Jordan Patton had trouble paying attention in class.
The Parkersburg native laughed and said, "In high school, I used to sit and draw monsters and things like that instead of doing my actual class work."
Who would have guessed he was training for a career?
A few short years later, the 25-year-old has made a life from a love of spooky stuff. He's also currently appearing on the 9th season of SyFy's popular series, "Face Off," a special effects competition that matches budding makeup and FX artists against each other.
It's not the first time a West Virginian has made the show. Charleston native and former Capital High School teacher R.J. Haddy appeared on the show in 2012 and finished as one of the runners-up.
Patton grew up dreaming up monsters. But it wasn't until his senior year at Parkersburg South High School, when he discovered the world of movie special effects, that he began to learn how to bring those monsters to life.
A few of his artist friends were dabbling in mask-making. Patton watched what they did and then started researching techniques online.
He practiced, he got better. He got very good.
"After I made my first successful full-head latex mask and pulled that thing out of the mold, I was instantly hooked," he said.
Patton did three masks that year, but it was that first one, which Patton described as "a kind of biochemical zombie with a metal respirator fused to his face," that won him a scholarship with the Art Institute in Pittsburgh - and a job.
"One of the judges for the scholarship was the owner of a haunted house in Pittsburgh called The Scare House," Patton explained.
Patton was hired to make masks, do makeup and build props.
At the Art Institute, Patton drifted from mask making and focused more on animatronics, which was more about creating moving models for film and television.
"That's beyond sculpting," he said. "That's getting into circuitry. That's bringing your sculptures to life and having them move around. It's a whole new level."
But he didn't give up on masks or makeup. He still made them for friends at Halloween and designed some for the alt-metal band, Mushroomhead. It was just less of a focus.
"Two years ago, I tried out for a show on SyFy called 'The Jim Henson Creature Shop Challenge,'" the mask maker explained.
"I came very close to getting on that show, but then I got this call in October. The show didn't get renewed."
Instead, television producers thought he ought to try out for "Face Off."
"I was skeptical," Patton said. "In school, I'd been more into props and animatronics instead of the makeup side of things."
They convinced him to at least try. So, he came up with a couple of characters, created masks and made a video for the selection committee.
The tryout process was lengthy and involved, Patton said, but the worst of it seemed to be the paperwork.
At the end, he made the cut and is part of the group that will compete for cash and prizes over the next three months.
While some of his fellow effects masters and mask makers go for the blood and gore, Patton described his style as more comic than scary. His art reflects who he is. He likes horror films and monsters, but he also loves to laugh.
"I'm not exactly the most serious person you'd ever want to meet," he said.
Win or lose, Patton will stay busy.
"I'm going to several horror conventions," he said. "I'm headed to the Horror Hound Weekend Mask Fest in Indiana the second weekend in September. I'm also going to the Son of Monster-palooza in California after that."
Besides the conventions, Patton and a friend are working on a show they hope to get on Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim." The characters and the stories will be all theirs.
That's all Patton has ever wanted to do. It was what he wanted to do before he made his first mask, back when he was just a bored kid in an English class drawing monsters on the edges of his notebooks.
"Face Off" is seen Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. on SyFy.
Reach Bill Lynch at lynch@wvgazette.com, 304-348-5195 or follow @LostHwys on Twitter.