This is who I am. Where I started, where I am now and where I'd like to be. It isn't short - my life hasn't been. But I hope it is good reading for you and that you can get some small pearl of wisdom from it. It's really about a lot of us. Makeup effects is such a huge part of my life and likely yours too that to have seen or read about someone else who has been through some of the efforts trying to make it, might help you come to terms with doing this as a career. I only wished I had it for a career but have enjoyed a lot of work trying to get there myself even though I never was "in the right place at the right time", so to speak. This is a lot to absorb but I hope you enjoy the read.

As this implies, everyone has to have some sort of beginning in special makeup effects. Mine is not unlike anyone else's. As far back as I could remember I have always been fascinated with this craft. Growing up in the 50's I had the distinct pleasure of all those early "B" horror flicks and sci-fi creature features that today lots of people laugh at because they're so campy. These, however, had a profound influence on me and right from the start I was hooked. I couldn't imagine how all that neat effects stuff was done. I was satisfied to watch and wonder as Frankenstein or the Wolfman paraded across the screen in what never could be reality but what was real to me. And as far back as I could remember I wanted to "be" one of those creatures.

I retain that sense of wonder today as the film industry continues to break ground on newer and better and more realistic representations of what my parents and others of that generation saw as disgusting. Needless to say, it didn't keep me from watching.

I was the kid who liked to know how things worked and recall taking apart toys and little mechanical devices to see what made them do what they did. I still like to tinker and this, in part, is what created that need to know about how the special effects makeup was done as well. And in so doing, I have learned to enjoy the end results of processes I now know how to do in this craft. This is not the only reason I decided to learn this craft though. There were other influences that created this desire also that I could say I viewed as more practical that have served me well over the last 40 years of learning this art - not the least of which were those "B" horror and sci-fi creature flicks of the past.

You know it!!! You lived through it perhaps!! It was a time that you thought you knew what you were doing but were still just insecure enough with everything, including who you were and what you wanted in life. It was a time you did a lot of what you did because of what those who were "older and wiser" did - or told you to do.

This "age of innocence" - that caused you to trust that those older than you knew what THEY were doing or what THEY were talking about, that would'nt make YOU look foolish, because you were still grappeling with your own maturing identity. And it caused you to learn that though they might have been "older and wiser" it didn't always mean smarter. So, you found out through a variety of situations that might have occurred, that you were beginning to have a good knowledge base established.

One of the main reasons I got into learning about makeup at all was because of something someone asked me when I was 15 years old. I was involved, and have been for 42 years, in community theater. I recall doing my first stage show - some obscure, outdated musical. Being a complete novice I went at it with reckless abandon. I was into it for the fun and, as many like me in theater, at 15 years of age it was a great way to meet girls and be around fairly free-spirited people. Of course, I was totally unaware of how to do stage makeup and was handed over to one of the people who volunteered to do it for that production. During the intermission of the show, the mother of my best friend (who got me involved in the first place) came backstage and she asked me who had done my makeup. Well I proceeded to tell her that the girl who had been assigned had done it. I then asked her why. She then told me that I looked like a little girl - you know - rosy cheeks, nice red lips. Well at 15 years old I was floored. I immediately went to the dressing room and scrubbed my face and reapplied the makeup with next to nothing as I first had on. That response to my question was the very reason I have done and continue to do my own makeup for stage shows. I have done that for 40 years, learning as I went. But I vowed no-one would ever again, do to me what that girl did. However, I think I have her to thank for doing that though because otherwise I might never have purused this craft like I have.

That was the start. But innocence - or perhaps I should say ignorance - was the norm with me for a time until I began to get a real sense of how to do special effects makeup specifically and makeup in general. I went through the same thing many beginners do when they THINK they know how something is done - and find out they don't because the books they were using to teach themselves were only half as good as they needed to be as far as explanations went. You know what I am taking about - the first plaster cast of your face!! You know the time you had to break it off with a hammer because you didn't really know what the techniques for life casting were. Not that plaster can't be used, but knowing - REALLY knowing HOW could have saved you a lot of headaches and eyebrows and eyelashes.

We've all been there, but take heart - MOST of us learn.

Ah yes!!! The INTERIM. The time when the things of our youth get put on the back burners of your lives. You know this too!!! High school, dating, sports, girls, girls, girls and more ......well you know. And "married with children and grandchildren", career oriented in other than what you really want to do, and "into" other things. Things I really, truly WANTED to do with my life only got partial, limited attention. I did get to go to college and get a BA degree in music, I became a well-trained and moderately successful professional singer - something most people don't even know about me. I intended to and thought I wanted to teach singers on the college level but started late enough that when I was through with my degree I had had enough of school. A lot of work to not have a full time career in the field. And so, the makeup stuff while on a back burner - was always on simmer but never on a rolling boil. Oh I still watched the good special makeup effects work going on, became an avid fan of all the "big boys", but never really pursued it as a viable career as I wish I had. Hind-sight is 20-20, shoulda-coulda-woulda!! You know.

However, it was during this interim - the latter stages - that my interest was regenerated by the likes of "big boys" like Tom Savini (Mr. SplatterKing himself), Rick Baker, Steve Johnson and my favorite of all Dick Smith and others. Oh, I stayed involved in theater and did regular, old-age, and some special effects makeup for things I was involved in there or could get hired to do. And being in possesion of Richard Corson's stage makeup bible during this time was a treat beyond compare to anything I had up to that point. I did learn a lot in that time by self teaching and devouring everything I could on the subject - good or bad (and there was a lot of that) but seeing this sort of new-wave of special makeup effects artists emerging and then finding out that Dick Smith had been doing it as the reputed Godfather of Makeup to all of them for years already, re-inspired me to get this off the back burner and really pursue the knowledge that I wanted which I had NOT been smart enough to work toward before.

Thus the REAL work began. Not on the professional level though. At this point I was already a little too old to pursue special makeup effects as a career. The wave of young, single, talented individuals who flooded the profession had those advantages I didn't. I was too settled in a career and life in general, coupled with the inability to feel free enough to take chances without worrying about the consequences, has kept me in the ranks of the semi-professional, freelance makeup artist. I have been paid for the work I have done - not buckets of money - but I have enjoyed the monetary gains I got from doing what little is being done around where I live. And I continue, and will, to plug along in the fervent hope that someday someone will need what I could offer. I have no delusions. I AM a realist. But luck is luck. And you never know. Being a student of Dick Smith's Advanced Professional Makeup Techniques has been a long time dream come true. To have been encouraged by his work and words of wisdom, his mentorship and friendship, has been a lot more than I thought would ever come of being involved in this craft. So where am I now and where do I go from here?? Read on if you can stand it.

I'd venture that for most of us money is and has always been a looming issue in the crafts which we pursue. For us semi-professional special makeup effects artists, money is or can be a seven-headed monster rearing its ugly heads in the face of our struggle to continue studying in a craft that DEMANDS money with which to pursue it. And as we are all aware, it only gets increasingly difficult to let go of some of what we work for to go to educating ourselves IF we aren't earning any money while we are engaged in the pursuit of this education (or profession if we're lucky). I also know that I have spent money on lesser things and now, at times, have "disposable" income that could be put to this use but often ends up elsewhere.

In the early days, when I was much younger, it was difficult. I was married with children to raise and money was never in abundance. I was not one of the fortunates (or the smart ones) who pursued a high powered career - partly because I wasn't sure what I really wanted to do (hadn't figuired it out yet that I wanted to do this) - but also partly because I never had it the value system or motivational support instilled in me that would land me in a job that would pay more than I could spend. Couple this with some financial mistakes or pitfalls and you wind up worrying where the next dollar is coming from or learning how to juggle your own books, robbing from Peter to pay Paul, as the saying goes. However, through all of those times, I was careful enough to be able to accumulate the money necessary to purchase some of the better books from which I could begin my "education" in the art of special makeup effects. Also it helps to have an inquisitive mind, an analytical bent and some imagination. I think watching all the great special effects work over the years in film, gave me inspiration to kind of figure out how some of what I was seeing could be done. Even if I wasn't right all the time, I discovered much later that the ideas I had about how effects were done, were not too far off the track.

Then to reproduce those things is where the money came in. We all need supplies. Prices rarely go down. So you begin by getting only what you need in the quantities you need them at that time. Having more or buying more for stock purposes is a luxury you just can't afford. But over time, and with the opportunities that come along that pay you anything at all, you begin to see that the store house of supplies is gradually increasing. Part of my stipulation with jobs I am fortunate enough to be paid for, is that I get to keep left over supplies - after I have estimated what I need (and it is always estimated more than what I need). I am fair in my estimations but realistic also. But you do increase the supplies you use all the time. I was always aware of using some things more than others and those are the things I spend a lot of money on at this point. BUT I NEVER scrimped on my education. That is the most valuable supply you have. So buying books (and then TAKING CARE OF THEM) has always been a real priority for me. Of course, if you HAVE the bucks and can spend without worry then you are leaps and bounds ahead of most people. But just because you might have the financial resources doesn't mean you are or ever will be any good at this craft.

It has been said that "...practice makes perfect". While that is true, I reiterate that in order to practice you need something to practice with. There will be waste. A friend of mine was teaching me photography for a time and he said in order to learn you had to waste film - meaning that you had to test the water and make the mistakes. Of course, that can be costly. But you try to keep those costs to a minimum. Doesn't always work. Also, I recall that the cliche of "...practice makes perfect" is not always true. I remember someone giving a much better explanation of that cliche. He said, "...practice does not make perfect! Practice makes permanent! PERFECT practice makes perfect". With that in mind, you quickly realize that the money you spend MUST be put to the BEST USE and being cautious and judicious in your use of the supplies you fork out the hard earned bucks for is an issue that you MUST NOT take lightly.

Times DO change however. I spent where I should not have spent, I used money I should have used for other things, but I never was stupid about it. I became VERY anal-retentive about my things. I take good care of the supplies I have and I am careful about WHAT I buy to this day. Not that money is still not an issue for me - it IS - but I am in a better position than I was to be able to afford this very costly craft. And getting paid better for what I do helps to alleviate some of the otherwise stiff burden on my other income.

If in writing this I could pass along anything at all, though, I would say that you should do what you have to - short of illegal - to be able to afford the BEST books you can get and the higher quality supplies you need to operate. Believe it or not, it PAYS OFF in the long run but only if you are also SMART about what you have and how you use it. I spend frivously once in a while. It is a treat I give myself from time to time. But it doesn't occur frequently. Spend it on your education first. That is what I did. Dick Smith's course is not inexpensive. But THAT money did not come easy. Of course, it isn't for everybody either. There are makeup schools out there that cost WAY, WAY more than Dick Smith's course. NONE of them are any better than the lifetime of information and instruction I feel I have gotten from having it though. I consider it money WELL spent. This is MY most valued asset at this point.

So what is the case today? Well I study Dick Smith's Advanced Professional Makeup Techniques course all the time and I find that the veritable WAREHOUSE of information contained in the more than 700 page course is enough to keep me going for many years to come. With the Updates the volume has increased from time to time. There is a lot of information - a lifetime's worth actually. Believe me when I say, that to have his entire life's work - or at least the major portion that he "...can remember" (according to him) - is a lifetime of study for someone like me. He is and always will be my favorite special makeup effects artist. Oh, there are others I like a lot, but to understand that his idea that the quality of work is a key to success, in part, only makes me want to do this that much more.

I stay involved mostly with theater work but continue to study with hopes that by developing the skills necessary to get the absolute best results from a project, I will someday luck out on a chance to get some "real" professional work in film or other venue. Of course, it helps to be in the right place at the right time - and I usually have never been. Yet I NEVER stop practicing. I am at a bit of a standstill right now though - still remodeling part of the basement of my home after more than 5 years and building in a workshop where I can do some work without interruption. But when the remodeling is done I am back at it. In my area there is not a lot that goes on. Not having the advantage (I guess it is) of being a Union Makeup Artist I doubt that I would ever get that phone call I hope for. But I continue to do a lot of work for anybody that asks and hope that maybe someday I might get that call. The key here is NOT to turn down anything at this point. And, to use an overused 90's term, do as much networking as I can to stay in touch and connect with people who are involved. You never know what can happen. There are late-life success stories everyday. I don't kid myself but I will always hold out hope.

I have had some really good chances to do some good things in the last 8 - 10 years, one of which netted me an ORCHID award for Excellence in Special Makeup Effects with the greater Cincinnati area regional ACT group in the summer of 1996. Press here to see award. This is a group of theater critics who adjudicate at all, or most, of the theater presentations in the greater Cincinnati area. This ACT/OCTA convention is held every year and awards are given based upon evaluations of what the critics saw during the course of the theater season. I was fortunate enough to be asked to do the special effects makeup for Sondheim's Into The Woods presented by one of Cincinnati's theater groups. Then in the summer of 1996 I received the ORCHID award for my makeup work on that show. Not only did I receive the award - but it was the ONLY makeup award given at all that year. So I felt very good about my work with that. This ACT/OCTA group is a worldwide organization and they give awards regionally, statewide, nationally and internationally. I guess the award I got was for only the region and won't go any further but it was a treat nonetheless.

Obviously, my recent efforts are being directed to the maintenance of these pages and more specifically this group (S.A.P.S.E.M.A.) and the many wonderful members and friends I have made as an outgrowth of this site. It has grown out of the desire to honor Dick Smith by having a place where those of you who are learning can find information, get some good resource material and generally have a place where, if you want, I can feature work you are involved with. I knew a long time ago, when I first got onto the Internet, that I wanted to do this. Basically, I'm doing it for the opportunity of sharing information among those of us who are involved in special makeup effects at many levels. I don't have all the answers. I've been accused of being a know-it-all but I never claimed to be. I do the best I can with what I've learned in the last 42 years. But I have a fair amount of knowledge and this site has been established to be that resource where others who are learning can find out some things they might need to know or a place where some semi-pros or professionals can share what they know to a fledgling group of the next generation of special makeup effects artists who aspire to a level of expertise.

Where do I go from here? Where do I want to be and what do I want to do in the coming years? Read further and find out.