About Dick Smith Makeup Training
Dick Smith Special FX Makeup Training is an education company founded by makeup legend Dick Smith. We specialize in special effects makeup instruction for both beginners and professionals.
Dick changed the profession of special effects makeup forever. His technical innovations set the standards for the industry he led for over half a century and his peerless artistry inspired generations of makeup artists.
But Dick’s fame does not rest solely on his pioneering work in makeup. He is also revered in the global community of makeup artists for training many of today’s most accomplished artists, some of whom run the world’s most prestigious Hollywood and international labs. This role as educator remains one of Dick’s enduring legacies.
Dick left us in 2014 but his great tradition of training superb makeup artists lives on.
Our Mission
Our mission is to provide the most comprehensive training programs in special effects makeup available. Our home study programs accommodate students who either cannot afford to attend a bricks-and-mortar makeup school or who cannot leave home to attend one. Our programs are inclusive of all students who are motivated to learn and determined to follow their dream of entering this exciting profession.
Weta Workshop was established in 1994 in Wellington, New Zealand by Richard and Tania Taylor, Peter Jackson, and Jamie Selkirk. Their goal: to provide special makeup effects, props and other services to local film and television productions. Today Weta Workshop is a 65,000 square foot dream factory employing over 200 artists and craftspeople, creating everything from weird creature makeups to the design for fantasy vehicles, weapons, and entire worlds for blockbusters like The Hobbit, King Kong, and Avatar. The Workshop’s extraordinary work has earned it five Academy Awards.
Mike Elizalde is an Academy Award nominated prosthetic makeup designer, animatronics designer, and Screen Actors Guild puppeteer. He is also President and Creative Director of Spectral Motion, Incorporated.
Lee Romaire Studios, Inc., founded in 2004, designs and produces extraordinary live action creature, character and mechanical effects for the entertainment industry.
Raised in Connecticut, a few miles from New York, Andrew Clement was taking the train into the city to work in the effects business even before graduating high school. He gathered any experience he could in the east coast effects community, sometimes even working for free, until it was time to attend S.U.N.Y. Purchase. While working towards his Visual Arts/Theatre Design degree, he began working on shows such as Saturday Night Live, and the films, The Princess Bride and Ridley Scott’s Black Rain. In 1985, Dick Smith began his legendary Advanced Professional Make-Up Course, and Andrew became his very first student. Armed with this life changing knowledge, he began commanding larger and more lucrative jobs.
In 1988 Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. formed Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc., which was destined to become one of the top effects labs in the industry. In 1988 Alec had enrolled in Dick Smith’s Advanced Course and found it to be a tremendous help in ADI’s quest for artistic excellence.
At a young age Mike Marino became a student and protege of legendary make-up artist Dick Smith. Through Dick’s Advanced Professional Makeup Course, Mike built the foundation and inspiration needed to excel in the field of Special Makeup Effects. Now, with over 20 years of experience in the film industry, Mike has worked with leading artists in the field, including Rob Bottin, Rick Baker and many others. As owner and designer of Prosthetic Renaissance, Mike has been able to realize his goal of leading a first rate team, elevating the art of special makeup effects.