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Rob Miller, Clay Modeler continued
Miller collected “Star Wars” toys and action figures, and if ever there was a figure he couldn’t find, he
would create it himself.
“I would take a figure I already had, alter it with epoxy putty so it would be hard when it dried, and then
I would paint it and have my own new figure,” Miller said.
As he matured, Miller got into clay modeling kits such as the old ’70s aurora kits and Frankenstein and
Dracula models. His love of science fiction and horror grew, and Miller eventually moved on to creating
larger-scale sculptures and drawings.
“Then, in 2000, a buddy of mine was going to film school and had the opportunity to make a feature
film,” Miller explained. “He asked me if I would be able to do the special effects. At that time I didn’t
have too much knowledge on creating special effects, but I told him I would figure it out. So I basically
taught myself special effects makeup.”
The movie, “13 Seconds,” was featured in several independent film festivals, and Miller even won
awards for his involvement, including Best Special Effects from the Detroit Independent Film Festival.
It was during the creation of this film that Miller’s first son, Alex, was born. A couple of years later, along
came Zachary, Miller’s second son. Soon, Miller’s spare time became more and more devoted to raising
his family.
In 2005, Miller’s wife, Rhonda, gave birth to their daughter, Riley. Their lives were instantly turned
upside-down.
“Riley was born with Down syndrome and two congenital heart defects,” said Miller. “When she was
born, they discovered the problem with the PDA valve, which when you are in the womb acts to pump
amniotic fluid into the lungs. Hers didn’t seal up when she was born, so instead of pumping amniotic
fluid it was pumping blood into her lungs. That first 24 hours was scary – we didn’t know if we were
going to have our little girl.”
At this point, Miller’s artwork came to an abrupt halt. Every spare moment went into caring for and
having quality time with Riley. Over the years, her health would show improvement, but continued to
take dramatic turns now and again.
A few years after Riley was born, Michigan’s economy started to buckle. Miller lost his job working for
the family shop. Then, the family lost their home and filed bankruptcy due in large part to the mounting
medical debt resulting from care that Riley very much needed.
“The hard part was, none of this was because we had too much credit card debt from foolish spending.
It was all medical,” Miller said. “We tried to get a loan modification for our house to get back on our feet
but they (the bank) wouldn’t help us, so we finally decided there was nothing else we could do.”
Then, all of a sudden, things started looking up for Miller.
Business at the shop improved and Miller went back to work. Through work, Miller was introduced to
Randy Mills, an automotive clay modeler for GM who also taught automotive clay modeling classes at
the Michigan Institute of Automotive Design. Miller signed up for the class and was introduced to one of
his idols, a renowned character modeler, Bobby Causey (http://bobbycsculptures.com/). Causey offered
Miller a one-year apprenticeship. Miller says he could not have been more excited.
During this time, Miller also started drawing again. In the span of one month, he drew more than 40
pictures that could be turned into prints and sold at the Motor City Comic Con. A friend helped him
purchase booth-space at the show, and his art was a hit. Some of his designs were even used in the
posters and other marketing materials distributed by Comic Con.
Riley’s health also was improving. One of the holes in her heart had sealed up when she was very young
and the remaining issue was showing signs of doing the same, minimizing the once-urgent need for
open-heart surgery. The light at the end of the tunnel was beaming.
Enter: “Face Off.”
“We were keeping up with season six of ‘Face Off’ – a friend of mine, Daniel Phillips, was on the show,”
said Miller. “One night we were watching with my daughter, and she put two and two together and
grabbed one of my masks. She brought it up to me and pointed to the TV and she said ‘Daddy.’ I got
teary-eyed. I thought, ‘She understands what I am doing.’”
Riley, who is 9 today, has the mental capability of a much younger child, according to Miller. When she
connected what was happening on TV to what Miller does, he was touched.
“So, I said, what the hell – I’ll give it a try.”
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Miller explained the grueling application process and how hard it was to be patient waiting for
responses from the show’s casting directors. Once accepted, Miller said he also had a difficult time being
away from his family during the two and a half months of taping.
“My wife and I have been together 22 years – she’s my best friend – and in all that time we have only
been apart three days,” Miller said. But in the end, the entire family did what they had to do to help
Miller see his dream through.
Today, Miller is enjoying life. He works full time as an automotive clay modeler for Ford – another job
connection he made during his time at the automotive sculpting school. He loves his job and all of the
people he works with. Additionally, Miller continues to reap the rewards from being featured on season
eight of “Face Off.”
“I recently attended the Walker-Stalker Conference in Chicago,” Miller said, describing the conference as
something similar to a Comic Con for fans of the show “The Walking Dead.” “One of my contacts from
‘Face Off’ called me to see if I was available. It was cool; many of ‘The Walking Dead’ cast members were
there.”
Sadly, Miller was voted off of Face Off during the Feb. 24 episode, but he still enjoys watching the show,
which airs Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. on the SyFy channel.
When asked what could possibly be next, Miller said, “Even though Face Off happened, getting this job
at Ford is probably the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Knowing where I was – the fact that two
years ago I was homeless and now I am here… I am just very grateful.”