Star Wars has kindled abiding love for monsters, spaceships, special effects and movies in the hearts of small boys for over two decades. For Doug Stewart, the movie marked the beginning of a lifelong career in the art behind special effects. "All I ever wanted to do was make real models for the movies someday," he says. After seeing the original Star Wars, he became totally immersed in the art of the movie. "I had to draw X-Wing fighters and R2D2. Then I found model kits of the Tie Fighters. That was exciting."

Imagine his mother’s puzzlement, watching her son spend every dime he could get on intricate Star Wars model kits. Doug lavished hours on them, perfecting every detail. Then he destroyed his work in the backyard, staging explosions, crashes and collisions. "I can see," he says of his mother, "why she thought I was a nut."

Moving from Iowa to Arizona put his love of movie models and monsters into hibernation. By high school, Doug was taking as many art classes as possible — escaping algebra entirely. In Commercial Art class, he tangled with a dual-action Badger. There seemed to be no end to the mess it could make. He decided he hated airbrushes. At the time, he was generally working in watercolor.

Driver Education, with its gory "Red Asphalt" and "Blood On The Highway" films, was the font of inspiration that linked Doug, his friend Bill Zahn and an 8mm movie camera. The class immediately rekindled Doug’s love of movie effects. Fake severed heads, gory makeup, and compliant friends willing to be "shot" on film joined Bill and Doug to make amateur movie magic. "Bill and I made a zombie movie. It was soooo lame. And cheap." Submitted for a grade, however, the film got 110% out of 100%.

The two sought to learn more about make-up effects from horror film make-up effects magazines. Through an advertisement in the back, the pair found a local mask-maker who was willing to help. David Ayres taught the duo where to buy materials and provided them with numerous how-to’s. At this time, Doug found he needed an airbrush for his creations, and he bought himself a little Paasche H — probably the special effects industry’s "standard."

Doug and Bill made their movies for a multi-media class. Doug’s graduation was dependent on the grade he received. The two spent weeks preparing special effects. The movies themselves were produced swiftly over the course of one weekend. The last movie they made for school was "an anti-drug video, but we shot it to be like a Freddy Kruger movie. The lead character, Bill, shoots some sort of drug into his body in the beginning, while he is in the bathtub. I was the "Bad Dream Character" who killed people in their sleep. The class loved that movie. It was about seven minutes, and it actually had a scene that made the class jump," recounts Doug. The grade from that film let him graduate.

During their senior year, Doug and Bill traveled to a Make-Up FX Convention in Los Angeles. They came back determined to work in the industry. After graduation, Doug took his skeptical father to another convention. "That’s when he changed his opinion about what I wanted to do — he was actually excited. He saw the reality of the business, the fans, the amount of work involved. He’s my biggest fan now." Of course, the rest of the family still wasn’t convinced, and Doug’s grandmother sent him many a technical school brochure over the next few years.

Arizona was hardly the place for Doug and Bill to make a living on movie special effects. By 1989, they had done all they could on their own; some Halloween mask work with David Ayres, a few local commercials, and grade school plays. It was time to go to Hollywood. Doug was first to get a job there. "I was hired based on my painting ability, yet I was not painting. They taught me how to make molds and chemical urethane mixtures. I did not care too much. I was working on a movie! It was a little film called Mom and Dad Save The World. Silly."

Alas, after a little less than a year, Doug was laid off. FX was in a dry spell. He went back to Arizona, facing computer tech school brochures from Grandma — a not-so-subtle "I told you so." Doug knew that direction was not for him. He had made solid connections with big names in the industry, and they remembered his talent. He waited.

In 1993, his old pal Bill Zahn called him. "I had a job on Ultraman if I wanted it. He said I had to be there by Monday.

"I had to make a choice: girlfriend or movie. We all know now what choice I made."

Doug had a blast painting Ultraman monsters with a Badger Crescendo. "Others in the shop were using Paasche H’s and Vega’s. I was not satisfied with the Crescendo. I did not know my options yet, so I kept my Paasche H and Badger handy." The paints used on these atypical superhero costumes had to be as shiny and metallic as possible. On the foam latex, the painters used a toxic mixture of rubber cement and pigment thinned with rubber cement thinner or Naptha.

Species 2 was the next big project — again, rubber cement paint on foam latex. These costumes were sealed with the also-toxic chemical SC-89, which gave them a very shiny, reflective finish and a very realistic look in the film.

Work on aliens for a Taco Bell commercial — to be aired during the Superbowl — was a high-prestige project. "These two make-ups were fun foam-latex appliances. There were many alien characters for this project. This commercial only aired once from what I understand, and I missed it!"

Doug’s technical expertise in pigments and materials was challenged by the need to match a foam latex cowl to printed spandex suits for The Phantom. Because of the different materials, matching the colors and design perfectly was impossible. "I painted about 23 of these things. I care-fully masked off the tribal designs and sprayed the darker color. Seeing that it matched in one light and not the other, I had to spray a bit of iridescent red on it. It never really matched but in some shots it did look good. Just ignore all of the other shots!"

Doug joined several other painters to produce foam latex stop-motion puppets intended to be used in the film Mars Attacks. This was the first film to be taken over mid-stream by computer graphics. One day the painters had long-term work — the next, they were told they’d be paid off at the end of the week. CGI (Compter Generated Imaging) had begun to transform the FX field, but there was still work for a skilled color artist.

Plenty of full-sized bugs — set-dressing bugs, burned-up bugs, as well as animatronic bugs — were needed for the movie Starship Troopers. Doug says that this was the most boring job he ever did. "That is not to say it was not effective!" Doug says. "In the film they all looked great." They painted the fiberglass bugs with water-based enamels. "Now that is strong paint!"

The Chestburster in Alien Resurrection is certainly one of the most heart-stopping pieces in Doug’s portfolio, and a tribute to his talented eye. He was told to paint them one way, but the stubborn artist inside him chose another. "They wanted them to look like the Facehuggers," Doug recalls. "I thought, they came from inside a human, so they need to have a grosser look to them. I imagined a pale caterpillar. If you stretch it out, you can see all the noodley gross innards under the belly skin. So I went about painting the Chestburster with that belly in mind. It looked like if you squeezed it, you would feel those guts under that thin skin, but it was just an illusion. Those little guys were made of silicone. I also had to paint a foam latex `stunt’ Burster." To get the effect of depth, Doug layered translucent paint. "Painting human skin is the same," he says. Instead of the industry-standard rubber cement paint, Doug chose to use a special rubber ink imported from England. "It is safer and paints better than rubber cement. I have tried to get several people to notice it and change over to it, but everyone seems to fear change."

Batman and Robin earned Doug more recognition. Though an assemblyline turned out the dozen or so suits needed each day, the job was prestigious. "It was one of those films made on a high budget — it was hard to get on the crew. And it looked great!"

Other high points to Doug’s career have included working on Small Soldiers at Stan Winston Studios and painting The Terminator Planet Hollywood display silicone heads. Currently, Doug is at work on a big hush-hush project for Disney. "I can say it is going to be one of those movies you’ll see and think...wow! Live action. It’s called Bicentennial Man. It is going to be really cool." More than that he cannot say, citing disclosure agreements and "trade secret stuff."

Career development for Doug was a matter of learning to sell himself in a fiercely competitive market. "I wanted to build my resume as fast as I could. I didn’t want to move back home again. I actually painted for Guyver 2: Dark Hero for Steve Wang for free. I went in after I spent a day painting creatures for the last Ultraman venture. I did not do that often though. From there, I worked my way in and out of different FX shops in the valley. I have been in and out of the shop I am in now, Steve Johnson’s XFX, since 1994." In the beginning, his was a subsistence living, but his income has steadily improved. He loves projects that allow him time to perfect his work. He is happiest if the head of the art department is into totally making the work look perfect. It can be painstaking and tedious, but well thought out — and the results are worth it. If the head of the art department isn’t into the project, or if either the budget or time is restricted, then it is on the fly. Personally, I want it to be the best I can make it."

And, Doug’s ambitions don’t end with working for enthusiastic department heads. "I have a few stories I have written treatments for...and I think I am going to pursue one immediately. My film is a dark comedy, but it is perfect because I know I can do it cheap and that’s what independent filmmaking is all about," he says. He plans to produce FX in his own independent films that combine the art of the airbrush, conventional art, filmmaking and CGI.

Despite CGI’s increasing popularity, the airbrush continues to be a useful tool in the industry. "I use an Iwata Eclipse, a modified HP-C, and an Iwata Custom Micron. The Eclipse is great for broad strokes, hazing, glazing, etc. The HP-C is great for details, and the Micron is great for finer details. I use the Micron when I paint on silicone, or when I paint a model kit. The Micron will allow me to get great capillaries, beard stubble, and freckles on silicone flesh."

What sets a painter apart from the crowd? Doug says it’s "speed and realism. Oh! And cheap!"