22.6.08

The Monster Maker

He was the master artist that gave shape and life to the creatures and monsters of the silver screen. Stan Winston was best known for shaping the look of three films; the assassin cyborgs from Terminator, the rampant dinosaurs from the Jurassic Park series and the nightmarish and monstrous aliens from Alien.

Winston began his career in the early ’70s as a make-up artist apprentice at Walt Disney Studios. It was a decade later that James Cameron hired him to design the Terminator robot for his film and the following year, the director hired him again and together with artist H.R. Geiger, the Alien monster was born.

His flair for the unknown, weird and downright scary monstrous creations continued throughout the ’90s with movies such as Edward Scissorhands, Jurassic Park, Island of Dr Moreau and Lake Placid.

Winston was considered to be one of the pioneers of the hand made special effects genre, along with his contemporaries, such as Rob Bottin and Phil Tippett. Winston tried his best to keep things as realistic as possible, using computer graphics only when necessary.

His latest work included Iron Man and Constantine, and he was currently working on a string of big budget projects, including the upcoming Terminator Salvation film starring Christian Bale.

Stan Winston, Academy Award winning special effects wizard, make-up artist and film director, passed away on June 15th 2008.

(This obituary appeared in the June 23rd Edition, 2008 edition of Dawn Images.)
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