it, Mel does it, and it usually leads to failure.

Edited March 19, 2016 by hincandenza

[hincandenza]

So Mel made a roided up Cyclop version of Mac from "Mac and Me". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5le9sYdYkM

I can't wait to see Mel panic for the entirety of another show next week.

I don't know otherwise. Melissa had a lot going on in that face.

Ah, it was you! Although I'm a little confused as to why you linked to a clip from Paul Rudd's newest movie... :)

[sourpickles]

Well, that was a nicely redeeming episode, compared to the pile of crap last week. I KNEW they were going to save Mel, the minute she was in every other TH they had. I really wish they hadn't, though. I think she has talent, but her incessant lack of confidence and constant freaking out gets more grating by the week. Maybe she's getting a lousy edit, but I haven't been able to stand her for ages. Hers was by far the worst, Droopy Dog, indeed. That paint job was hideous. Loved Melissa's and Rob's. M's was very busy, but the longer I looked at it the more impressive it was. Rob's was awesome too, that color palette rocked. I didn't mind Walter's too much, and Yvonne got a pass for doing the same smooth paint job that is her signature now. Good enough for top three? Not sure. Have they done Cyclops on here before? I thought they did some seasons ago, just like I could have sworn they covered genies as well. And one other thing I've noticed. Nine times out of ten, when there is a big, long, drawn out backstory, the end product usually doesn't live up to it. If the story doesn't translate into the makeup, it's over.

[Mabinogia]

I think the ones who have elaborate backstories for their characters are trying to hide the fact that they didn't do a good job. Like, maybe if they talk it up enough the judges won't notice all the flaws.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I think the ones who have elaborate backstories for their characters are trying to hide the fact that they didn't do a good job. Like, maybe if they talk it up enough the judges won't notice all the flaws.

I have mixed feelings about the back stories. On the one hand, I'm okay with a one sentence synposis so we (and the judges) get to hear the inspiration and then see how well they were able to translate that into makeup. But on the other hand, I think that art needs to stand on its own without any explanations, which is why it bugs the shit out of me when the designers on Project Runway and the choreographers on So You Think You Can Dance come up with these long backstories about whatever it is they created. If I can't tell that she's supposed to be a French dog walker who is having a tea party in the park while waiting for her boyfriend to return from the war and passing the time by reminiscing about how her little brother was kidnapped by aliens, then either you didn't do a very good job conveying that through your design or you just made up a dumb story to rationalize the trainwreck I'm looking at. Either way, you have failed.

[Mabinogia]

On the one hand, I'm okay with a one sentence synposis so we (and the judges) get to hear the inspiration and then see how well they were able to translate that into makeup.

 I do love hearing the quick inspiration backstory. Like Rob's (I think it was his) was basically, I imagined he lived underwater. That was all I needed because then I saw the vibrant colors he used which reminded me of tropical fish and I got it. But when they give them names and biographies and say what their favorite food is or something that's when I get the feeling they are hiding some bad work.

 

I do like hearing what their thought process was from hearing the challenge to creating what they create. That part is very interesting, fascinating really. As is watching how they overcome issues. That's what I love most about this show and why it is one of the few that I pay attention to more than just the finished product. Because what they are doing is almost more interesting than what they make.

[Frozendiva]

I rewatched part of the ep today and noticed the lack of an eyebrow. Maybe the average cyclops didn't have them.

[Pallida]

I like the backstories when it's a basic character sketch that would prompt artistic decisions.  Favorite food wouldn't make sense, but something like "lives in an aquatic world" would.  Now, when the designer fails to actually use those characteristics, it looks especially bad.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

Now I think Mel's idea of the dog man Cyclops was pretty silly from the outset--either she needed to go for a completely comic version of a Cyclops, or scrapped the fido idea.

If she had gone more extreme, the judges would have called it "cartoon-y". They complained that it didn't look menacing, but that wasn't part of the challenge (that we could hear), and there's nothing wrong with a character designed to be underestimated by an opponent.

[Pallida]

I think part of the problem with the dog element was she said she was using a husky for inspiration but there was nothing remotely husky about the design. If she had committed to the jowls and used a bloodhound (increased smell to offset weakened vision?) it may have worked better.

[auntie thesis]

I think that TPTB need to send the judges' save to the scrapheap. What's the point of saving someone like Mel? She seemed like a strong contender at first, but as the season has progressed, her work has really slid downhill. Droopclops was a mediocre idea. If she had had a stronger concept, it may have been a decent makeup. Passable, at least. 

 

However, she probably would have been in the bottom 2 regardless. Glenn would have thrown her under the bus for not following the parameters of the challenge or some other such thing like he always does when a contestant doesn't fulfill his exact vision for what he thinks fits the bill for a said challenge. Cyclops = Giant dude with one eye influenced by Greek mythology. The only liberties taken could be with paint jobs or fabricated pieces, not the actual concept of the cyclops itself. That's where Mel's design failed, imo. 

 

She went goofy/fun with a serious challenge. Not only did she take the challenge away from the focus of Cyclops, she then did a terrible job of it. There was nothing redemption worthy about that make up, although in all fairness Walt's Lavenpurpclops was pretty heinous and almost as far off the mark as Mel's Droopclops. So they both missed the mark by at least half a mile.

 

Who to save? Well, I would have went with neither because both make ups were off the mark because both contestants ignored the primary point of the challenge: the eye. Walt thought that spending time painting Lavenpurpclops' body was more worthwhile that making the face worth looking at and Mel's concept was so terrible that I'm surprised Mr. Westmore didn't grab her initial sculpt and toss it out the door while McKenzie ripped up her sketches.

 

Alas, I'll continue watching on DVR where I can fast forward through Mel's mini-meltdowns and the rest of the shenanigans at will.

Edited March 23, 2016 by auntie thesis

[Mabinogia]

The save here just seems silly. I could see if maybe Mr. Westmore was the one doing the saving. Like he saw something promising in the workroom so he wanted to give the person another shot. But the judges pick the loser and then they save the loser. Just say there is no loser. It's just silly. I guess it's supposed to be like a warning to get her shit together? But then, they could just give her a warning.

[Lamb18]

Mel could have called hers Dogclops, a mutant offspring of Cerberus that Heracles took pity on and kept as a pet.