·       LMC: How did you get into creating creatures?

JF:  Well, my father was always big on horror movies. They scared the crap out of me! They also fascinated me at the same time. At the age of 13 a friend of mine asked if I would like to go with him to this guys house. This guys name was Tim Gore AKA Tim Larson.  I think Oh My GOD! This was it. Tim was an extremely talented FX artist based  out of his garage. My friend was going to be made up as Freddy. I left Tim's house that  day with this burning in my gut.  I wanted to be Tim.   I dabbled in Make-Up for  years not having a clue what I was doing, or how to get any better. I would honestly  have to say that within the past 5 or so years I really pursued it strong. Now the sculpting came into play and I was hooked full time. Having a computer really helped. I was able to show my work , make contacts and learn so much

LMC: What were some of the first things you did way back then?

JF: Like most. I was all wrapped up in the Gore ( blood & guts ).  My bottle of liquid latex, greasepaints and nose and scar wax.  I would mess my friends all up and have them run all over town.  Pretty cool until the cops and Medical groups came. One time it took  this women medic twice to look at the wound to make sure it was fake.   I took it as a nice compliment to my work ; )
 

JF: This is a PAINFUL question. Currently I am working at my local Target store.  I also sell my work to collectors and make masks for an online mask Co. Death Studios

LMC: Are you interested in making this a full time career?  If so, what aspect of it do you want to pursue?                                                                   

JF: HELL YES!!!!! I want nothing more. I find sculpting to be my favorite aspect.  I feel that this is the birth of all characters. Without the sculpt, what do you have?  I do want to know as much as I can and be good at all I know. I want to be an all around Artist.

LMC: Do you want to get into FX for movies, or are you thinking of approaching creature creation from another angle as a career choice?

JF: I want to be in a shop as a sculptor. I do however want to be the guy to apply and paint as well. My long term goal is to run my own shop

LMC: Have you gotten any formal training?                  

JF: HMMMMMM!  I am not sure how to answer this one. All I can say is most of my FX life has been playing around and teaching myself. I did however take a couple classes at  Schell's Sculpture Studio the last couple years. That helped tremendously. I was 100  times better after just my first semester of classes. Now I am taking Dick Smith's course in Professional MakeUp. What more can I say about that. He is the best!

LMC: Who are some pros you admire and why?       

JF: Now this is going to be the Hardest question to answer.  I will break it up in 2 categories.  First, artists in the industry I have no contact with. You will understand why I did it  this way.  RICK BAKER # 1:  Here is a guy who at a young age impressed the one  and only Dick Smith. A self taught young artist who wanted nothing more then  to be the best and now he is. Every time I see Rick Baker speak, it sends  chills up my spine and that burning I spoke of before.  Well, it is now A fire the size of my whole chest cavity. Rick Baker is what every young FX artist wants to be and  experience. After all these years he still has that boyhood excitement in his voice whenever he speaks of this wonderful art, and that I admire...Well, he is pretty  good too : ) The best story ever is the one I can hear over and over again.   The story of Rick knocking on Dick's door and Dick taking him under his wing  and spending the whole day with him filling his head and notebook  with all this wonderful information.                                                    

O.K. Now the next part of this.  Artists I am in contact with.... In no particular order. What I want to say here is  A BIG thank you to all these guys. Here are artists who continually go out of there way to look at my work and answer all my E-mails. I am a better artist because of all of you.  STEVE WANG, LEE ROMAIRE, KAZUHIRO TSUJI, The wonderful Guys at Creature Effects ALAN HEDGCOCK & CLIFF WALLACE, BRIAN PENIKAS  & TODD MASTERS and of course DICK SMITH.  I am sure this could go on . I will leave it at this ...............            THANKS!     

JF: Well, there is this one kid who calls himself CrazyClayer. My friend, Peter Murphy.   Here is a kid who at the age of 16 when we met was better then most in the biz, and he just keeps getting better..

LMC: What type of creatures do you enjoy creating the most?  

JF: All of them. As long a I put my all into their creation.

LMC: What about doing masks as opposed to smaller figures? Do you have a preference over the size of the piece?
   

JF: No, I like doing masks as well. You are just limited in pose with a  mask. It adds character to a piece when a pose is incorporated.                  

LMC: Where do you get your ideas and inspiration?  

JF: Everyday Life and surfing the net. Every time I open an e-mail or see work from the artists I admire, I am inspired to try harder to be that good!

JF: Yes.

LMC: Have you done commissioned pieces?     

JF: Yes. ; )

LMC: Are you willing to have customers email or call you with requests out of the blue?

JF: Has happened before. I don't mind.

LMC: Can you talk about any of them?

JF: One of them was just a mask taken from a MADBALL.
Recreate a MADBALL in mask form. Pretty Funny!
 

LMC: What’s your favorite piece you’ve done and why?