CuriositiesOCT 29, 2021

I Am A Special Effects Artist And Here're Some Of My Monsters I Made For Movies

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My name is Adam Dougherty and I'm a special fx artist and filmmaker in Denver CO. I also make monsters!

I’m a special effects artist and character designer for the company StudioADI. As a day job, I help to create monsters for movies such as Orcs from the Netflix Original: Bright, Dinosaurs for Jurassic World: the Fallen Kingdom, Annabelle from the Conjuring series and Shane Blacks Predator.

In my free time, I’m trying to learn how to be a filmmaker and explore different techniques of practical effects such as stop motion and water tank puppetry while also creating stories and characters of my own.

Here is a behind-the-scenes video of what I’ve done so far. I hope you enjoy it!

More info: kreaturekid.com | Instagram | Youtube | Tiktok

Behind the Scenes by Adam Dougherty

Since the age of 12, I've been sculpting monsters. I was collecting all the toys I could and that eventually led to me making my own versions of the monsters. Sculpting small-scale characters and creating my own original concepts led me to move to CA at the age of 21 to work in the movie fx industry for the past 10 years.

Working on the Jurassic World stegosaurus maquette

Some of my largest projects include Jurassic World: the Fallen Kingdom, The Predator, Malignant, Annabelle Comes Home, Godzilla King of the Monsters and many more. They were all fun and challenging in their own way but the largest for me so far is the film I'm currently working on, Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls which my new company KreatureKid is creating all the monsters for. From Ghouls to Demons, to Meat Boy monsters all the characters were designed by my company and will all be practical puppets. It has been the most challenging but also the most rewarding and fun project so far.

Mounting the 6’ tall fins on the full-size stegosaurus for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

The Pugloo stop motion puppet from my short film ‘Pugloo from Planet P!’

I think the most challenging part of making a monster is the design phase. Finding something new and original in a world that is overly saturated with characters and creatures is always difficult. It requires a lot of imagination and really digging deep into what used to scare you as a kid.

The best thing about being a monster maker is just that, you get paid to create something new, to tap into what you as a kid have always loved and to use your imagination to create something for others to hopefully enjoy and that will scare you or make you laugh.

Alec Gillis is not only one of the owners of StudioADI but also a main character in my films. He’s a very supportive boss

Filming the water tank ghost, this is the same technique used in the original Poltergeist film

Klaus from American Dad sculpture for the actual voice actor Dee Bradley Baker

Something I'm very passionate about besides making monsters is actually antique collecting and restoration. I love finding things that were beautifully made and hand-crafted that have survived the test of time. Using those things to find inspiration in my storytelling. What have these items seen during their life? Who worked on them? And how did they end up where they're at now? Endless possibilities for a story.

Mojo Jojo from the Power Puff Girls made for creator Craig McCracken

The Tooth Fairy

I will be announcing a crowd funder here soon for my next short film 'The Jungle of Darkness' A 1930's jungle adventure short that will use practical fx techniques like those of Jim Henson to tell the story of a young girl learning of an evil island, a greedy adventurer, talking shrunken heads and much more to bring to life an adventure that will be filmed in my studio in Colorado! A huge task and a challenge I think everyone will love to see happen.

You can follow all my work on almost all social media platforms under KreatureKid.