University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee alumna Melissa Ebbe (’07 MFA Art & Design) has combined her artistic skills with her interest in fun and fantasy to create a business – and a successful run on reality television.
Ebbe runs Feral Works, making and selling costumes, masks and other role-playing accessories. In 2016, she took her talents to television and ended up being one of three finalists on the Syfy Channel reality show “Face Off,” where artists compete in creating special effects and fantasy creatures. Although she didn’t win the overall competition, she did earn a trip to the Universal Studios Orlando theme park for one of her episode victories.
Her interest in costumes and special effects dates back to 2007, when she was finishing up her master’s thesis at UWM. “I moved from sewing to sculpting, and that segued into doing masks and makeup.”
Ebbe sells her work to people who want costumes from different television series or movies, or who want to dress up as their favorite character for cosplay (role playing with costumes). Her portfolio can be seen at her website.
“I think my art background helped a lot,” she said of her business. “I took a lot of anatomy classes, life drawing and color theory classes. All the stuff you need to be a good artist you can apply to makeup and mask making.”
Her own interest in special effects and fantasy made her a huge fan of the Syfy Channel’s “Face Off.” In 2015, she submitted an application and portfolio of her work and was selected as one of the competitors for the 10th season. The show was recorded in nine weeks over the summer of 2015 and broadcast during the 2015-2016 television season.
The show’s episodes included competitions in everything from creating intergalactic bounty hunters to developing creatures inspired by real human parasites. The final episode gave contestants the opportunity to work with a producer on a short film. Ebbe won the trip to Universal Studios Florida on an episode titled “Skull Island: Reign of Kong.” Her winning entry was a crab-like arachnid whose face mask was textured with pearls and wrinkles.
Ebbe and husband, Steven Shapiro, live in Milwaukee with their 5-year-old son, Quinn, who gets to accompany mom on that trip to Orlando.
Being on “Face Off” was an amazing experience, she said. “It was really cool because we went there and – I love Milwaukee, I love it a lot – but there’s not a really huge special effects community here. So I don’t get a chance to talk to people in the same field except when I go to conventions. To be in a house with 13 other people who make this part of their lives every day was such a great experience.”
The show’s weekly challenges allowed her to collaborate with live models to create fantastical creatures.
“You had to understand how the creature was going to move. It’s a kinetic piece. If the model’s going to talk, you have to know how things are going to look when the creature is talking. For me the cool thing about it is that you are creating a sculpture that is being performed. That’s something I found endlessly fascinating about it.”
As a result of her appearance on the show, her business is thriving – she sells mostly online via sites such as Etsy. Fans of the show now recognize her, she’s been invited to give talks at events, conventions and universities, and she did a demo at Monsterpalooza, the popular California convention that caters to horror fans.
“Since I love talking shop, this is fantastic.”
And, she added, she’s met new colleagues and made friends. “I’ve kept in contact with a lot of my fellow artists, and artists from the other seasons of ‘Face Off’ as well,” she said. “We’ve developed a sense of camaraderie from all going through the same extreme competition.”
“Even though I didn’t win the competition,” she added, “I’m eternally grateful to have been a part of the experience. I met so many wonderful people that I would have never encountered otherwise, both other artists and fans.”
