{"id":35899,"date":"2016-08-01T10:08:29","date_gmt":"2016-08-01T15:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=35899"},"modified":"2023-05-10T16:06:13","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T21:06:13","slug":"artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist Melissa Ebbe turns fantasy into a career"},"content":{"rendered":"

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee alumna Melissa Ebbe (\u201907 MFA Art & Design) has combined her artistic skills with her interest in fun and fantasy to create a business \u2013 and a successful run on reality television.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cFace Off,\u201d where artists compete in creating special effects and fantasy creatures.\u00a0 Although she didn\u2019t win the overall competition, she did earn a trip to the Universal Studios Orlando theme park for one of her episode victories.<\/p>\n

\"When
When creating masks, “you are creating a sculpture that is being performed. That\u2019s something I found endlessly fascinating about it,\u201d Ebbe said. (UWM Photo\/Derek Rickert)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her interest in costumes and special effects dates back to 2007, when she was finishing up her master\u2019s thesis at UWM. \u201cI moved from sewing to sculpting, and that segued into doing masks and makeup.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my art background helped a lot,\u201d she said of her business. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her own interest in special effects and fantasy made her a huge fan of the Syfy Channel\u2019s \u201cFace Off.\u201d \u00a0In 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.<\/p>\n

The show\u2019s 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 \u201cSkull Island: Reign of Kong.\u201d Her winning entry was a crab-like arachnid whose face mask was textured with pearls and wrinkles.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Being on \u201cFace Off\u201d was an amazing experience, she said. \u201cIt was really cool because we went there and \u2013 I love Milwaukee, I love it a lot \u2013 but there\u2019s not a really huge special effects community here. So I don\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show\u2019s weekly challenges allowed her to collaborate with live models to create fantastical creatures.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou had to understand how the creature was going to move. It\u2019s a kinetic piece. If the model\u2019s 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\u2019s something I found endlessly fascinating about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result of her appearance on the show, her business is thriving \u2013 she sells mostly online via sites such as Etsy. Fans of the show now recognize her, she\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince I love talking shop, this is fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, she added, she\u2019s met new colleagues and made friends. \u201cI\u2019ve kept in contact with a lot of my fellow artists, and artists from the other seasons of \u2018Face Off\u2019 as well,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve developed a sense of camaraderie from all going through the same extreme competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though I didn\u2019t win the competition,\u201d she added, \u201cI\u2019m 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UWM alum Melissa Ebbe has combined her artistic skills with her interest in fun and fantasy to create a business \u2013 and a successful run on reality television.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":835,"featured_media":35896,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[250],"section":[127,129],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[167,344,164],"class_list":["post-35899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-student-success","section-arts-humanities","section-film-fine-arts","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association","uwmnews-feed-arts-architecture","uwmnews-feed-arts"],"yoast_head":"\nArtist Melissa Ebbe turns fantasy into a career<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UWM alum Melissa Ebbe has combined her artistic skills with her interest in fun and fantasy to create a business \u2013 and a successful run on reality television.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Artist Melissa Ebbe turns fantasy into a career\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UWM alum Melissa Ebbe has combined her artistic skills with her interest in fun and fantasy to create a business \u2013 and a successful run on reality television.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UWM REPORT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-01T15:08:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-10T21:06:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/07\/MelissaEbbe3-crop.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UWMNews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UWMNews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Artist Melissa Ebbe turns fantasy into a career\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-01T15:08:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-10T21:06:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":736,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/MelissaEbbe3-crop.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Student Success\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\\\/\",\"name\":\"Artist Melissa Ebbe turns fantasy into a career\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/MelissaEbbe3-crop.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-01T15:08:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-10T21:06:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"UWM alum Melissa Ebbe has combined her artistic skills with her interest in fun and fantasy to create a business \u2013 and a successful run on reality television.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/MelissaEbbe3-crop.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/MelissaEbbe3-crop.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Melissa Ebbe creates vines for her Wiccan of the Woods, part of the \\\"Face Off\\\" show's eighth episode. (Syfy photo)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Artist Melissa Ebbe turns fantasy into a career\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"UWM REPORT\",\"description\":\"News from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg\",\"width\":225,\"height\":224,\"caption\":\"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/UWMNews\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Artist Melissa Ebbe turns fantasy into a career","description":"UWM alum Melissa Ebbe has combined her artistic skills with her interest in fun and fantasy to create a business \u2013 and a successful run on reality television.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Artist Melissa Ebbe turns fantasy into a career","og_description":"UWM alum Melissa Ebbe has combined her artistic skills with her interest in fun and fantasy to create a business \u2013 and a successful run on reality television.","og_url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\/","og_site_name":"UWM REPORT","article_published_time":"2016-08-01T15:08:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-10T21:06:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/07\/MelissaEbbe3-crop.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@UWMNews","twitter_site":"@UWMNews","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Artist Melissa Ebbe turns fantasy into a career","datePublished":"2016-08-01T15:08:29+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-10T21:06:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\/"},"wordCount":736,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/07\/MelissaEbbe3-crop.jpg","keywords":["Student Success"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\/","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\/","name":"Artist Melissa Ebbe turns fantasy into a career","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/07\/MelissaEbbe3-crop.jpg","datePublished":"2016-08-01T15:08:29+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-10T21:06:13+00:00","description":"UWM alum Melissa Ebbe has combined her artistic skills with her interest in fun and fantasy to create a business \u2013 and a successful run on reality television.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/07\/MelissaEbbe3-crop.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/07\/MelissaEbbe3-crop.jpg","width":750,"height":500,"caption":"Melissa Ebbe creates vines for her Wiccan of the Woods, part of the \"Face Off\" show's eighth episode. (Syfy photo)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/artist-melissa-ebbe-turns-fantasy-career\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Artist Melissa Ebbe turns fantasy into a career"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/","name":"UWM REPORT","description":"News from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization","name":"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2017\/02\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2017\/02\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg","width":225,"height":224,"caption":"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/UWMNews"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/author\/"}]}},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-20 01:47:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/835"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35899"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121050,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35899\/revisions\/121050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35899"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=35899"},{"taxonomy":"display_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_categories?post=35899"},{"taxonomy":"related-coverage","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/related-coverage?post=35899"},{"taxonomy":"uwmnews-feed","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/uwmnews-feed?post=35899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}