From the moment he stepped out of a darkened theater at just four years old, utterly terrified and completely captivated, Andrew knew monsters would be a part of his life forever. Now in his forties, that childhood encounter with Alienignited a lifelong passion for the monstrous, the strange, and the cinematic. As the founder of McMonstermaker Holdings LLC, he has turned that early fascination into a career defined by grit, vision, and relentless creativity. In this candid conversation, he opens up about the artists who shaped his journey, the physical challenges he overcomes daily, the philosophy that drives his work, and the legacy he hopes to leave behind.

WHAT FIRST SPARKED YOUR LOVE FOR HORROR, SCI-FI, AND MONSTER MAKING?

 Seeing it in the theater at 4 years old—and even to this day, I just turned 43—and I vividly remember that experience. Right from standing outside of the theater to sitting down and watching the movie and then leaving completely and utterly terrified. And that, I say, was my first foray into what would eventually evolve into a deep love and fascination for all things monstrous. It all started with that film. And if you look at some of my convention exclusive sculptures, you would understand pretty, pretty quick how much I love that film.

So yes, I definitely have a lot of artistic influences. Not so much perhaps in style, but in inspiration—yes. Jim Cameron, an amazing illustrator. And then of course, anybody in my field would be crazy if they didn’t mention, you know, Rick Baker, Stan Winston, Rob Bottin, Kevin Yagher, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., John Rosengrant, Crash McCreery, Steve Wang, Jordu Schell… I could go on and on and on and on and on. All mostly film-based artists. I mean, not exclusively, but, you know, that’s where I know them from.

I would say one of the very earliest artists—and I was not familiar with who he was at the time, but I just knew I loved hisart style—was Den Beauvais, who had created a lot of the artwork for the early Aliens comics. And then of course, Hans Ruedi Giger is a huge inspiration. While I would never really endeavor to emulate his artistic style—beyond, you know, when I sculpted Xenomorph certainly—I definitely love just that creative visionary genius that he possessed. It was amazing. But those are definitely a handful of the people that have inspired me over the years. That’s mostly just related to the monster aspect. If we’re talking books or writing or what have you, that’s a whole other list of inspirations.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS, AND WHAT DO YOU
STRUGGLE WITH THE MOST?

I would say my favorite part of creating anything, really, is all of it—as weird as that may sound to some. You know, because I know some people might say, “Well, you have to have like one area that you think is like most interesting.” For me, it’s the entire process. It’s the concepting, and then once the 2D concept is done… I don’t know how it is for other artists, but for myself usually—if I can visualize it enough to create it in 2D—making it in 3D is something that I already see before it’s even done. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one that works that way, but that’s the only way I can describe it. 

As far as things that I struggle with, I would have to say that most of that relates to actual physiological visual shortcomings that I have. I am legally blind, and I don’t like to advertise that, I guess—although I do have to mention it in certain circumstances. But for the most part, I don’t really talk about it. So I don’t have a single workday, certainly, where I go through the day not having some sort of pain—whether it’s a migraine, or headache, or eye strain, or going crossy. Ithappens quite frequently.

And it doesn’t matter. You know, I’m the type of person who—I don’t know that I believe there are such things as shortcomings or weaknesses. There are just things that make life a little bit harder. But it doesn’t matter, because anybody who is determined to live it and live it well is going to get through all that anyway. It doesn’t matter what your shortcomings are. You do what you have to do to get done what needs to be done. Right?

So yeah, that’s all I’ll say about that. So things I struggle with—just getting through detailing an asset without having a headache. Other than that, the process is pretty straightforward. I’ve been illustrating since I was like four, sculpting since I was 16, so, you know, all of that’s just a lot of repetition. Very often, you know, we’ll come across people who say, “Wow, that’s amazing,” whenever they look at one of my statues or something. And as much as I appreciate the sentiment, I really do prefer to just be very candid about the fact that it’s all just repetition. I firmly believe that everybody can do what I do. The question is just: how bad do you want to see your dream realized?

YOU’RE KNOWN FOR WORKING ALL THE TIME—DO YOU EVER TAKE A BREAK, AND WHAT DOES “RELAXING” LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?

You know, my wife would have a field day with that question. So yes, I am known for being a little bit of a hard-driven workaholic, I guess you could say. I think there’s nothing wrong with that, and I make no apologies for the fact that I work as much as I do. I think it’s incredibly important to be on point and focused at all times. That’s just the way that I am. The time that we have on this planet is very finite. I don’t really have much interest in letting the hourglass of time go down to extinction without having anything to show for my existence on this planet.

So I prefer to work a little longer than maybe necessary. But in the end, it is almost always worth it. I mean, I say it that way because I’m sure at some point it may not. But when that day happens, I’ll be the first to acknowledge it.

As far as relaxation goes, I do relax. I do. Video games, I guess, are one way that I like to relax or try to. I’ll admit, I don’t really have many relaxing outlets. Work is my relaxing outlet, for the most part—as weird as it sounds. I don’t know—I just… let me do my work.

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME AND GIVE YOURSELF ADVICE BEFORE STARTING MCMONSTERMAKER HOLDINGS LLC, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

If I had one thing that I could tell the earlier part of myself that was about to start this company—if I could give any advice—I would say: just come up with an effective means of educating the consumer as to what you do. Because with the advent of cheaper and cheaper additive manufacturing technology coming on the scene, it makes my job extremely difficult for people to understand—especially when you’re doing trade shows where you have a lot of individuals who, well-meaning as they may be, you know, they show up and they have filament-based assets that they got off the internet, produced on hobby-grade machines that they sell to the patrons at these events and whatnot.

And a lot of times when you’re surrounded by that, if someone comes up to your section, they see that what you produce is not the same as these things, but they don’t know how you made it, their first inclination is to ask if it’s 3D printed—which, that question sends hairs up on the back of my neck because that is a very reductive way of approaching the question. More importantly, I don’t know that anybody goes into a store and looks at an action figure and then asks, “What material is that? How is that made?” You know? And so it’s very frustrating.

All we are is a competitive small company that has every intention of working towards being another Sideshow, or Prime 1, or Mighty Jaxx, or what have you. And so when you’re on the ground floor—figuratively or literally—and people approach you asking questions like that, it becomes a bit tricky. Because if you just say yes, then in their eyes, you’re no different than the people who are printing on these hobby machines. And that’s very bad for the brand.

But, you know, some people—they get it automatically. And I love those people. But not everybody does. And it’s very, very difficult to educate people effectively and quickly. So that is one thing that I would say to myself early on. And the other one would be: find a way to combat inattention bias, which is where people come up to your section and they see something that’s very detailed and articulate, and it completely draws their attention away from everything else that you have to offer. Those are the two things that are our daily obstacles. It’s simply a matter of time before those are no longer issues—but for the time being, certainly, they can be annoying.

HAS ANYONE EVER DOUBTED WHAT YOU’RE DOING? HOW DID YOU PUSH THROUGH AND PROVE THEM WRONG?

So that is something I’m not entirely sure about. I—I don’t know. I’m sure behind closed doors there are. That’s human nature and it’s inevitable, I guess. To my face, I’m not aware of any people who express doubt. I will say—even if they did—it doesn’t really make much difference. It doesn’t matter.

Certainly from an artistic standpoint, anybody who is concerned with proving other people wrong—that sort of validation or craving or seeking that validation—is going to destroy you as an artist. You’ll just be tortured. There’s no point in worrying about that. So I would say, statistically, it’s highly likely that there are people that doubt what we do. In practice—or in the sense of actually observing it—I don’t. So I don’t know. I have no idea.

But more importantly, like I said, it doesn’t matter. Because whether they doubt you or whether they don’t, you’re still going to push forward if that’s what you’re meant to do. So let that be a lesson to anybody who is an artist who wants to perhaps get into a space like this: if you’re doing it because you want people to give you praise, you’re probably in it for the wrong reasons.

As an example, whenever I post a new product or something—certainly on social media—a lot of times these days I’ve been disabling the comments. Because I don’t want to encourage the “good jobs” or “looks great” or “nice this or that.” So if I just disable the comments, then nobody can say that stuff. Not that I don’t want to hear it—what artist wouldn’t like to know that people appreciate what they do? But the point is, I don’t need to. I don’t. I don’t do it for that. Usually, if I’m posting a picture, it’s because we’re a business. I’m showing you what we are about to sell.

So a lot of times—especially on social media—that kind of line can get crossed, and people forget that. Especially if you interact with them, which we try to do with our customers and friends as much as humanly possible. And so that humanization of the business kind of makes sharing artwork and things a little more intimate, when it’s purely business.-

WHAT’S THE BEST COMPLIMENT YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED ABOUT YOUR WORK?

The best compliment I’ve ever been given—well, it was actually fairly recently. A young man named Anthony had come to my table at a show that we were doing in Louisiana. And he picked up my second book that was released just this last October. He had come the year before looking for the follow-up to the first book that he bought from me the year before that—and it wasn’t there. He was very disappointed.

He showed up this time and he was just completely glowing, and he snatched that book up really fast. And what he said was just incredibly kind and thoughtful. And from a writer’s perspective, it’s everything that we ever hope we can achieve for a reader. I don’t know that I want to say what he said, because I don’t want to use that as any sort of endorsement of my work. Suffice it to say, it was very kind and I appreciated it greatly.

So while I’m not going to tell you what the best compliment I have ever received was verbatim, I will say that it was dispensed by a very kind young man named Anthony—and I am extremely grateful for readers like him and all of my customers. But what he said really almost brought me to the verge of tears. It was a very great day for my writing career.

YOU WORK ALONE AND SEEM TO PREFER IT THAT WAY—WHAT’S THE BIGGEST ADVANTAGE AND THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE?

I definitely am someone who lives by the philosophy: keep everything in-house. The more of your workflow that you have to depend on other people—in a third-party manner or outsource for anything—those are potential failures just waiting to happen, right?

If I relied on someone else to do my product packaging, say, and they couldn’t deliver it on time—so I have a show that I have to get to—I alone am able to do all of that. From designing the product packaging to the product assembling—everything. If I relied on someone else for that and, say, the product packaging couldn’t arrive on time, what am I going to do?

At least—at least there’s more pressure—but at least everything is done in a manner where I know I can do it if I just allocate this amount of time for this, this amount of time for that. Everything runs fairly smoothly. That said, it is extremely challenging, and we do need an employee. We’ll probably employ one, hopefully, within the next two years.

But I’m just not someone who is comfortable with letting any external services play a pivotal role in my company. So if mine’s going to go down, I’m taking the blame for it. I’m taking the full responsibility. I don’t ever want my ship, figuratively, to sink because of someone else at some other business who’s not delivering on what they need to deliver so that I can keep my business afloat. Not happening.

WHAT KIND OF LEGACY DO YOU HOPE TO LEAVE BEHIND YOUR CREATIONS?

Now that is a very important question. One that I think about every single day. And honestly, the legacy that I would love to leave behind is one of passion, creativity. But more importantly—above all else—I really just want to leave something for my loved ones. Something that they can be proud of, and something that they can hopefully carry on when I’m gone.

In today’s harsh economic climate, there is no guarantee that that will happen. But that’s certainly no reason not to put everything you have into the things that you love. And I love what I do. And I certainly would hope that my loved ones would see the sacrifices that have been made in order to enrich their lives in many aspects. I hope they understand that everything that I do, I do for them.