Would You Be Interested in a Tail Making Class?

[gingerbreadforest]

Hello Everyone,

My name is Renee. I am a mermaid enthusiast! I work as a volunteer for The Stan Winston School of Character Arts. I caption videos into English for the hearing impaired, and so that the school videos can be translated into many other languages. I love to make little creatures myself, and I can say that the education the school provides is the finest in the industry. You can learn so many things from the very best artists that work in special effects everyday, and learn about so many materials you would never know of otherwise.

I am just curious if there is a demand for a Tail Making class? My boss John is the Creative Director of the School, and they are always looking for new classes that can/will help people in every area of the special effects industry.

The School already has many sculpting and mold making classes if you would like to investigate at https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/

If I receive a lot of feedback, and the mermaids are interested -- I can put in a request directly to John and see what he says about the possibility of offering an online class. Honestly, the more interest, the better the chances are.

Best wishes to you all. I hope to get to know you better through the forums.

Renee Everhart

P.S. I make unicorns ;)

[Mermaid Lunette]

honestly the idea of an online class sounds amazing :D there is a lot of info on tail making on here but i feel there are a lot of people whom are visual learners so being able to physically see all the steps would be very helpful.

however, i think i would be a bit weary of learning to make tails from someone whom does not have long time experience with specifically making silicone tails. Just becuase someone has a lot of good experience with silicone and sculpt in general dosen't nessesarily make them qualified to teach tail making. i don't mean to discredit this person at all, i mean, i dunno what they do, but unless they have been making silicone tails for awhile it feels a bit odd to have them teaching to make tails?

so that would be my only concern, someone teaching to make silicone tails whom has never made one before.

(if they have been making tails for awhile then never mind, that answers all of my concerns. if they have been making tails where on the link you provided, or where in general can this person's tails be seen?)

[Mermaid Lunette]

oh, or if naybe they are going to study and make a few tails first and THEN teach the class once they have a good hold of the craft?

(like, i think i would be willing to take an online course for tail making as long as i could see a tail they have made to be sure they know how and can do good work.

[Theobromine]

Well, the Stan Winston School is a series of webcourses taught by movie industry special effects professionals, so I actually feel like they'd be better equipped to teach these sorts of techniques than anyone else. It's not just one person, the courses are each taught by experts in that particular field, and they all have FAR more resources, experience, and information than probably the rest of us put together. I would LOVE to take some classes from SWS, I've been drooling over them for a long time. However...they're kinda expensive :-/ That's just something to consider, as a lot of mermaids are pretty broke :P It's one thing to say we'd love to see a class like that, but it's another to have enough people actually follow through on signing up for it.

[Mermaid Lunette]

oh i am sure whomever teaches the class would be very talented, but speaking for myself, unless i saw a finished tail from the teacher first, i don't think i would be willing to pay any amount to learn from them. if others would awesome, just my 2 cents here.

and yea, i agree, high costs would probably be a make-or-break thing.

edit: i didn't mean for my concerns to sound like the teachers are not good or anything, just stating what would work for me to be interested in the class or not. to each their own though, just throwing it out there since this is a 'give your feed back' thread. and in case anyone else had similar concerns.

[Theobromine]

Well, I'd be far more willing to take a class from an industry professional than anyone else, personally. Remember the disabled woman who approached Weta Workshop about making her a prosthetic mermaid tail that would allow her to swim? They'd never made a mermaid tail before, but they produced an amazing final product that would never have been possible for a home artist. They've got a whole movie studio at their disposal and a team of extremely talented and experienced artists. Those guys KNOW how to make body casts and produce incredibly lifelike prosthetics; all the techniques required to make a mermaid tail and more. Linden Wolbert also approached an experienced spfx artist to make her dream tail, and hers is still one of the best designed and most realistic in the pro mermaid business. Most of these spfx techniques are not mermaid tail-specific....everything we do as tailmakers is essentially just adapted from that the movie industry has been doing for years.

[Mermaid Lunette]

i see your point ^^ that makes sense.

[Theobromine]

Cool :) I wasn't trying to sound snarky or anything, glad you didn't take it that way. Just, I'd sign up for a class with a movie spfx artist over any of the commercial tailmakers out there, in a heartbeat (and that's 100% not meant to be a knock on any of the super talented kickass tailmakers out there! Just, movie studios have more resources than any of us will ever have unless we go into the movie industry ourselves!)

[Mermaid Lunette]

no, no ^^ no snarkiness. peeps are gonna disagree, it's a forum after all :)

why i would or wouldn't take a class is gonna be 100% different from why others would or wouldn't take a class ^_^ i still stand by my concern personally and say i as my self would not take a class from someone before they made their first tail, but i see your points and why others would and appreciate the experience it takes to be in the special effects industry and why others would take the classe

^___^ plus, the more info and opinions given the better idea the OP can have for the teacher to see what is and isn't worth addressing or doing :)

[Theobromine]

I do agree it's good for them to get a feel for what different people would be looking for.

FYI, I just looked up Stan Winston Studio on IMDB and it seems they were the ones who did all the creature effects and design for the movie She Creature ;)

[Mermaid Lunette]

oh yea? well that's cool ^------^

[gingerbreadforest]

Hi Theobromine,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply! Yes, The SWSCA instructors are the very best artists in the world. I can also say that they have pretty amazing resources - these are the people that make movie magic, and can make anything. I can also say they are some of the nicest, coolest people you would ever want to meet.

SWSCA classes are a little expensive - but the knowledge you can gain is just amazing. (You could also do what I do and volunteer in exchange for class credits. I am captioner for them. It is pretty hard work, but I enjoy it.)

I am a huge mermaid enthusiast! Mermaids are the main reason I always go to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival! I myself could not wear a tail, but I make costumes and would love to learn to make tails for others.

I am happy I found you wonderful mermaids! I think you bring special magic into the world.

Renee

[PearlieMae]

I do have concerns that, while the SWS undoubtedly has incredible experts in the special effects field, there are also other logistics to consider when building mermaid tails. Movie special effects are one thing, a mermaid tail that's going to need to take years of use are another. The information on the various crafting skills required would be awesome, but I would like to see some actual tails IN USE, made by the SWS.

Another concern: What about liability? When the community gleans info from each other and builds, it's implicit that it's 'at your own risk', but paying for a How-To class...that's a whole different kettle of fish, no?

"The SWSCA instructors are the very best artists in the world." That's a pretty bold statement.

[Theobromine]

So, I WILL say that, while I stand by what I said previously, Pearlie et al. do echo the concerns of most of the mermaid community. There have been a lot of issues with scammers in the past, where people came in claiming to have knowledge/experience etc. and then took money for tails without actually providing a product (either a usable product or any product at all). So I can understand why a lot of people would be wary, especially if they haven't been drooling over those spfx classes like I have. Just a bit of background, in case you or the people at Stan Winston Studio weren't aware.

Gingerbreadforest, can you maybe provide a little more insight into how new classes are created? Who decides which artists teach which classes? For a tailmaking class specifically, would we be seeing finished mermaid tails that people actually swim in? I'm actually genuinely curious, and I bet it would also help reassure people if we could get as much information as possible before buying.

For those who haven't checked out the website, the courses themselves aren't actually THAT expensive, like they won't break the bank or anything if you just want to do one webcourse, and their monthly subscription prices are pretty reasonable. My main concern, personally (and the reason I mentioned the expense) is that I could never just stop at one. Or four X( I would watch AAAAALLLLLLLLLLL the dinosaur ones, just to START.

And I would be SO down for volunteering in exchange for class credits, where do I sign?!?!?!?!?!

[gingerbreadforest]

Hi Theobromine,

if you are interested in working as a captioner just send an email to translations@stanwinstonschool.com. Just mention in the subject line that you are interested in working on captions. (They really, really need translators if you speak another language - I wish I did).

John Ales runs the volunteer program. They usually send out a little questionnaire and the guidelines.

So - as far as the new classes - anyone can make a suggestion. I am part of frequent webinar meetings with other volunteers. Volunteers make many of the class suggestions because we are mostly all students and very interested in the creation of different kinds of practical special effects. I am just a volunteer, so I can't say for certain what the process is for selecting what classes will be offered. I will just say I have made other suggestions that were well received as possibilities.

(I took the live dinosaur sculpting class and it was incredible! I just finished captioning John Cherevka's eyeball making class - it is the best!)

If you have any specific questions where I might be able to point you in the right direction, just send me a message.

All my best wishes,
Renee

P.S. YES! SWS did She Creature! One of my favorite movies!

[gingerbreadforest]

Hi everyone,

i just wanted to tell you that my motivation for mentioning a class is because I myself would like to see one offered, and I thought maybe others would as well.

From my research, there is a huge upfront expense in materials to get started. I also know there is usually quite a bit of trial and error when it comes to large projects. Especially those involving mold making and silicone. I also know silicone is notoriously finicky and it takes special techniques to paint it.

I am not offering anything other than to suggest a class I myself would be interested in. I am sorry to hear people have had bad experiences with scammers. I am just here hoping to be part of the community.

Renee

[Theobromine]

From my research, there is a huge upfront expense in materials to get started. I also know there is usually quite a bit of trial and error when it comes to large projects. Especially those involving mold making and silicone. I also know silicone is notoriously finicky and it takes special techniques to paint it.
Renee

Can confirm 100%. Source: personal experience. My tail took me a year to make and a ton of trial and error and testing and lots of other things made along the way so I don't even know how much it ultimately cost me.

[Becky McGraw Balduff]

Yes yes yes!

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[Mermatron Athena]

I'd be interested in taking a web course. The price of the class would (hopefully) off set the amount of waist product from trial and error. And there's no putting a price tag on time and frustration! I'm a busy homeschooling mom, with 4 kids, and I don't have time or budget to spare fooling around before I get a decent tail made.

[PearlieMae]

I hope you don't think I was trying to be a downer, I was just trying to consider all the angles. :D

[gingerbreadforest]

I hope you don't think I was trying to be a downer, I was just trying to consider all the angles. :D

Not at all! I understand, no hard feelings. It is good to have questions and concerns -- I know you are just looking out for your friends and community.