Dave Elsey


Dave Elsey is an Academy and Saturn Award-winning 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 were King Kong and An American Werewolf in London . 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 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.

Industry Awards

YearFilmCredit
2017*"Beauty and the Beast"Beast Designer & Creature Effects Supervisor
2015*"Mr. Holmes"Makeup & Hair Designer
2014*WolvesCreature Effects Creator/Supervisor
2011*'Beast Make-up Effects
2010*The WolfmanCreature Effects Supervisor
2009*Where the Wild Things AreCreature Effects Supervisor
2008*Mutant ChroniclesCreature Effects Supervisor
2007*Ghost RiderMake-up Effects Supervisor
2006*Black SheepCreature Effects Supervisor
2005*'Make-up Effects Supervisor
2000*'Make-up Effects
1999*My Life So Far Make-up Effects Supervisor
1999*Gregory's Two GirlsMake-up Effects Supervisor
1998*B. MonkeyMake-up Effects Supervisor
1998*The Wisdom of CrocodilesMake-up Effects Supervisor
1997*The Empire Strikes Back Special EditionMake-up Effects Supervisor
1997*Snow White:
A Tale of Terror 		Make-up Effects
1997*IncognitoMake-up Effects/ Animatronics
1997*The SaintMake-up Effects
1996*'Make-up Effects
1995*First KnightMake-up Effects Supervisor
1995*The Passion of Darkly NoonMake-up Effects Supervisor
1995*Funny BonesMake-up Effects
1994*Death machineMake-up Effects Supervisor
1994*Staggered Make Up Effects Supervisor
1992*Hellraiser III: Hell on EarthMake-up Effects/ Animatronics
1992*Alien 3Animatronics
1992*CandymanMake-up Effects
1990*The WitchesMake-up Effects
1989*Indiana Jones and the Last CrusadeAnimatronics
1988*WaxworkMake-up Effects
1987*HellraiserMake-up Effects/ Animatronics
1987*On the black hillMake-up Effects Supervisor
1986*Little Shop of Horrors''Animatronics

Television