The Winston Effect: The Art & History of Stan Winston Studio

I am an aspiring video game/special effects/creature character design student and am I glad I purchased this book. The content is unbelievably inspirational as it explains how Stan Winston came to become one of the, if not "thee" greatest special effects pioneer/master ever. It reveals Stan's mentality of curiousity and desire to push creative bounderies, and how he went from award winning make-up artist to puppetry, taking from Jim Henson's muppet wizardry to another level by creating realistic and monster "puppets" for movies, to todays CGI. In the book Winston explains his thought process and problems and solutions for many of my favorite movies as well as steps in designing/creating many of my favorite movie creatures like The Thing, Alien, Terminator, Predator and countless more. The pictures are spectacular and there are many of them including behind the scene pics, various awesome artist Art & paintings & Character/Creature designs from Crash McCreery and Aaron Sims. Basically the book is a:-Winston biography.-History of Special Effects.-"The Art of the Film" for a sh*tload of top movies.-Behind the scenes pics and personal stories for a sh*tload of top movies.-An incredibly interesting motivating & captivating read.All of this for $[...] (which I paid thru Amazon) is a complete steal and definitely a must have if you aspire to study or simply enjoy the special effects process.

I ordered this for a gift and it arrived as though drop-kicked; the replacement as well.I found a great copy at a used bookstore, in better condition than Amazon, at 1/3 the cost . . .

If you love SPFX, then this book is of much greater value to you than the price. The quality of binding and print is much better than I expected for the low price as well.Order it. You can't go wrong.

first off...this is great book in many ways ..presented in a most professional and clean manner, a publishing work of art to go with the works of art inside....the history of Stan and his team of talents is vast and covered very well in text and of course with images to amaze... the design, constuction and presentation of the art of Special make-up effects in the films that have become icons and benchmarks for fx artists to admire and try to outdo, well they are all there, of course there could always be more details and more information but any book of this scale is going to be marketed to a broader audience than myself and my peers in the fx world, but this book does a wonderful job of presenting what we do and what we would love to acheive in very warm and fun light. Thanks to Stan for being the ring leader of such a talented circus of artists! Anthony Veilleux, Make-up fx artist

Bought a copy originally for my husband - he found it so good, informative, educational, and fun, that we bought this one for a friend who likes the same things - movies, make-up and special effects not done with CGI, which is great in it's place but will never take the place in our hearts of good old fashioned ingenuity and creativity.

To the people who come to this page thinking it's the signed variant cover limited edition, please contact the sellers before you place orders. Signed edition and variant cover edition is identical, but signed edition has got an extra page with Stan Winston's signature and limited edition number, but both versions are of the first edition and same ISBN number. The signed edition has got a sticker on the dust jacket, "SIGNED LIMITED EDITION." Not all sellers themselves are aware of these things.

We bought this book for our son, a huge fan of Stan Winston's work, for his 13th birthday. Of all of his presents, he showed the most excitment about this book. It is a HUGE hardbound book (easily 12" x 12" x 1-1/2" thick) with an AWESOME cover! It is full of amazing full color production pictures, stills, and artwork and is a thorough examination of Winston's long and illustrious career in Hollywood. The book is a little pricey at $30+, but it is well worth it when you see the wealth of material presented between its covers. It is by far and away the best "career retrospective" book that I have ever read.

for the price, its again a masterpiece... as stan winston is an icon for me, with that book i'm able to learn about his entirely life.... all the things he made, every little projects he worked on... many pictures with many stuff about it... a truly book for people who want to learn about his biggest creation... alien, predator, terminator, jurassic park etc... i honestly reccomand this book for people who enjoy his creation. Stan winston will remains the best forever because he always enjoy his work and loved it....instead of doing it for $ as many others

I love this book so much! As an aspiring sfx makeup artist, it is really eye opening to see how The Great Stan Winston came to be. The book has a friendly tone so it is as if Stan himself is talking to the reader and he tells the reader what he’s learned through the mistakes he’s made when working on different projects. A MUST-HAVE for anyone interested in creature fx.

16 years ago as an art student I was studying special effect make up, I had difficulty with an appliance I had an exam due, worried I rang Stan Winston Studio hoping to speak to a technician. Someone answered the phone and asked if they could help, I explained my predicament, for ten minutes I had the technician explain the process and a couple of tips. Really helpful guy so I asked for his name to write and say thanks, He just said Stan, I nearly fell over. My hero talking to me like a friend and helping some poor student.This book represents this man and his work, community he created and his strengths and weaknesses. This is not a book that reads as a infomercial, it is a history warts and all of a fine art studio. Its explains why he would talk to a young student for nearly half an hourI could not put this book down.Last June Stan left us, this book stands as a testament to a great artist.I thoroughly recommend this book for students, and film connoisseurs this is a valuable tome for any technicians library.

This book does not just show the output of Stan Winston's achievements. It allows the reader more of a personal journey with Stan as he created his body of work.One story stood out for me, and this was a thank you letter from a student who had rung up the helpline to get support with his coursework. The operator spent 45 minutes helping, advising and coaching. The student discovered he had been speaking to Stan himself who manned the helpline occasionally despite his lofty stature, because he was a true man of the people.Stan Winston will be sadly missed. A gentleman, a genius and an artisan with both feet on the ground.

This is a fantastic book about Stan Winston's studio who have produced some amazing characters and creatures over the years. Stan Winston has sadly passed away but this book, written and available before his death highlights his imagination, knowledge and legacy very well.It has some history about Stan and his life but most importantly the characters his studio produced in glorious pictures and explanitory text. It does not pretend to say that Mr Winston did everything himself, it showcases the talented people he chose for his studio and goes indepth to their talents.There are also short contributions from directors such as James Cameron and various actors.It is a luxury book, great glossy pages and a talking point if you show it off to fellow special effects fans.

Absolutely amazing piece of art and a wonderful record of the life and works of Stan, this will be a permanent fixture to the coffee table and a talking point for all visitors (ok, in our house at least)A must for any film buff, I hadn't initially appreciated quite how many films Stan Winston had made into the masterpieces they are. The images are absolutely stunning.