Ripley’s Art Department

Based at our Orlando HQ, the Ripley Art Department is a tight-knit team. They do it all, from creating giant dinosaur costumes, mermaid tails, once, even a jacket made out of 350 salmon skins as a retirement gift. But, possibly the most time consuming (and slightly creepy) part of the job? Bringing wax figures to life!

Watch the episode of Cool Stuff Strange Things above to see a Ripley figure come to life!

From designing, molding and sculpting to creating the hair, makeup and clothing for the wax figures at Ripley’s, this team does it all. A single figure can take up to 300 hours to create, even longer when challenges present themselves—like in the case of Acrobritt, whose hand-balanced cast had to be based on a 3D-printed model.

The Ripley Art Department is off limits to the public, but for the first time we are offering the chance to visit and join the team for the day. Simply enter DeviantArt’s Unconventional Art Contest!

Unconventional Art Contest

DeviantArt, in collaboration with Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, wants you to break out of your creative norms and take part in the Unconventional Art Contest!

Inspired by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Odd Is Art, DeviantArt wants to challenge you to to create pieces using unconventional means. Embrace your imagination and think outside of the box!

Semi-Finalists will be chosen by a panel of DeviantArt staff and an Independent Judge with the First, Second, and Third Place winners selected by a panel of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Executives & Talent. First Place will win all-expense paid trips for two to Los Angeles and Orlando to view their piece on display at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! and join the Ripley’s Art Department for a day, and more!

DeviantArt’s Unconventional Art contest is open now through August 20th.

Visit www.deviantart.com for official rules, prizing, inspiration and to submit. Weirdness wins!