MAKE-UP ARTIST magazine: Universal Studios Horror Features

A perusal of the magazine rack at Barnes & Noble last week was rewarded with the find of Make-Up Artist magazine, Number 85 (July/August 2010). Two articles were of special interest to me. The first is related to the first photo accompanying this post of the Creature from the Black Lagoon. The Creature is is one of the monsters featured in the forthcoming comedy short, United Monster Talent Agency, produced by KNB EFX Group. With this short film project KNB EFX draws upon a retro style of a “’50’s-era commercial for Universal Studios.” The storyline as described in Make-Up Artist:

The idea became perfectly clear–there would be an agency that handled real monsters as talent, and once they cornered the market on Universal Studios, they would want to gorge into the future and open a new wing, developing creatures and monsters for future films.

The film has wrapped production and updates on the film’s release can be found at the KNB EFX Group website.

The second item of interest in the magazine comes in the form of an article titled “A Way with Clay,” which provides a little textual background on the sculpting work of artist Mike Hill, and beautiful photographs of some of his work. The photo of Boris Karloff with the Frankenstein creature makeup on in this post is an example of Hill’s work. No, that’s not a photo of Karloff behind the scenes, that is a stunning example of Hill’s work. The essay also includes a photo of Lon Chaney, Jr. as the troubled Larry Talbot and as the Wolfman, as well as Elsa Lanchester in The Bride of Frankenstein.