Who was the best make-up artist/creature creator? They both are fantastic, but Winston worked on some of my favorite films so I pick him. He is greatly missed. What about you guys?
Hey Henry, i like them both. Probably Winston's creations just shade it for me. But my favourite practical FX fella was Rob Bottin for his work on The Howling, The Thing, Total Recall, Robocop and others. They're all great, though.
Stan Winston did films that interest me more so I'd choose him. The Rick Baker 70s "King Kong" never impressed me. What irritates me in all their work is the completely unbelievable "head replacement work": Schwarzenegger's head in Terminator 1 & 2, and his female "mask head" in "Total recall" and many more done by many more, are so amateurish that it hurts my eyes.
Dick Smith!! Bottin & Baker did great work in their heyday. Stan Winston is pretty solid too. I used to love all that stuff (Fangoria was like Christmas everyday). What about Tom Savini and his extreme gore work!!
What irritates me in all their work is the completely unbelievable "head replacement work": Schwarzenegger's head in Terminator 1 & 2, and his female "mask head" in "Total recall" and many more done by many more, are so amateurish that it hurts my eyes.
D.S.
Total Recall was Rob Bottin.
Both Winston and Baker were fantastic, but I gotta give the edge to Baker. American Werewolf, Gremlins 2, The Nutty Professor, Men in Black, Burton's Planet of the Apes (even two decades later, I'm gobsmacked that he wasn't Oscar-nominated for this)...
I greatly admire Stan Winston's work in animatronics. His creations for the Jurassic Park, Predator and Terminator film series and Aliens are legendary. There's no denying Rick Baker's talent. He's won, what, 8 or 9 Oscars?
I mostly love Rob Bottin's outrageous creations in film. The Thing, Legend, Robocop, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Explorers and Total Recall.
They were all specialists in their field, which certainly overlapped quite a bit but were not identical. Rick Baker excelled in make-up effects and making apes out of people (or werewolves, or other furry creatures). Stan Winston was an expert in providing animatronic-skeletons with "living skin".
Rob Bottin was the one to call for practical effects to make the grotesque believable. And Dick Smith... first thing I think of when i hear "Dick Smith" are exploding heads, but I know he had more subtle things to do for THE GODFATHER or TAXI DRIVER. :-)
Like Kev McG, i used to read Fango back in the day. The artists mentioned and people like Greg Cannom and Steve Johnson, Chris Walas, Kevin Yagher would be in every issue. Their names would be all over the credits of films i'd watch and i'd be interested in who was doing what. As someone utterly useless with any sort of 3D art I was always amazed at what they came up with. The late 70s, 80s and early 90s were great days for their work.
