Many young artists often ask me what’s the best school for learning special makeup. I always tell them they will learn far more from your course than any school that exists. For the enormous amount of information it contains, it’s worth every penny! I refer to it constantly!

Earlier in my career, Dick Smith’s makeup course gave me the confidence to say, “I can do that” when faced with a new challenge. Even today, having the sum total of Dick’s years of innovation sitting on my shelf…feels like having the world’s greatest makeup artist as my own personal mentor 24/7.

I wouldn’t be where I am in my makeup career if it wasn’t for Dick’s Advanced Course.

The best thing I can say about Dick’s course is, it will teach you “the why.” That’s more important than “the how,” although there’s “how to” info here in abundance as well. Having worked with Dick on several projects, I can say that the Advanced Course is exactly like having Dick Smith share his knowledge, expertise and anecdotes with you in a personal way, as if you were working in his makeup lab yourself. It will definitely make you the best prosthetics and effects makeup artist you can possibly be.

I know I’ll never grow weary of reading your pages. Tom Burman and I agree that you’re not just offering a makeup course. You’re setting a standard for techniques and procedures. Now if we hire someone who’s taken your course we at least know you’ve acquainted them with “the ropes”. And for that I know many of us are grateful.

Dick’s course is the sum total of a lifetime of unrelenting inquisitiveness, no-stone-unturned experimentation and unparalleled practice. It is a veritable king’s ransom of hard fought for knowledge, literally presented to the reader on a silver platter. Make no mistake; it is grossly under priced, and if you miss it, you have successfully passed up the opportunity of a lifetime!

Dick’s course helped me to develop my own way of being a professional special effects makeup artist. I will recommend this course over any school in the world. Instead of paying over $10,000 to go to a school, get this course and spend the rest of the money on buying materials and tools. I became a professional this way and it will help you to be a unique artist.

Once in a great while a person comes along with such excess of talent and determination that their chosen field is left forever transformed. Dick Smith is just such a man. His contribution to makeup effects is immeasurable. From conjuring virtually every technique and material to educating nearly every skilled craftsman, Dick is truly the godfather of our profession. Dick’s course is the only way to learn special makeup effects. The one thing a classroom can’t teach you is problem solving, and that’s what this business is all about. Dick’s course not only offers all the information you’ll ever need and more, but also help you learn to figure things out for yourself.

What are now considered to be the standards of makeup effects procedures were largely developed by Dick Smith. Here in written form is his revolutionary technique and brilliant artistic eye, set down for the benefit of makeup artists for generations to come. Simply put, it is the most complete and exhaustive information tome ever compiled for a film art.

Dick Smith’s Advance Professional Makeup Course is an absolute necessity if you are planning a career in the field of makeup and effects. There is no other course or literature available that provides so much information on professional makeup effects. I use the course as constant reference material. It has been a great aide to me as a makeup effects artist.

Dick Smith’s knowledge and experience with makeup is well known to everyone in the film industry. But his generosity goes far beyond that. To makeup artists who know him, his openness for sharing is legendary. I am sure that every makeup artist who has ever asked him a question or phoned him with a problem has never forgotten Dick’s willingness to help them in great detail. Dick has been solving problems with makeup for 55 years.

Filmmaking “is” problem solving, and in that respect, Dick Smith is “the” walking human encyclopedia in the art of makeup. With his Advanced Course, he gives us every aspect of his knowledge and experience – of five decades. Reading it is like having Dick behind you whispering in your ear and guiding you every step of the way. For any person with a true passion for makeup, Dick’s Course is the most indispensable tool you can have.

Dick Smith’s course is the Encyclopedia Britannica of contemporary makeup technique – the most comprehensive source of information on its subject; it surpasses the combined erudition of all other makeup texts on the market. The videotape of Dick applying prosthetics to Hal Holbrook demonstrates with laser-clarity how it should be done. The quality of my own work hasn’t merely improved since I started taking Dick’s course – it has doubled. The course is more than a gold mine of hard to get and (formerly) secret information, more than an inexhaustible collection of procedure and formulas, more than an Academy Award winner’s inside look at how to gain entry into this growth industry; it’s a teacher, it teaches discipline, precision, fastidious attention to detail, professionalism, and a deep reverence for quality.

Because of Dick Smith, and only because of Dick Smith, I was able to immediately find work in Hollywood. My very first interview was with Rick Baker – again, only possible because of Dick. Completing his Advanced Course prepared my mind in a way that I was able to literally leapfrog over hundreds of hopeful makeup effects artists who try to break into the field every year. Now that I have my own studio and am in a position to look at portfolios, I look specifically for people who have taken Dick’s course. So stop wasting time reading this and apply for Dick’s course right now.

The art of makeup has become as complicated as the tax laws. Dick Smith has solved the problem. He’s complied a modern makeup course which not only distills everything he has learned in the business but more importantly benefits from the fact that he is unique in his field. It’s a treasury of knowledge, presented in a clear, cogent manner and with an informational, personal style. You’ll find Dick Smith’s enthusiasm for every single aspect of his art to be infectious, and it will excite you to demand more of yourself. I think his course is more than informative, more than encyclopedic – it’s inspiring. It’s the summary of a lifetime’s work, and priceless but Dick is offering it at a price which is very competitive with other makeup courses which could never hope to contain a fraction of the knowledge this one contains, nor the authority. I don’t just recommend Dick Smith’s Makeup Course; I think if you are seriously interested in makeup, you must have it.

Yikes! I just received the first seven lessons and promptly devoured them! It’s far more than I expected. You’ve done something quite spectacular here. Enclosed is a check for the remaining lessons. I can’t wait! (written earlier in his career)

Since the age of eight, I’ve felt deep in my heart and soul that I wanted to pursue a career as a special effects makeup artist. I first heard about Dick’s Advanced Course when I was at ILM in 1988; I was ecstatic but couldn’t afford it at the time. Years later, with much feature work under my belt, I showed Dick my work and he told me I didn’t need his course. It was the biggest compliment any makeup artist could get. But Dick was wrong. I bought the course, and ever since then I find myself studying it religiously; I call it my bible of makeup. This course will encourage any self-motivated artist of any age. No matter how talented and creative your are, Dick’s course will help you expand your ideas, skills and knowledge of makeup. It also builds endurance, patience and most important of all, a passion for your art. Dick’s course is, in all ways, the only makeup course you’ll ever need in this galaxy.

What can I say, the course is absolutely incredible. You’ve been able to solve so many of the bothersome questions and techniques I’ve been knocking my head with.

Your course has helped me more than anything else in my career. I took the course in 1996. I was already working at a makeup studio and overnight my knowledge of materials and technique improved 100%. My second year in the business I had two Emmy nominations, and my third year I was supervising a major TV show. I attribute that success to the vast information, formulas and problem solving skills gained from the course. The cost is nothing compared to the employable skills you learn. Nothing out there will teach you how to do professional work as fast. Thanks Dick!

Dick Smith’s course brings you under his wings to travel through an amazing journey of professionalism and love of this work. It teaches you how to look at any subject, or any job, in a new way.

Taking the Advanced Course was the smartest decision I ever made. I work at Weta Workshop, designing and sculpting characters every day for a living, which is a dream job. This would never have happened without Dick Smith and the Advanced Course. Not only is it an exhaustive compilation of his life’s work, it also imparts the insights of the man who is the corner stone of modern makeup effects. With Dick’s letter of recommendation, I was able to get really great work in the business right from the start. Taking the Course has changed my life for the best.

What can I say about your course that you have not heard before! I have been literally hypnotized by it. I have found so much precision, abundance of data, information, anecdotes and above all the disinterested generosity with which you share all your expertise. At present, I am reading lesson 12 and I cannot believe how ignorant I am! It would have taken me a whole life to find out, rehearse and systematize all the items you course teaches in just one reading. Now I can forget about investigating and concentrate fully on the creative part of the job.

Sergio Prieto.

Receiving the Advanced Professional Makeup Course in my mailbox at home is a day I will never forget. The excitement I truly felt and still feel, just by holding it alone…knowing that this was written by the greatest makeup man alive: Dick Smith, who has put his full career’s knowledge of makeup on to paper. It is clearly written and therefore offers a wonderful guideline overfilled with information. For me it was the ONLY WAY to start learning how it is truly done. So if you are truly passionate about makeup and are looking to learn the trade and enter this field…you also will experience the excitement of this Course, just by holding it alone.