Since the invention of motion pictures, many filmmakers have aimed to combine animation with live action. One successful method for achieving this is the chroma key technique. This process removes a color background, typically blue or green, by electronically cutting out the foreground subject, which is then composited over a different image. Chroma keying works particularly well with stop-motion animation. Chiodo Bros. Productions in Burbank, California, are experts in this technique. In the 1990s, I worked as an animator on several Chiodo Brothers projects, including a Cup-O-Noodles commercial featuring a saber-toothed tiger.

In 1994, animation legend David Allen (1944–1999) hired me to animate giant scorpions for the feature film Oblivion. The movie was a bizarre space western, the original "Cowboys and Aliens"! It was produced by Full Moon Entertainment, a busy studio with many projects in production. At the time, David was running the Full Moon visual effects department but was primarily focused on planning his dream project, the upcoming movie Primevals. He entrusted his crew to create the work for other films, such as Oblivion, under his overall supervision. I worked with Joseph Grossberg, who was responsible for the visual effects camera work and lighting. My task was to bring the giant alien scorpions, called Night Scorps, to life through stop-motion animation.

Leaning against a parked Harley-Davidson chopper is a woman, who is adorned in nothing but inked images. She gestures toward the doorway of the Living Art Tattoo Parlor. This was the concept for a piece I created in 1985 using the unique art form known as Shadowbox Diorama. Projects of this type require extensive planning and a range of skills, including painting, sculpture, model-making, staging, design, craftsmanship, and custom lighting. It was quite a challenge to produce!

My first special effects job for a feature film was in 1986 at Image Engineering, a mechanical effects company owned by Peter Chesney. The movie was A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, and Image Engineering was responsible for many of the creative ways the maniacal Freddy Krueger disposed of his victims in the dream world. Unlike today's computer-generated visual effects, which are completed in post-production, this was a pre-production project that required performance with the actors during live-action shooting. Let's take a look at how we made a bathroom sink and a television come to life as the personification of evil Freddy.

One of the most ambitious stop-motion commercials of all time was created in 1991 for Mickey's Parade Frozen Treats, directed by Kevin Dole. The advertisement featured hundreds of animated puppets and props, requiring clever techniques to bring them to life.

Behold the Red-Nosed Reindog, a rare creature from a remote mountain region near the North Pole! In reality, what you are looking at is a surreal photorealistic composite I created for the amusement of friends and family as a Christmas card. I thought it would be fun to portray my daughter as an elf and her dog as the iconic Rudolph. Being fairly adept at Photoshop magic, I combined a number of photographs to illustrate this imaginary scene.

One of my all-time favorite animation projects was the 1989 production of Stanley and the Dinosaurs, directed by John Clark Matthews. I was responsible for animating half of the show and sculpting many of the characters, including a tribe of ten cave people and a juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex. While the clay sculptures served as the basis for each character, they were only one part of the collaborative process of creating the stop-motion puppets for the movie.