Jim Charmatz

Jim Charmatz born February 19 1966 in Suffern New York is an American special effects artist character designer sculptor and puppeteer He is best known for his long association with Stan Winston Studio and later Legacy Effects Charmatz joined Stan Winston Studio in 1994 and spent some fifteen years there as a key artist concept and character designer makeup designer and onset puppeteer Among his early credits are Interview with the Vampire 1994 Congo 1995 The Island of Dr Moreau 1996 and The Ghost and the Darkness 1996 On The Lost World Jurassic Park 1997 he contributed character design and puppeteered the animatronic Compsognathus Compy dinosaurs he also worked as a key artist and puppeteer on Mousehunt 1997 Further Stan Winston Studio work includes Small Soldiers 1998 Galaxy Quest 1999 Jurassic Park III 2001 Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines 2003 War of the Worlds 2005 Constantine 2005 and key character design on James Camerons Avatar 2009 He also served as art director and lead designer of the book The Winston Effect The Art and History of Stan Winston Studio After Winstons death Charmatz continued with Legacy Effects the studio formed by former Stan Winston artists There his credits range from digital sculpting and specialty costumes to practical creature and makeup work on films such as Pacific Rim 2013 The Shape of Water 2017 Pokémon Detective Pikachu 2019 puppeteer for Pikachu Avengers Endgame 2019 Terminator Dark Fate 2019 Black Panther Wakanda Forever 2022 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 2023 and television series including The Mandalorian Ahsoka Skeleton Crew Fallout and Star Trek Strange New Worlds makeup designer He remains active as a puppet designer and performer on later projects