Adam Dougherty and his company KreatureKid are based in Colorado. An incredibly talented artist, he is an inspiring soul who makes things happen with determination and persistent hard work.
Although he considers himself lazy, his output shows anything but. In particular, his style celebrates the warmth and unique character that Jim Henson created with puppets, and has himself produced some jaw-droppingly effective puppets for various projects such as the upcoming Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls, directed by Andrew Bowser.
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His own now funded Kickstarter short (which is in preproduction at the time of writing) is Jungle of Darkness. This 1930’s inspired jungle adventure will use all manner of practical effects such as miniatures, props and puppets. Adam is a regular collaborator, and has created some amazing pieces working with writer/producer Hunter Hancock aka MeatCanyon to create a life-size Katz and Uno figures from his series Monster Lab.
Most recognisable of all recent work is the Pugloo character Adam created for his short film, Pugloo from Planet P. The stop motion figure was inspired on his own Pug and is beautifully crafted.
There is a theme in Adams’s work which appreciates the joy of practical effects and breaking free of the limitations of the human form by incorporating puppets (stop motion too) and puppet elements such as the Ghouls in Onyx the Fortuitous.
Another nice piece is the ghost puppet used in a water tank in his short I Hope I Die, with stirring music by John Paul White. A playful puppet used to great effect in a simple water tank is so cool to see – we have seen this technique used extensively in the 80s (Ghostbusters springs to mind), but digital effects have mostly replaced it. This is a great example of using the right tool for the job, and the realism of the puppet doesn’t take you out of the moment, unlike an obviously digital equivalent.
Adam has a flair and a style for big, expressive characters and, as you will hear in the podcast, celebrates and works hard to put practical effects front and centre. He is a sculptor working both digitally and practically, so he understands both sides of the coin. He also has a clear vision of a good story and isn’t happy to mindlessly follow the herd.
When he achieved his goals in the practical world, working in Hollywood and Disney, he still wanted more and shifted back to his home turn in Colorado, where he runs his company and keeps forging forward with commissions and his own projects. Still a young man, he has a lot to give and plenty of skill to back it up.
We left inspired and impressed! We think you will be too. Check out his homepage, Instagram and YouTube account. It will be time well spent. In particular, this video from ADI (Amalgamated Dynamics) is an excellent account of Adam’s journey and is a joy to watch.
Many thanks, as always, for your time checking the stuff out. You can email us directly at stuartandtodd@gmail.com or leave us a voice message on our site.
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–Stuart & Todd
To listen to the podcast, you can stream or download from here, or simply subscribe through your favourite podcast app – we are on many, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, IHeartRADIO , STITCHER , Luminary and Google Podcasts.
#87 – Frank Ippolito