Friday, March 23rd (Day 1):
Our two convention newbies, GB Zeng and Meghan Reilly, did a fantastic job setting the tone for the weekend. Zeng sculpted a zombie – inspired by a KNB EFX Group zombie for The Walking Dead – on her lovely model Rebecca Vandervort. Vandervort decided to get “method”, munching on “brains” in the booth.
Simultaneously, Meghan Reilly applied her “Street Rat” prosthetic to her model Mehea Vilagi. Reilly first created this creature as her final project for Cinema Makeup School class, Special Makeup Effects. Since then, we new it would make an impression on the convention floor.
Saturday, March 24th (Day 2):
Convention veteran Jose Davalos showed recent Cinema Makeup School graduate Nicholas Alvarez the WonderCon ropes. Davalos, aka Joo Skellington on social media, debuted his brand new Frollo (from The Hunchback of Notre Dame) makeup on his model…himself. Davalos’s Disney self-applications are classics, helping our graduate garner his 180K Instagram followers. This one is no different.
Nicholas Alvarez held his own applying his makeup of Buffy the Vampire Slayer villain D’Hoffryn, on Brandon Hughes. With his former Air Force training keeping him poised under pressure, Alvarez looked far from a rookie.
Sunday, March 25th (Day 3):
Cinema Makeup School finished the weekend strong with Jose Davalos and long time convention demonstrator, Gabi Gonzalez. While Davalos painstakingly applied his new makeup of Scar from the Lion King, Gonzalez stuck with a classic she’s been applying at conventions since San Diego Comic Con last year: Arkham Series Joker!
Sculpted by Cinema Makeup School’s Director of Admissions Lee Joyner and modeled by Strange Dave, this makeup application has been making waves at every convention it’s displayed. Pop culture hub Geek & Sundry unofficially named it “best in show” in their Instagram story – taken on Sunday while Mr. J roamed the convention floor, impressing and terrifying attendees and vendors alike! Even Batman artist, Carlos D’Anda – who’s Joker design for Batman: Arkham Asylum inspired this piece – couldn’t help but snag a photo.
As expected, WonderCon was a great experience, and dispute a hiccup here-and-there, a complete success, mostly due to everyone involved. Special thanks to Magdalena Murrieta, Nestor Castaneda, Kevin Franklin, and volunteer Rebecca Vandervort for helping things run smoothly and to everyone who stopped by booth #1819 to come see us!
