INDEFINITE HIATUS!

Hey Everyone!

First of all I just want to say thank you to every single member that is a part of this club. From the first 80 members to the last thousand. This club has surprised me in so many ways, and it remains my biggest accomplishment on this site! I am just so proud of the competition and MelsModels family I have built with the help of all my loyal and dedicated models and members.

I mean this is the biggest SD modeling club and competition on all of stardoll! I simply cannot believe that, but understand it. The passion in this club and the experience itself is unlike anything else on this site. This is exactly one of the biggest reasons I love this club so much, and one of the biggest reasons it is so hard to say goodbye--for now.

As for the future of MelsModels, I need a break to be honest. As amazing as this club and competition is, it is extremely draining of my time and energy. I mean the cycles usually last about 7 months and I am constantly doing work associated with the competition and it does cause me a lot of stress because it really is so darn tough making decisions. I just need a few months off to really refocus on my personal life and think about how important stardoll is to me.

This means that I, myself, will be leaving stardoll for a bit too. I need a few months off, so I can clearly think about everything in my life and see if stardoll is as important as I make it out to be.

After this time away, who knows what will happen with MelsModels. Maybe I will have another cycle, maybe I will do smaller competitions, or maybe it will just turn into a club to archive the incredible history of its past. No matter what happens, I will NEVER be deleting it and will never be deleting my account. So do not worry!

Anyways I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone once again! This goes to the judges, guest judges, models, girls and boys who applied, the people who just watched the competitions unfold, and the new users who were hopefully going to compete in the next cycle. Your passion means much much much more than you know and I will take it with me as I move on in life.

Thank You So Much! This is NOT goodbye, just a 'see you later'!

Mel

PS- Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments! I should be on a few more weeks until I take the plunge of trying to break away from here.

FINAL WORDS!

This Cycle has truly been a magnificent journey, and this is because of the incredibly special contestants that we have seen compete. Both our oldies and newbies brought something to the table and really made every single week's decision extremely challenging.

You both, Linus and Melinda, have made it through every task and are the last two standing for many reasons. All the judges and myself have always looked forward to seeing your sceneries and concepts, and there was always a special spark that we saw in you from week one. I especially saw this same light from auditions when you both filled out an application over six months ago!

Before I give my words directed to you both individually, I just wanted to say that this decision has probably been the hardest in MelsModels history. I don't think I have ever had two finalists who have been on the exact same page and so evenly matched, yet so blatantly different! This makes for such a tough call. I love you both so much and you will always be a huge part of the MelsModels family and MelsModels history.

Now I will address you one-on-one:

.naima- You have really shown us everything you could possibly give throughout the course of this competition. You have always been the best at listening and trying so desperately hard to evolve and grow based on our criticism. You have won the most tasks out of anyone this cycle, and when looking at your work, it becomes very clear why. You are such a raw and natural talent. You are able to create strikingly beautiful images that appear to be stills from real life. When you created your scenery for the color purple, I had a very strong feeling you would be here in the end. You imagine dynamic characters with miraculous settings and landscapes that come together with ambitious yet well-executed poses. Aside from your sceneries you have also just been a delight to get to know. My personal experience with you has been incredible and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to see that you truly are the whole package. You are an intelligent, sweet, and positive girl who is a pleasure being around. This personality of yours is key to becoming a successful top model. You have always been able to convey your talent through our assignments, and even though you have occassionally been in the bottom, you have always proven that you are worthy to be the last one standing.

.pease.- You too have really given this competition everything you have. I remember the first week you created one of the most interesting sceneries out of the simple task of portraying the word 'new'. Ever since that task I was so confident in your abilities and I would wait to see you perform week after week. As the tasks came and went your themes and concepts would exceedingly grow to be more complex and out-of-the-box. It would be so thrilling to see you 'do you' and just have fun exploring your creativity! Whenever I have spoken to you, I have seen such a poised boy who really knows what they are talking about, you are a true and genuine artist. When looking back at your portfolio, it is all cohesive. You have such a strong sense of self that you are able to put forth work that shows us you as a person, which is sometimes impossible to do. Let us also not forget how brave you were when you came out to be Linus and not Linnea. I was so proud of the way you handled yourself and it showed me you have the thick skin a top model needs to have. You too have seen the bottom in this competition, but your consistency and yet constant improvement, have shown us just how much you deserve to win this competition.

***********

You are both some of the brightest stars that stardoll has ever seen. I am truly so grateful and so honored that my club was able to get just a glimpse of who you are, both as people and as innovators. I can honestly say that I consider you both my very dear friends and I will love you guys forever. You already ARE top models, one will just bear my title.

FINALE TASK ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

I cannot believe that we are already up to our last and final task! How exciting is it!? I also cannot believe that in this Old vs. New Cycle, it is two new models competing against each other! What a serious surprise.

Just have to say, READ EVERY WORD OF THIS POST!

For this finale task there will be Four Parts. Each part must be completed by the final due date in order for us to plan a finale gala (Don't worry I will give you A LOT of time), but you do not need to complete the tasks in order. You can do part 1 first and then part 3 if you want. You must title your scenery with your username and part of the task (Ex: .naima PART 1 or .pease. PART 3).

PART 1:

Each of you have done an amazing job this cycle, but your portfolios are NOT complete. For this part you will each be given a paragraph of descriptions that you are to convey in a scenery. The words and phrases are derived from emotions and looks we feel you have NOT yet shown us. Pay attention to what I say and how I describe it, but if you still need some help with this just contact myself via mail.

.naima: You have to be mean, dirty, out-of-control, filthy, foul, raunchy, beaten up, ran over, messy, sloppy! We want to see you completely out of your element. We feel like you are great at creating such structured and concise sceneries, which is obviously a great thing, but sometimes we feel like they can be somewhat controlled and not stiff, but stoic. We want to see you get bruised and dirty and just get on the floor! Haha! Just have fun with it and don't be afraid to get wild and shake your hair and such.

.pease.: You have to be fun, girly, happy, smiley, light, breezy, traditionally beautiful, classic, commercial! We have seen you be dark and edgy throughout the entire competition but we want to see you let your hair down (literally you might want to try to use longer hair?) and put a smile on your face (literally once again) and just be girly and fun and COMMERCIAL! You didn't really understand the task last week, but here is your moment for redemption. Show us the light side to you and just have fun with this, don't get crazy high fashion on us!

PART 2:

Since we are still in Rome, if you win you will be featured on Vogue Italia. For the second part, we want you create what you would want your cover of Italian Vogue to look like. DO YOUR RESEARCH! Google and look through some of the beautiful covers and don't be afraid to create a very strong and beautiful image with a stunning concept and story to back it up. Overall it has to make people go to the stands and buy the magazine.

PART 3:

Simply show us who you are as a person! There is very little instructions with this task and a lot of freedom. Show us a side of your personality you want us to see, show us what kind of person you truly are, show us anything that you think describes you as a person, but of course depicted into a scenery! You should not be a character here, you must be yourself. The concept here is important obviously, but still have fun with this!

PART 4:

For the fourth part we want both you guys to create a topic in the club titled ".naima PART 4 or .pease. PART 4" explaining to us why you think you should win this competition. You can make this as short or as long as you want, but this is the last impression you will have on us before our decision, so think carefully about everything you want to say and address in your final speech. Of course we don't want you to bash your competitor, and we don't expect you to either, but don't be afraid to go into details when you state why you should win.

SERIOUSLY, if you have any questions AT ALL contact me and I will answer them! I love you both so so so much and I wish you all the best of luck.

***The Due Date for this task will be WEDNESDAY JULY 13th!!!

Task 10 Elimination Ceremony! Final Two Revealed!

Hello to all our MelsModels Members. This week has honestly been the toughest yet and this decision could not be more difficult to get through. All three of my finalists are in a very special place in my heart and I absolutely have grown to love each and every one of you. It is so hard to make a decision when it closely affects people you are emotionally invested in.

Let us just get right to it. The callout order is as follows...







1. .naima- Congratulations! You are the winner of this task!! Your scenery will be featured on the homepage of the club, but most importantly you are a finalist!!! Your spot in the final two is earned and deserved and we are so very happy with all that you have accomplished. Keep it up in the finale!


OTHER TWO (Definitely not considered the bottom..):

tigre89- You should be a finalist because of your impeccable sense of knowing how to tell a story. You have created some of the strongest sceneries in this competition and have grown so much. I remember when you competed in Cycle 3 of MelsModels you came in a girl and left a woman. I mean you really stepped up your game and grew beyond belief! This cycle is the same exact thing. You came in a little rusty and once you found your place in this competition you busted out some of the most memorable and interesting concepts and overall sceneries this cycle. You are the last 'oldie' and I would not have had it any other way! You have worked your butt off to get this far.

.pease.- You should be a finalist because you always seem to exceed our expectations with pure innovation in every one of your sceneries. Your poses, themes, and just overall ideas for placing and details come across as brilliance in your sceneries. You have by far been the most consistent of all the girls this year by being in the top nearly every week. You have had a few mishaps in which you fell to the very back fo the pack, and that is what scares us the most. If you aren't in the top three of the task you are a hair away from being eliminated. Your rarely in the middle, and although that is what attracts us to you, it also turns us off. You have really proved yourself time and time again and you deserve to have reached this point in the competition.








ELIMINATED:
Tigre89
I honestly cannot even believe that I am typing this right now. Out of the thousands of members I have come into contact here in my club, and all the girls and boys who have competed, YOU are one of my all-time favorite that this club has ever seen. You have lit up both cycles that you were a part of and when you showed interest in coming back, I could not have been more thrilled. Literally, you could say I made this entire idea of a cycle because of my passion for you returning. You have created some of the most revolutionary poses, concepts, stories, characters, and of course sceneries that STARDOLL (and of course this club) has ever seen. Your a delight to talk to in messages and have one of the most beautiful and inspiring personalities I have ever seen and do not even get me started on your raw talent. You will truly be missed and although you came in third both cycles, you will always been seen as one of MelsModels' best competitors. You are the epitome of a winner and I hope you know that.

***I have always put the Winner and Runner-up's usernames on the presentation of MelsModels, but this cycle I will also be putting your name as the 2nd runner-up. You simply deserve that honorable mention and I hope you appreciate it as much as I appreciated your role in this cycle.



SAVED:
.pease.
Seriously you have NO, absolutely no, idea how close this was. You are so talented and we love everything you do, but sometimes you just miss the mark. We love your risks and we never want you to play it safe, but just make sure the risks are appropriate! Just be yourself and continue to grow. In the finale, just prove why you deserve to be here and why you should win. We know you have a lot more to give, so give it!!


***CONGRATULATIONS TO MY TOP TWO!
It is new vs. new! Who will win?
You are both extremely talented. Take the weekend to breathe and I will post the four part (three sceneries and one small writing task) early next week! Probably around Tuesday or Wednesday! Congratulations again and good luck to you both! I love you guys!

Task 10 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Hey Everyone!

This is the last task before the huge finale of Cycle 5: Old vs. New! Will the finale have one old and one new member? or possibly both new models? It is all going to be decided with this task!

This task is very simple and to the point, but we want to see what you girls will do with it. It is going to be a Covergirl Commercial for ELECTRIC EYE SHADOW. These shadows range from all electric colors and have the perfect shade for every skin tone! You are to make a beauty shot in which you are modeling this product and showing us your true beauty. This shot should NOT show your full body but instead should only show (at most) your bust and up. We want to see a different side of you, so do not be afraid to go 'commercial' on us!

We want to see interesting and exciting colors being used as makeup and in the overall ad, so just experiment and explore with this task!

*** IN ADDITION to your scenery you must create the name of the shadow's shade and write a brief commercial for it in your comments. The commercial should only take up one to two boxes in the comments and should be the FIRST thing you post in comments. Then follow it with your link and description!!!


THE DEADLINE FOR THIS TASK IS TUESDAY JUNE 21st!

If you have any questions be sure to contact me! I love you all!

Task 9 Elimination Ceremony

This has been such a close call. This entire week gave the club incredible sceneries and a battle for the ages. I am so proud of all four of you for making it this far and proving how much you deserve to be here. There have been some pretty devastating decisions, but every week it seems to get more difficult.

The callout order is as follows....








1. .naima - Congratulations! You are the winner of this task and your scenery will be featured on the homepage of the club. You really made it clear that you listened to our advice this week. You were able to make a 'WOW' scenery and piece of art without solely relying on your pose work. I am so proud that you really stepped it up. Your scenery was emotionally beautiful.



BOTTOM THREE (Despite all of you being so close to the top!):
1. .pease.- Your scenery had a wonderful concept, interesting idea for the layout, and the styling and filling of space was overall really well done. You always are able to capture realism and make you sceneries look like stills from movies or an ad in a magazine, but some of the judges are worried that you are unable to break your own mold. When looking at your work as a whole this cycle we find it almost one-note, there isn't really a single week where you went in an opposite direction and transformed completely. If you stay around we want to see some sort of new spark within you.

2. sweet.hearts- Week after week I have given you the same critique (Even last week I basically screamed to you in your comments at elimination): That I want you to add more details and put more into your sceneries! Yet this week you used another black background. I know that you are a non-superstar and are limited when it comes to creating the best backgrounds, but there are many others who are non-superstar who are able to add that depth into their work (Like Blair and Jerrix during MelsModels). We feel like you not listening to our advice and this is somewhat frustrating since we see something so interesting and refreshing in you that we don't see in some of the other girls. You also, as Kasia put it, kind of sabotaged yourself with your pose this week. When all you have is a black background and two props to support your scenery, your pose is the main focus, and yours was just very unrealistic and distracting.

3. tigre89- You really did an amazing job this week and I personally loved how your scenery fed all the senses and made the onlooker feel something. The one thing that we worry about you is that sometimes your sceneries and styling isn't as innovative or creative as we want it to be. While you have a perfect eye for filling space and making breath-taking sceneries, often there isn't an edge to your styling that we see appear in some of our other models' work. You tend to use the same items from week to week and that adds to this lack of power within your landscapes and situations. We know you have it in you and we just want you to be aware of this for the future if you are still here.









ELIMINATION:
sweet.hearts
What a wonderful journey you have had here in MelsModels. We are all especially proud of you and everyone on the judging panel was SO reluctant to let you go. You have given us some of the best work and most intriguing concepts that this club has ever seen and you are definitely one of the fiercest non superstars I have ever met! I remember seeing your face in the auditions and making a huge star next to your name on my pad of paper that I was using to keep track of my favorites. It was because I saw such a huge gift in you and I am so happy that you proved me right and made it all the way to the final four! The thing that got you in the end was the fact that we felt you weren't listening to our advice, and therefore not growing as fast as you could have been. You are such a beautiful person and I hope you stay active in this club and active as a friend for a very long time! I love you!

SAVED:
tigre89 and .pease.
You both are so wonderful and such creative minds. We feel that the final three all has a lot of similarities and you two need to be SURE you stick out this upcoming week and show us just how innovative and deserving you are! We want to see you go crazy this next week by simply stepping outside of who you have been so far in this competition for a single photoshoot.


***Congratulations to my dear Top Three! I cannot believe we are already down to the wire. The next task will be posted this Monday or Tuesday! Stay tuned everyone!!!

Task 9 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Hey Everyone! The past week in MelsModels was by far the most toughest decision I have encountered in a very long time, within the club. I still am having some second thoughts, so everyone really has to know that your spot in this competition can be gone because of one mistake! You all have to be on your A-game all the time for the rest of this competition!!!


Since we are in Rome, one of the most historic places on the entire earth. I thought our next task should have to do with some ancient history. The Third Servile War took place in 73 to 71 BC and was the last of a series of unrelated and unsuccessful slave rebellions against the Roman Republic.The Third Servile War was the only one to directly threaten the Roman heartland of Italy and was doubly alarming to the Roman people due to the repeated successes of the rapidly growing band of rebel slaves, led mostly by Spartacus.The rebellion was finally crushed through the concentrated military effort of a single commander, Marcus Licinius Crassus, although the rebellion continued to have indirect effects on Roman politics for years to come. After such a devastating loss for the rebels, almost all the caught slaves and leaders were crucified alongside eachother for miles on end. At the time crucifixion was the punishment associated with the worst crimes so it was a huge statement made by the Roman Republic.


Your ninth task is to be inspired by this moment in history and become a slave revolt. The slaves were fighting for their lives and there are so many emotions and sides to this story that can be conveyed (helplessness, vulnerability, courage, the dark and upsetting side of the crucifixions..etc.), but we don't want to influence your thoughts too much. We want to see your take on this task and how you would convey this assignment. It is down to the final four so concepts really matter at this point.


SOME TIPS!

If you scenery turns out to be a full-body pose make sure that while your pose is strong there is MORE to your scenery than a pose.

Add details to your scenery, but not just for the sake of adding them. Fill your space appropriately.

Style your medoll according to the theme. It can be grimy, grungy, and broken down, but make sure your medoll is wearing the garments and they are not wearing her.



***IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, CONTACT ME VIA MAIL! I will be happy to help in any way and give you more inspiration.

***For more inspiration about this war, wikipedia is actually very useful. You can see the wikipedia page at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Servile_War

***THE DEADLINE FOR THIS TASK IS MONDAY JUNE 6th!!! Good Luck Models!