Madame Tussauds' more than 20 global locations are home to wax figures of famous people like Jimmy Fallon, Jennifer Aniston, Adriana Lima, and even Barack Obama. The opportunity to take a photo with their favorite celebrities (even if in wax form) is highly appealing to tourists, and Madame Tussauds is usually packed.
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Wax figures are very interesting and strange to me. They definitely hover directly above the Uncanny Valley-- "the phenomenon whereby a computer-generated figure or humanoid robot bearing a near-identical resemblance to a human being arouses a sense of unease or revulsion in the person viewing it." They require such an insanely high level of skill to complete and produce! I have so much respect for the painters and sculptors that work on them and can only dream of acquiring such talent one day. I remember watching the horror movie "House Of Wax" and seeing how terribly those figures were made. Man, how long we've come. It just goes to show that even if one measurement of the replica is off by a single hairline, feelings of unease arise. It's truly amazing how the human brain is so good and trained at recognizing faces that we are able to recognize mistakes. The Uncanny Valley also makes me think of Japan and their invention of the speaking human robot. I feel like they would look like fine wax sculptures, but the moment you attempt to emulate the natural movements of humans, the algorithms are off and it just becomes very weird to watch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXaaprU9DhY).
Fun fact: it was always a dream of mine to make one of these wax figures, less so for the artistic challenge and more so to see how long it would take to get it so lifelike that it was indistinguishable from the real person. While this dream will probably never be realized, this article was pretty interesting to shed some light into how they are made. My question after reading this is what level of craftsmenship is necessary to get a job like this? The initial clay modeling of the figure alone seems to require an unfathomable level of skill, and I can't even imagine having to paint the skin or put in the hair. I wonder how they are trained, and what kind of career path you would have if you wanted to work for Madame Tussaud.
The other thing this article made me think about is why are wax museums so popular in the first place? I mean, besides seeing the incredible craftsmenship of the models, the only thing you can do is take pictures with the figures which is cool for about an hour and for a sweet facebook post but other than that, it's kind of pointless to me.
Madame Tussauds museum is an extremely impressive museum and is very life like. I have always been impressed with the wax figures because they are so similar to the actual people. It is almost scary how real the figures look. It is crazy, but it makes sense that it takes so long to make each figure and there are so many measurements that they need to take. They are basically creating a clone with out technology and computers to do it for them. The artists need to be extremely talented and very patient with the amount of time it takes to make all of the small details perfect. It must take so long for them to put in each individual hair in the exact hairstyle one by one. They need to study the celebrity to make sure they put in all the little marks on their skin and get it exactly correct.
I thought that this article was very interesting. The pure amount of detail and work that has to go into the wax figures is astounding. One thing that I really liked about the process is how similar it is to some of the skills we learn here as freshman.The most obvious one is casting and molding, which we learn the basics of in props stagecraft. Even though the casting and molding process is much more intense and difficult for the wax figures, it is still pretty cool to understand the basics. The same goes for the painting of the skin, which I feel like is similar to the Monet project in that extreme attention to color and color layering must be extremely important to that step. Overall, I really enjoyed learning about the process of creating a wax figure and will definitely keep this article in mind whenever I see that they added a new figure to the exhibit.
These are incredible. The attention to detail not only before with the sitting and during the process but also after when they have an entire team in place at each location to do daily touch ups. The museum looks absolutely amazing as well. They have so many different people available fro viewing- understandable with their 200 years of operation and 230 figures that they estimate will be made this year. This article got me thinking about who funds these figures- do the artists request figures or does money get donated and the museum decides who to make. Can anyone with enough money have a figure created? Im incredibly impressed with the superior sculpting skills and the dedication to putting the individual strands of hair in. putting hair in a wax sculpture and making a wig are similar processes that seem just way too repetitive to stay interesting but somehow people do it. And I have insane respect for them. What an incredible art.
Okay I’ve been to these things before and these statues are creepy. I don’t understand the point of these museum. They are wax! Why do you want a picture with that detailed candle? I suppose my prospective field is pretty frivolous, but at least it teaches or entertains or something. You can’t even light these candle people for warmth. Also in regards to this article I don’t understand, do they all get a full mouth full of teeth? Adriana Lima’s only has two teeth showing!! Also why are these people so good at replicating humans? What job did they plan on getting g with these skills? I guess it is cool that it is the same 16 artists working to do this incredible thing, but like how do you even come to know there is a demand for these wax monsters. All in all, it really is an unfathomable amount of attention to detail, although very strange and unsettling. I feel even more upset about them now that I know so much about the process. The hairs are individually inserted!!! That is insane.
The level of exactness and intricacy involved in making wax models is staggering to me. I had no idea that maintenance has to be done daily, or that the hairs are individually inserted. I still remember back when I was very little, my family brought me to a wax museum once and I was crying the whole time because I was so scared. I guess wax figures can allow people to marvel at their favorite celebrity as if they were actually physically there, especially those celebrities who have already passed away, and allows us to see that celebrity preserved "in person" rather than in pictures. This article mostly focused on how to create the face/head of a wax figure, and I wonder how the rest is done and how much more work it takes. I also think the fact that almost all wax figures wear an iconic costume goes to show no matter how detailed, accurate and exact something is, it still needs a larger and more obvious visual aid for the audience to recognize that wax figure at first glance. Some wax figures I've seen I easily recognized because of the costumes they were wearing, but once I look up close at their face I feel like something is off (which could be because it wasn't well made) despite of how everything is in the right place.
I think that wax figures and all of the work that goes into them are honestly so interesting. Having been to Madame Tussauds' I am amazed by the level of accuracy these artists are able to accomplish. When reading the process, I couldn't help but think of our Monet projects given to us in basic design class. The artists have to find the exact color matches for all the different parts of the models body such as the skin, hair, and eyes and color matching with those stakes and at that caliber is amazing. I think it is also amazing how they have to take measurements of basically all of the bodies features and how those features relate to each other. I have always wondered what it took to make these incredible works of art. While the objects of these art pieces are celebrities and do bring people in to the museums, I think what keeps the audiences so amazed and interested is the detail that these artist keep and the curiosity of how they make such exact replicas.
I've been to the one in Dallas and I have to say these are so much better than those. I'm not sure who does the ones there, but poor Oprah's head was probably half the scale of her body. And someone had thrown a Sprite can into Jesus's last supper. I wish I could attach pictures of these atrocities. So these amaze me due to the time and effort put into them. I guess the one in Texas are Louis Toussaud's wax creations as opposed to the original MAdame Toussad creations? Her lazier, less talented great-great wax loving grandson. But despite how amazing these are, I'm not sure what the point is. Why do you need to have a life-size figure of a celebrity? Is it for historical sake? This is exactly the size and complexion of Lady Gaga? I was mollified at least by the one in Texas by the way they portrayed women because there was like Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt and stuff, then Nicki Minaj from the anaconda video with her butt in the air on a table clearly so people could take horrible pictures with her... Maybe there's some creepier reason to make these weird life-size replicas?
Hahaha these are so cool! I've got to say, Madame Toussad's are better than any wax models I have seen anywhere else. The pictures look a little staged, sure, but otherwise I'm glad to see that they are putting this info out there. Somehow I had always imagined that the faces were made to look so realistic with makeup, and they had a makeup artist come and shape each person's look. I guess it should be no surprise that they use oil paint to create the realistic translucency of skin. It seems like a seriously labor-intensive way to make a person, but each individually-placed hair contributes to the accuracy of the figure. I wonder, though...why? What is the criteria to have a wax figure made of yourself? Do the celebrities pay to have this done, or is it a "you're finally famous enough" scenario? I might understand political leaders and historical figures, but a Victoria's Secret Model? Lady Gaga?
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