Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Fozzie the Bear

I entered the second week of the OPI Mani Madness contest with this manicure. The challenge was to make a manicure using Fozzie the Bear as the inspiration. I thought perhaps that I would skip this week, seeing as I got food poisoning on Monday evening last week, and did not actually get to painting this mani until Wednesday. I knew I would have some ground to cover to get the votes I needed to be on top. Instead of simply featuring the different aspects of Fozzie, like his face, necktie, and hat, I wanted to place Fozzie in a situation that would reflect his humor and his struggle with getting heckled all of the time.

I give you: Fozzie Gets Heckled! I painted Fozzie doing his thing on stage in the spotlight, and above him are Statler and Waldorf booing him from the balcony seats. I painted details of the curtains and wall decorations from the theater walls on my index and pinky fingers. 

I started with OPI Big Apple Red on my nails. This is a lovely bright red and worked really well as a base for this dramatic manicure. 

I started with my thumb by painting the theater curtains behind Fozzie. The folds are darker towards the top of the image, and lighter where the spotlight is shining on him. I used acrylic paint for all of the artwork in this manicure. 

Here's Fozzie in the early stages of the manicure. I made his head a little too short to start with, but the great thing about acrylic paint is that it lets you rework an image fairly easily. 

More shading and I added his mouth. The highlights on his fur were pure yellow paint. I find it is really important to look at the colors in the image I am trying to create and think about what colors they really are without thinking about the rest of the image. Shape and color are really exciting to isolate. 

"Patriotism swells in the heart of the American Bear!" - I love that line from Fozzie in the original Muppet Movie. So funny!

The bane of Fozzie's existence: Statler and Waldorf! Did you know that these two Muppet hecklers were named after hotels in New York? The Statler Hilton and the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. 

Waldorf was voiced by Jim Henson from 1970 to 1990, which makes it even funnier that Jim would take so much glee in heckling Frank Oz who played Fozzie. Waldorf has also been voiced by Dave Goelz and Victor Yerrid. 

I really like how Statler turned out. He's got super skinny arms and his nose shadow cracks me up for some reason. It's hilarious! Statler was originally performed by Richard Hunt until 1991, then by Jerry Nelson, Steve Whitmire, and Drew Massey. 

Look! Fozzie is pointing at Fozzie! Wocka, Wocka!

I am so proud to tell you that I won this past challenge! I worked really hard on these nails, and I so appreciate all of the people who voted for me, and also who voted for the other girls too. There is a lot of talent out there! You can see my nails posted on OPI's facebook page by clicking here. The new challenge this week is to paint a manicure inspired by Gonzo. I just adore Gonzo! I am looking forward to the manicures this week and really hope that some girls take it over the top. There is so much to be inspired by with the Muppet canon. Which includes shooting Gonzo out of a cannon. ;-)

34 comments:

  1. I am so happy for you, you totally deserved this. This was just so amazing and realistic looking. I can't wait to see Gonzo, I hope you'll still do it even if you aren't entering it.

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  2. YAY! conrgats michelle, this mani was BEYOND awesome!

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  3. Thank you, thank you Amber!!! I will do Gonzo because I have a GREAT idea for him. I was actually going to do this idea for Kermit, but perhaps I will go ahead and do it with Gonzo. Hrm, not sure now. LOL

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  4. Thank you so much Rebecca! You and all the polish girls have been so supportive of me! GROUP HUG!

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  5. Amazing job, this is so realistic and detailed!! <3

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  6. Thank you Kayleigh! I keep working on shading and color, and it gets easier with every manicure. I really appreciate your kind words!

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  7. Oh, thank you so much Tess! That means a lot to me!

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  8. Congratulations! I LOVED your Fozzie. I was a total Muppet kid. I wanted to work for Jim Hensen when I was a tween too!

    I was wondering if I could put your mani photo on my blog. I would totally give you credit and link back to you. This is my blog if you'd like to check it out: http://sillybeeschickadees.blogspot.com/

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  9. Wow, Melissa I love your blog! So fun! I would be honored to be featured on it. Please use the image that is watermarked. Thanks!

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  10. Thanks! I'll write the Fozzie post tonight so it will be up tomorrow. I have my Gonzo sketched out, now I just need to paint it!

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  11. Cool! I can't wait to see your Gonzo mani!

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  12. YAYAYAYAYAY. Congratulations! You and your work definitely deserved to win! :D

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  13. Congratulations Michelle! I don't know who the other 2 characters are, but your fozzie is amazing, i wish i could shade like that! Kudos to you girl!

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  14. I am just blown away by your talent. You totally deserved to win that contest!

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  15. Congratulations, you totally deserved it. :)

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  16. Thanks so much Courtney! I am super psyched that I won!

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  17. Thanks so much Linda! Your words mean a lot to me, as I admire YOUR work so much!

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  18. Oh thank you so much, starification! You are so kind!

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  19. Hey-it's the two old dudes!!! They were always my favorite!!!! This is really amazing stuff!

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  20. wow, you handpainted this!? that is amazing!!! : )

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  21. Thanks so much Fingers! I love Statler and Waldorf too. They always said the best things. :)

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  22. Yup, Deriniti! Hand painted! It is really fun to challenge myself and see what is possible. Thanks so much for your nice compliment!

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  23. OK, your Fozzie nails are on my blog! And I FINALLY uploaded my Gonzo nails. Whew!

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  24. Ok, I will go check them out! I can't wait to see your Gonzo nails! :)

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