Making a Monster

Those of you who are monster movie fanatics (denizens of Dorkistan, perhaps?) will surely recognize Dick Smith's name. For those of you who don't, Dick Smith is one of the godfathers of monster makeup and makeup effects. His career spans 50+ years, he has an academy award under his belt for Amadeus, and is responsible for some of the most iconic faces in the horror genre, including charming little Megan from The Exorcist.

First published in 1965, Dick Smith's Do-It-Yourself Monster Makeup Handbook in now in its fifth printing, with an introduction from the also-legendary Rick Baker (Hellboy, The Ring).

Dick takes you through each effect step-by-step, and there are plenty of clear reference pictures. He also has an appendix of makeup supply you may need. This book is easy to read, easy to understand, and very likely to help scare the crap out of the darling little kiddies at Halloween. If you have children of your own, you'll be able to make them up into some pretty cool little monsters. I guess their outsides will reflect their insides, then. Heh.

You can find a copy of it at http://www.monstermakers.com/, a site which is also worth a surf for monster folks like ourselves. You can find Dick Smith's official website here. You can take a basic or advanced course in monster makeup from his site, too. Explore, people!