Joshua Hoffine - Horror Photography Book

Less than 55 hours left to pre-order the JOSHUA HOFFINE Horror Photography book via the already successful Kickstarter campaign! My friend and frequent collaborator, the world renown horror photographer Joshua Hoffine, is releasing an epic horror book collection of all his career of amazingly dark photography through Dark Regions Press, many of which feature the makeup and FX work of Yours Truly! 

 

If he gets to $45K, he will do not one but TWO more horror photograph collaborations with Kosart Studios both utilizing Joshua's frequent model Bob Barber who we turned into the Boogeyman for his short film Black Lullaby! The photographs will be Devil's Mug Shot, and with the $45K stretch goal, the second will be Nosferatu!!  Concepts for both photos are below.

  
What also makes it special and why he needs $45k to do both of these photos is because it will be Bob's final time modeling for Joshua due to Bob's health. So let's make Bob's swan song something special by turning him into Nosferatu, and making him into something terrifyingly awesome one last time!

 

Go to Kickstarter.com and pre-order your copy of the book TODAY to make Joshua's and Bob's NIGHTMARES come true! You can support the KickStarter campaign HERE

 

Thanks again for your continued support!

Kosart's TEENAGE MONSTERS in Spectrum 22

Due to current and new projects that came in, I unfortunately will be missing Spectrum Fantastic Art LIVE 4 but wish I was there with all my artist friends and colleagues.  Though, with SFAL4 happening right now in Kansas City, MO, I am honored to announce that the Teenage Monsters created by Kosart Studios has been accepted into Spectrum 22: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art!  I also have a personal sculpture of mine that was accepted as well, but I am waiting to release the entire series that the specific sculpture is part of before I share that particular sculpture, which will be released later this year.  However, though I have had personal works selected for both Spectrum 19 and Spectrum 20, and I judged Spectrum 21, this Spectrum 22 marks the first time that Kosart Studios has work accepted into Spectrum as a studio, and we at Kosart are extremely excited and honored to be included in a book with so many extremely talented artists and studios!

Click images to Enlarge:

Teenage Monsters by Kosart Studios
Foam Filled Latex Sculptures and Mixed Media.
Drac: 14.5"w x 25"h x 12"d    -    Frankie: 14.25"w x 30.5"h x 18"d
Wolf-Boy: 15.25"w x 22"h x 16"d

The Teenage Monsters were originally a collaboration between world-renown horror photographer Joshua Hoffine and me, and created by Kosart Studios for an ad campaign for Sony UK, titled Monster Prom.  Here are Joshua Hoffine's photos of Kosart's Monster Boys:
 

The Teenage Monsters were designed by J. Anthony Kosar for client Joshua Hoffine and brought to life by Kosart Studios.  Here are the concept designs by Kosart Studios' lead artist J. Anthony Kosar:

KOSART STUDIOS

Kosart Studios' contributors to the Teenage Monsters along with their contributions, include:

 

J. Anthony Kosar

Concept Designer of Teenage Monsters: for Teen Drac, Frankie, and Wolf-Boy.

Art Director / Supervisor: Overseeing Production of the Teenage Monsters.

Lead Sculptor: Complete Sculpting of Teen Drac and Drac Teeth, and Sculpture Block-In of Wolf-Boy and Block-In of Wolf-Boy's Teeth, Sculpture of Frankie's Teeth and Tongue.

Lead Mold-Making and Casting:  for Teen Drac, Frankie, and Wolf-Boy.

Lead Lab Work: Seaming and Patching Latex Seams for Teen Drac.

Lead Painter: Complete Paint of Teen Drac, Frankie, and Wolf-Boy.

Lead Assembly and Hair Application:  for Teen Drac, Frankie, and Wolf-Boy.

Costume Designer: Street / School Clothes for Teen Drac, Frankie, and Wolf-Boy.

Neil Viola

Sculptor: Complete Sculpting of Frankie and Refining Sculpture of Wolf-Boy.

Mold-Making Technician:  for Teen Drac, Frankie, and Wolf-Boy.

Hair Application Assistant: for Frankie.

Scott Mitchell

Sculptor: Complete Sculpting of Feet for Wolf-Boy, and Detailing Sculpture of Wolf-Boy and Detailing Sculpture of Wolf-Boy's Teeth.

Teeth Painter and Assembly Assistant:  for Teen Drac, Frankie, and Wolf-Boy.

Mold-Making Technician and Casting:  for Teen Drac, Frankie, and Wolf-Boy. 

Lab-Tech: Seaming and Patching Latex Seams for Wolf-Boy.

Hair Application Assistant:  for Teen Drac.

Stevie Calabrese

Mold-Making Technician and Casting:  for Teen Drac, Frankie, and Wolf-Boy. 

Paint Assistant: Base-Coating of Teen Drac, Frankie, and Wolf-Boy.

Hair Application Assistant:  for Teen Drac, Frankie, and Wolf-Boy.

Assembly Assistant:  for Teen Drac, Frankie, and Wolf-Boy.

Matt Kapolczynski

Teeth Painter and Assembly Assistant: for Teen Drac, Frankie, and Wolf-Boy.

Mold-Making Technician and Casting:  for Teen Drac, Frankie, and Wolf-Boy. 

Lab-Tech: Seaming and Patching Latex Seams for Frankie.


And thank you to my father Joseph Kosar for all his help and support through the project!

 


Here are some additional photos from Kosart Studios of the creation of the Teenage Monsters:

(click photos to enlarge)
 

The final studio photographs of the 3 Teenage Monsters sculptures is school / street clothes against the red background, and the photo that will appear in Spectrum 22 is by photographer Bear McGivney.  Here are a couple other views of the Teenage Monsters photographed by Bear:

So if anyone is in or near Kansas City, MO, be sure to visit Spectrum Fantastic Art LIVE 4 this weekend, and be sure to pick up your copy of Spectrum 22 when it hits bookshelves this winter to see Kosart Studios' Teenage Monsters!!!

Teenage Monsters & Behind-the-Scenes photos © 2014 Kosart Studios, LLC.

Monster Prom photos © Joshua Hoffine Photography.  All Rights Reserved.

Happy New Year 2015!

Wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year from J. Anthony Kosar and Kosart Effects Studios! 2014 was a good year but there are lots of BIG things coming from Kosart in 2015, with a HUGE announcement coming Next Week! Thank you for all your continued love and support, and keep following for more adventures in Art and FX from #TeamKosart !!

Here is a look back at 2014,... Time Flies... DON'T BLINK:

Father Time make-up by J. Anthony Kosar and Kosart Effects Studios.  Modeled by Bear McGivney.  Photo by Bear McGivney.

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from J. Anthony Kosar and Kosart Effects Studios! 

Visit www.kosartatelier.com for enrollment info!

Cyclops makeup by Kosart Effects Studios. Photo by Bear McGivney.

KOSAR Returns to FACE OFF

J. Anthony Kosar won Face Off Season 4.  His student Dina Cimarusti won Face Off Season 7.  Now watch Kosar's return to Face Off on Season 8 as a Coach / Mentor to a team of new contestants!  On Tuesday's beginning January 13th, 2015 at 9/8c, tune into the Syfy Channel to watch Chicagoland's celebrated FX artist back on television, lending his teaching techniques to helping a new crop of contestants better their work for the judges.  Though Kosar will not be competing on this season, it will be a fun season with outstanding make-ups and 15 extremely talented contestants.  He is joined by Face Off Season 2 Chamption Rayce Bird and Face Off Season 3 Finalist / Season 5 Champion Laura Tyler.  So be sure to continue rooting for #TeamKosart #TeamAnthony and don't miss this new season of Face Off!  Set your DVRs now!

HERE IS THE NEWEST SEASON 8 TRAILER:

Face Off images © courtesy Syfy.
J. Anthony Kosar portrait photo by Bear McGivney.
All rights reserved.

FREE MONSTER MASK GIVE-AWAY

Enter the FREE Kosart Effects 2014 Halloween MONSTER MASK GIVE-AWAY!  4 Masks, 3 Social Networks, 4 Chances to WIN!  One Mask raffled off each week from now until Halloween!  Masks Signed by Mask Designer / Sculptor / Face Off Champion J. Anthony Kosar!  Win LION on Twitter ending 10/10.  Win SATANIC PANIC on Facebook ending 10/17.  Win BITE YOUR TONGUE on Instagram ending 10/24.  Win GARGOYLE on Facebook ending 10/31.  Here is how to enter in 3 simple steps:

RULES:

STEP 1:  Follow / LIKE page @KOSARTeffects on Specified Social Network: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.

STEP 2:  Like / Favorite this Contest Image Post on Specified Social Network.

STEP 3: Share, ReTweet, or RePost Contest Image to your Friends / Followers and be sure to Mention @KOSARTeffects and Tag post with #KosartMaskGiveAway

Winners selected at random by searching the tag #KosartMaskGiveAway on the specified Social Network.  One winner selected from Twitter on 10/11 for Lion Mask.  One winner selected from Facebook on 10/18 for Satanic Panic Mask. One winner selected from Instagram on 10/25 for Bite Your Tongue Mask.  One final winner selected from Facebook on 11/1 for Gargoyle Mask.  You can enter ALL four contests on all three social networks, or you can just enter one. It’s up to you!

Masks designed and sculpted by J. Anthony Kosar for Zagone Studios.
Masks © J. Anthony Kosar & Zagone Studios, LLC. 

Kosar's work in IMAGINATIVE REALISM Show

I have my mini "Smokey Joe and the Inferno" in the IMAGINATIVE REALISM art show at the Yellow Springs Brewery in Yellow Springs, OH that is opening tomorrow Saturday October 4th from 6-9pm! This awesome show is curated by Travis Lewis and contains the work of a collective of amazing artists including Travis Lewis, Allen Williams, J Anthony Kosar, Fred Fields, Mark Poole, Chris Seaman, Dan Chudzinski, Alessandra Pisano, Tom Taggart, Matt Tisdale, Jacob Walker, Aaron B Miller and others.  If you are in Ohio this weekend, be sure to visit! Show runs through November 2nd, check it out!

Art in Imaginative Realism image © their respective artists.  

Mini Smokey Joe and the Inferno © J. Anthony Kosar.  

Photos of Mini Smokey Joe and the Inferno by Bear McGivney.

Kosar at Son of Monsterpalooza

Visit Face Off Season 4 Champion and award-winning artist J. Anthony Kosar at Son of Monsterpalooza this weekend, September 12 - 14, 2014 at the Marriott Hotel & Convention Center in Burbank, CA!  Come by and see some of Kosar's recent work, and check out his new airbrush, the Kosart PHANTOM Pro, available at the show.  For more info, visit www.monsterpalooza.com

Photos by Bear McGivney, J. Anthony Kosar, & Kosart Effects Studios LLC.

Kosar on Face Off JUDGE MATCH

Don't miss Chicago's own Face Off Season 4 Champion J. Anthony Kosar back on your television screens to help the judges compete against each other on Face Off JUDGE MATCH!  Watch Glenn, Ve, and Neville go head to head with the help of Face Off's finest! Who's team will Kosar be on, and which judge will reign victorious?  Find out in the most EPIC Face Off Challenge this Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014 at 9/8c on the Syfy Channel!  Tune in and set your DVRs, and get ready for the challenge the fans have been wanting to see for 7 seasons of Face Off!  Watch the Face Off Judge Match trailer below, and see how the tables have turned!

Also, Tweet LIVE on Twitter with J. Anthony Kosar during the 9/8c airing of Face Off Judge Match this Tuesday, September 2nd!  He will be taking of the Face Off Twitter handle, so be sure to follow both Anthony @KOSARTeffects and Face Off @FaceOffSyfy and Tweet LIVE with the Season 4 Champion and get some of your questions answered!! 

 

From Syfy.com/FaceOff:

Get ready for the Face Off event to end all Face Off events. On Tuesday, September 2 at 9/8c, Syfy debuts Face Off: Judge Match, an all-new original special where Face Off judges Ve Neill, Glenn Hetrick and Neville Page go head-to-head in a special make-up competition for their charity. Yep, the three judges are about to be judged themselves - and only one will win.

There's a twist, though. For the competition, the judges will pair up with two team members -- a former Face Off all-star contestant, as well as a former champion -- to create a pair of living chess pieces designed to appear in a colorful, stylized fantasy film.  In keeping with Face Off’s current season theme of “Life and Death,” one of the characters must be pure and pristine while the other is evil and twisted.

Joining the judges to assist in the competition are all-stars and fan favorites Roy Wooley (seasons 3 and 5), Miranda Jory (seasons 2 and 5), Wayne Anderson (season 4) and previous Face Off champions Conor McCullagh (season 1), Anthony Kosar (season 4) and Laura Tyler (all-star from season 2 and season 5 champion).  At stake is a cash prize for the winning judge’s favorite charity and $5,000 for each of their team members.

It all culminates with astounding creations, making for a tough decision.  Multiple Academy-Award winner and world-renowned Hollywood makeup artist Michael Westmore (Mask, Star Trek), along with Academy-Award winning makeup artist and Season 7 judge Lois Burwell (Lincoln, Braveheart, Saving Private Ryan, War Horse, War of the Worlds) have the difficult task of choosing a champion. McKenzie Westmore will host.

Ve Neill is competing for A Window Between Worlds, a non-profit organization dedicated to using art as a healing tool for survivors of domestic violence. Glenn Hetrick is competing for The North Shore Animal League, the world’s largest no-kill animal rescue and adoption organization. Neville Page is competing for The Orangutan Foundation International, dedicated to the conservation of wild orangutans and their rainforest habitat.

Images © Syfy and their respective owners.  Judge Match text from Syfy.com/FaceOff

KOSART ATELIER at FLASHBACK WEEKEND

Be sure to stop by the Kosart Atelier booth at Flashback Weekend THIS WEEKEND Aug 8-10, 2014 for enrollment information for Chicagoland's premier School for Entertainment Arts, founded by Face Off Season 4 Champion J. Anthony Kosar!  We are the only Make-Up FX School to have 2 students competing on Face Off, Dina and Scott!

Click HERE for more information on Flashback Weekend!

 

Kosart Student Spotlight: Scott Mitchell

Upon watching the Face Off Season 7 premiere, I wanted to tell everyone of the pride I had watching 2 of my students from Kosart Atelier: School for Entertainment Arts, Scott and Dina, make it onto the biggest competition for make-up FX, but primarily take this time to back up the work of one of those individuals.  Scott Mitchell was the first artist eliminated on a first ever “Audition Challenge” foundation make-up.

Scott is one of my first students.  Back in April 2011 when I just opened the doors to my new studio and just started teaching classes, both he and his son were there for my first set of classes.  He has taken every first class I have ever offered, taking all 12 of my classes.  Always one of the top students, he met each class project with enthusiasm, and often went above and beyond what was asked of him in class.  He would come up with great designs for characters and creatures, giving them each a wonderful back story that made you want to know more.  He always had great execution for each piece, and it was inspiring to see his progression over the years.

 

It is because of his great talent and enthusiasm that I began bringing Scott in to help and assist in classes and workshops that he has already taken, to now helping to instruct my classes at Kosart Atelier: Schoolfor Entertainment Arts, and bringing him in to help on Kosart Effects projects.

 

Scott was the first member of my team at Kosart Effects Studios, which later came to include several others, including Season 7’s Dina Cimarusti.  With the team, I brought Scott in to continue learning beyond the classroom, by tackling several projects.  It was really an exciting time at the studio, Scott quickly became my right hand man.

One of the first projects Scott assisted on was the molding, casting, and application of "Ivan the Cyclops" for a Floor & Decor commercial, that you can see HERE.  Though we had several issues with the cooking of the prosthetics, Scott and the team rose to the challenge and in 4 hours of application before set, we fixed the prosthetics and delivered a successful makeup to set that the client loved.  Scott was key in that process.

Another was for a boogeyman character for Joshua Hoffine’s first film Black Lullabye.  For this, Scott was tasked to make a gnarly set of boogeyman dentures.  Scott’s attention to detail and precision in execution made those teeth top notch and was the element that helped to bring the whole make-up together.  

We worked on another project for Joshua Hoffine and Sony UK, Monster Prom.  For this my team and I created awkward, nerdy, teenage versions of the classic monsters: Dracula, Wolf-Man, and Frankenstein’s Monster.  I designed these 3 characters, and Scott was key in adding the final details to the Wolf-Boy character sculpture, he sculpted and molded the Wolf-Boy feet, along with molding, casting, and seaming the 3 monster boy sculptures, helping to sculpt the dental pieces, casting and finishing all the dental pieces, and doing some of the hair work.

And the last of the major projects was a Mrs. Doubtfire-esque make-up that I can’t give many specifics yet.  However, Scott was key in molding and casting the make-up I designed and sculpted, creating the dental veneers and custom fingernails, and assisting in application of an 8-piece encapsulated silicone prosthetic for set days.  This make-up has to be hyper-realistic and perfect to make people believe this man is an elderly woman, and Scott has proven to have the chops to help get that make-up there. 

All in all, Scott is an amazing artist and a remarkable person.  He became more than a student, he became a colleague, and more importantly, a friend.  His sculpting of his own characters and creatures for masks, busts, and make-ups are all incredible, and I just feel sorry that none of you will have the opportunity to see what he can do on Face Off.

Despite what you may have seen on Face Off, or what the judges said, Scott does have what it takes to compete at that level.  My money was on him and Dina going into the competition, and were he to go again, knowing what happened on the first episode, I would still put my money on Scott to win it all.

Everyone has a bad day on Face Off.  I know I had a few of my own, and luckily I survived those trying times to ultimately win the show.  However, as we all know, Scott did not make it past the first round, which wasn’t even a Spotlight Challenge.  It was a twist to have 2 people eliminated right off the bat with a new “Audition Challenge” which was nothing more than a foundation make-up.  It is unfortunate that they eliminated artists based on a foundation make-up, that utilizes generic prosthetics that he or she was not responsible for in the design and sculpt of that piece, especially when you are given that piece to work with.  I’d rather see a contestant be eliminated based on the creativity and execution of their own work in the shop.  If that were the case on other seasons, some of the best makeup artists that ultimately made it to the finale as well as some who won their season would have been eliminated in their first foundation challenge based on their bad decisions on their first foundation make-up.  How tragic that would have been, and that should show that such talent and potential could have been wasted on this season’s Audition Challenge.  Yes, some bad decisions were made, but I guarantee you that had Scott made it past that round to the shop he would have gone very far, possibly making it to the finale and winning the show.  Though I do not know Gabby, I have the same belief in Gabby who was also eliminated.  It was sad to see them go based on a foundation challenge.  I hope they are both given another opportunity to come back to Face Off and show the world what they can do.  I do not know Gabby, but I know Scott, and Scott is a creative force to be reckoned with.

Here are a few of Scott’s pieces that show what he can do when actually given an opportunity to design and sculpt his own make-ups and sculptures.

So with that, I just want to say that I am still very proud of Scott, as very few make it as far as he did.  He beat out thousands of people just to have made it that far.  It takes a lot to put yourself and your art on display the way he did, and I just hope he gets another opportunity to show you all what he is made of.

On a lighter note, I am also very proud of my other student Dina, and am ecstatic that she made it to the next round and won the Audition Challenge.  I will do a write up on her and her work as well, but wanted to address Scott first.

Congrats to Dina and all the other contestants who actually made it on Season 7.  Thanks for taking the time to read this, and please continue to watch Face Off every Tuesday at 9/8c on Syfy.  It is my favorite show, and I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Photos by Kosart Effects Studios LLC, Kosart Atelier, Bear McGivney, Scott Mitchell, Simin Koernig, Joshua Hoffine, Brett Patrick Jenkins, and Syfy,

and copyright their respective artists.  All Rights Reserved.