I was incredibly fortunate to be invited to help honor my teacher  at  “A Tribute to Dick Smith: the Godfather of Special Makeup Effects”, hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on June 17, 2009.

Hosted by six time Academy Award winner Rick Baker, the audience was filled with adoring fans and students from around the world. It was an incredible evening that I’ll never forget.

From AMPAS tribute . Dick Smith, front and center. I’m the shiny bald head at the very top left

ROW 1: (seated on ground) Frederic Laine, Arjen Tuiten, Morten Jacobsen and Ivan Poharnok.

ROW 2: Mike Elizalde, Howard Berger, Tom Woodruff, Jr., Shane Mahan, John Rosengrant, Leonard Engelman, Jill Rockow, Dick Smith, Rick Baker, Kazuhiro Tsuji, Kevin Haney, Richie Alonzo, Carl Fullerton, Greg Cannom and Alec Gillis.

ROW 3: Michael Fontaine, Michael Key, Robert Ryan, Michael Westmore, Susan Cabral-Ebert, Tommy Cole, Jose Manuel Meneses, Robert Short, Steve Laporte, Jamie Kelman, Peter Montagna, Mike Smithson, Bill Sturgeon and Roland Blancaflor.

ROW 4: Lee Romaire, Lynda Gurasich, Allan Apone, Cherie Minns, Melanie Gerbaux Lane, Maurice Stein, Kenny Myers, Jay Wejebe, Montse Ribe, David Marti, Stephen Prouty, Doug Drexler, Stephen Dupuis, Fred Blau, Doug Beswick and James Belohovek.

We just completed practical  effects work for CATS AND DOGS: THE REVENGE OF KITTY GALORE for Warner Brothers, slated for release in 2010.  Working closely with Animatronic Effects Supervisor Dave Barclay, we recreated several animatronic  puppet  characters from the first film, as well as designing and creating several new characters that will add a whole new dimension to the Cats and Dogs franchise.

One of our most challenging jobs to date:  we created an old Yogi disguise make-up for the beautiful actress Kashmira Shah for the movie CHASING HAPPINESS.  And we did it in record time: from beginning to end, we created this make-up in 29 hours- less than a day and a half.