Dave Elsey
Dave Elsey (born 9 February 1967) is a make-up artist known for special make-up effects, creature effects and animatronics in films such as "", "Ghost Rider", "", "Hellraiser", "Alien 3", and "Indiana Jones" . He was born on February 2, 1967 in "London, England" to Marie and Derek Elsey. From 1999 to 2011, Elsey lived in "Sydney, Australia" with his wife Lou while working on the TV science fiction series "Farscape". He currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Career. Gallery. To view some of the classic and memorable characters created by Elsey, visit Dave's IGOR Studio webpage gallery  at http://igorstudios.com/gallery/ Recent Achievements. Star Wars: Episode III. Elsey, a huge Star Wars fan as a child, was elated to be given the opportunity in 2005 to work on the "" movie. The work resulted in an Oscar nomination for the creature effects / make-up effects department: a first for that department on a Star Wars film. The Wolfman. In 2010, Elsey and his long admired icon Rick Baker partnered up for the film ""The Wolfman"," winning an Academy Award. The Early Years. Mentors and Developing Technique. Elsey's early childhood was filled with fascination and love for movies and special  effects. When he was about ten or eleven, Elsey met "Chris Tucker", a talented Make-up Artist who contributed significant work to films like "", "Quest For Fire", "Phantom of the Opera", and "Elephant Man". Tucker mentored Elsey, showing him how to make various things like casting a face or sculpting prosthetics. Tucker shared with Elsey that when he was starting out, he used to make rubber noses for the makeup shop Charles H Fox, and they would sometimes pay him with makeup. Elsey followed in Tucker's footsteps and did the same thing; make-up was, and is very expensive , so it was good advice. The industry was so secretive, and there were no good text books, plus it seemed at the time that he was the only kid he knew interested in monsters and makeup, so Elsey had to struggle to develop technique. He used to do things like study photos of makeup artists like Dick Smith in magazines, trying to figure out what materials were on their shelves in the background. Eventually an aunt recognized his talents, and allowed him to use a small room in her house as a workshop. Idols and First Breaks. Two pivotal movies  he recalls seeing with his father in Leicester Square (West end of London, England) were "King Kong (1976)" and "An American Werewolf in London (1981)". After viewing the work of special make-up effects artist "Rick Baker" in both films, especially the latter, make-up effects became Elsey's career ambition. In 1983, at the age of sixteen, Elsey met "Baker" on the set of the film . That meeting reaffirmed Elsey's plan to make makeup his career. Dreams of working in the film industry started forming during visits to "Pinewood Studios", "Shepperton Studios", and "Elstree Studios" in various counties  in "England". Elsey frequently ran into Jim Henson (Sesame Street, The Muppets Show) while on the lot. He eventually met Lyle Conway who was Henson's creature shop designer on The Dark Crystal. After repeated requests for a job, Conway gave Elsey his first break in the industry, putting him to work creating animatronics for the movie Little Shop of Horrors. In the course of his work, Elsey made many of the special Vine effects as well as the tongue of alien plant Audrey II. The experience taught Elsey the art of using mechanical effects to create the illusion of  life in puppetry. They did a lot of reverse shots, turned the camera upside down, changed camera speeds, and other things that most engineers wouldn't have considered as solutions. That movie went on to be nominated for an Oscar for the plant, and won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 1986. Farscape, Australia. In 1999, Elsey was asked to supervise the Australian branch of the Jim Henson's Creature Shop about two months before the series Farscape was launched. Although Rygel and Pilot were complete, a significant number of characters were not designed yet. Elsey used the  opportunity to create characters puppets and makeups using every technique he could think of, resulting in many intricate and visually stunning alien creatures cult fans came to love.