bio

Biographies

Joseph Lester

Joe Lester has been interested in fantasy and horror characters for his entire life, with early influences from Lon Chaney Sr., Ray Harryhausen, and Dick Smith. Joe started sculpting early, and to this day remains determined to make each character better than the last, as he sees artistic development as a lifelong process. He has created masks, prosthetics, characters, creatures, sculptures, prototypes, and props for numerous companies and organizations, including, but not limited to, the haunt industry, the mask industry, and also films, plays, and videos.
Joe originally came up with The ImageWorks concept as a way to get his personal freelance art and sculpture out into the world. It later developed into a special effects company after meeting and working with the other very talented people shown on this page.
As a side endeavor, he is dedicated to helping keep alive the Special Effects education tradition in the spirit of his mentor, Dick Smith. Joe has been a student of this Academy Award winning and legendary artist for several years, and is hugely proud and honored to consider the Smith family as friends.

Rissa Grandone

We at IFX feel that Marissa “Rissa” Grandone is definitely a force to be reckoned with. Originally a small town girl, and with a strong background in live theater, she now packs a fierce punch of drive and creativity when it comes to the hair, wig, and beauty side of ImageWorksFX, along with a good sense of business and organization. However, don’t let that fool you - she combines this with a taste for the macabre, bringing elements of weird and creepy to the mix - but with the same attention to detail and thorough research as all other tasks.
Rissa has been in the hair and make-up scene since ’99 with her experience ranging from modeling and make-up, designing overall looks for bands, to coming up with her own bizarre and twisted characters – all through hair work, make-up, and costuming.

Samantha Daley

Samantha Daley has dedicated the past few years to researching, exploring, and experimenting with special FX makeup. Daley attended Columbia College Chicago, majoring in Theater Design for sets, makeup, costumes, and the like. During this time, she took every opportunity to make connections and apply her craft as a makeup artist for any living soul who provided the demand, working on numerous independent films, for both students and graduates alike. She has also served as a makeup artist and a popular character performer at haunted attractions and as a long-time performer of characters of her own design for a major theme park.
After meeting and working on a film with the original members of IFX, Samantha joined forces with Eric and Joe and the gang, when it became clear that we could all accomplish more by collaborating. She has since dedicated her time to mastering the art of sculpting for various purposes in the FX field to round out her other makeup FX abilities (.... in addition to baking plentiful amounts of delightful pastries.....some of which can be seen on this very site...)

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Benjamin Holmes

Ben is an artist of great originality, with a strong sense of character and style that we knew would integrate quite well with the styles of the group as a whole. His skills range from character and creature design, fine arts, illustration, rather unique hand crafted mask making, and a strong sense of invention. We have truly never seen Ben in a situation where his mind is not overflowing with new ideas and approaches, both of an aesthetic and a technical nature.

RJ Hermanowicz

RJ Hermanowicz brings to the company a significant background in theater, film, and business. He began his career after finishing a degree in digital media arts at Collins College in Arizona. Afterward, he ventured out to work with various haunted houses and small film/theater productions. RJ recently relocated to Illinois, where he became a core member of The ImageWorks FX. He brought with him a creative drive for new, unexplored grounds, including metal work, electronics, and set design/construction. He continues to use his problem solving skills to discover solutions to nearly any technical problem he faces.
RJ has experience working for various companies, including: Craftsman Tools, Sears, and many large production houses. He provides vast technical knowledge, accompanied by an ever-growing drive to refine his skills as a well-rounded special effects artist with The ImageWorks FX.

Eric Berson

Eric Berson is known to many as a long-time makeup artist and (extremely dedicated) character performer at some of the largest haunted attractions in the midwest, rapidly rising to prominent positions in both areas. He has also strongly influenced the artistic direction of many of these organizations, along with serving as set and prop designer and builder at various haunts. Eric is also interested in exploring new materials, techniques, and processes as the FX field advances. As an airbrush artist, he has introduced more efficient methods and techniques to the realm of haunt makeup, and has made a major name for himself as an accomplished full body painter.

FOR THE REAL BIOGRAPHIES, CLICK HERE

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Both together, and individually, the members of Creature Distortions have created makeup, masks, sculptures, characters, design work, performances, and numerous other services for the following companies and organizations:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Steve Johnson's XFX
Design Toscano
The Chicago Architectural Foundation
The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
The Horror Dome
Darkside Studios
Higher Tribe Productions
GMS Films
Dungeon of Doom
Realm of Terror
Dream Reapers
Sarah Anne's Figurines
The Statue Factory
Orlandi Statuary
Massive Ego Productions
Water Cooler Productions
FND Films
JPM Productions
Six Flags Great America
Columbia College Chicago
Cirque du Face FX
Rubydog Movies

(Preliminary list only. More to come.)