Serving all artistic needs, Emmy® Nominated artist J. Anthony Kosar's company Kosart Studios, LLC is dedicated to quality Sculpture, Creature FX, Special FX Make-up, Prosthetics, Masks, Props, Concept Art, Illustration, and Fine Art.

Kosart Studios began as Kosart Effects in 2002, when J. Anthony Kosar was just 16 years old, with the creation of his first foam-latex prosthetic, the ‘Zombie.’ Even at that early age, Anthony believed in branding himself. Though he had spent his early Jr. High and High school years studying art, winning art competitions, and doing school theater make-up and his own Halloween make-ups, he always believed that it was the creation of his first prosthetic that was actually the start of his Special FX Make-Up career. So, with a lot of determination and with no formal training nor any of today’s web-based resources, young Anthony taught himself sculpture and special FX make-up through trial-and-error and through on-the-job experiences, often incorporating his learning from his other art forms.

Since his last two years in High School, Kosar grew his business taking on commercial projects, independent movies, local theater productions, and traditional and digital paintings and illustrations for various clients. All the while he had been working out of the basement, garage, and anywhere else he could find the space.  After years of business, Kosart Studios became an official LLC in 2008, and in April 2011, Anthony opened the doors to his first commercial facility, his very own studio and gallery in Westmont, IL, and finally had the appropriate space to work on his many different large-scale projects of many media.

Kosart Studios has since worked across the continent, from NY to LA and from Canada to Mexico, creating the highest quality, custom make-up FX for film, television, web media, photography, advertising, theater, music videos, theme parks, and the haunt industry.  Kosart Studios specializes in all forms of make-up FX, including hyper-realistic age, character, believable likenesses, true-to-life trauma, as well as creative fantasy, sci-fi, and horror creature FX.  Kosart Studios also produces award-winning illustration, concept art, sculpture, product development, and graphic design.  

With J. Anthony Kosar joining the I.A.T.S.E. Local 476 Studio Mechanics Chicago Union in 2016, Kosart Studios has been designing make-up FX and sculpting props for many productions.  Recently, under Kosar's leadership as Special FX Make-Up Department Head and/or Prosthetic Designer, Kosart Studios designed, custom created, and applied all the character and trauma make-up FX on Shining Girls (Season 1), Paper Girls (Season 1), Power Book IV: Force (Season 1 & 2), Night's End (2022), Perpetrator (2023), Ganymede (2023), and also created prosthetics and tattoos for National Treasure (Season 1).  In 2019/2020, Kosart Studios designed, custom created, and applied all the character and trauma make-up FX on Fargo (Season 4) and Candyman (2021), with J. Anthony Kosar as the Special FX Make-Up Department Head and Make-Up FX Designer for both productions.  In 2020, J. Anthony Kosar was also a Prosthetic Designer for Station Eleven (Mini Series), designing and sculpting the age prosthetics for Clark (David Wilmot) and for Jeevan (Himesh Patel).  Kosart Studios created the trauma make-up FX for Lovecraft Country episode 1 "Sundown," earning J. Anthony Kosar and Anna Cali an EMMY® Nomination for OUTSTANDING PROSTHETIC MAKEUP in the 2021 Emmys. Kosart has also designed and created make-up FX and props for Empire (Seasons 3-6), Chicago PD (Seasons 4-6), and Chicago Justice (Season 1).  Kosart Studios has also worked on Big Leap, Dark Matter, Power Book II: Ghost, Power Book III: Raising Kanan, The 4400, Shameless, neXT, Psychogenic Fugue, Beats, Chicago Fire, Chicago MED, Proven Innocent, Hubie Halloween, Somebody Somewhere, The Leftovers, and Zoobiquity, among others.  Click HERE to see our many credits.

Even long before joining the union, Kosart Studios has been sought out to work on many various projects creating make-up and effects from New York to Los Angeles and everywhere in between, for such clients as MGM, NBC, Disney, Universal, FOX, HBO, FX, Showtime, Netflix, Legendary, Starz, Sony, Syfy, Monkeypaw Productions, Bad Robot Productions, Wolf Entertainment, 26 Keys Productions, The Littlefield Company, Google, Coca-Cola, Fanta, RCA Records, Adobe, Bleacher Report, Turner Broadcasting, United Airlines, US Olympic Team, Six Flags, Nerdist, Verizon, MTV, Music Choice, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Sears, Regal Cinemas, Zagone Studios, FUN.COM, Fangoria, Lettuce Entertain You, The Bradford Exchange, The Ashton-Drake Galleries, Sandro Films, New York Magazine, David Lynch Foundation, Squarespace, Spectrum Fantastic Art, Joshua Hoffine Productions, and many others.

Some actors, musicians, and celebrities Kosart Studios has worked on include: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, John Malkovich, Jessica Lange, Taraji P. Henson, William H. Macy, Chris Rock, Demi Moore, Taye Diggs, Tim Meadows, Doug Jones, Colman Domingo, Mekhi Phiefer, Chris Brown, Jonathan Majors, Jurnee Smollett, Xzibit, David Wilmot, Himesh Patel, Juno Temple, Janelle Monae, Salvatore Esposito, Jason Schwartzman, Jack Huston, Ben Whishaw, Jon Seda, Fabolous, Young Thug, Trey Songz, Matthew Elam, Corey Hendrix, Gaetano Bruno, Vanessa Williams, Stephen Spencer, Kelsey Asbille, Glynn Turman, Will Clinger, Jeremie Harris, Courtney B, Vance, Jamie Harris, Amanda Detmer, Matthew Alan, Jason Ambrose, Kaitlin Doubleday, Laura Slade Wiggins, Bre-Z, Patrick Flueger, Grace Byers, Trai Byers, Marina Squerciati, Laroyce Hawkins, David Lyons, Terrell Carter, Amy Morton, Jermaine Dupri, Brian Cage, Rey Mysterio Jr, Tracy Spiridakos, Chelsie Ross, A. Michael Baldwin, Peter Facinelli, Carrie Coon, Aaron Lamm, Ira Amyx, Tommaso Ragno, Eric Slater, Andrew Rothenberg, Brian King, Michael Hargrove, Miriam Moss, Cassie Kramer, and many others.

Kosart Studios also has had their work featured in Variety, Total Film, Fangoria, New York Magazine, Rue Morgue, Entertainment Weekly, SPECTRUM: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, Infected by Art, Portes Magazine, Splash, Watercolor Artist Magazine, Bloody-Disgusting.com, Sci Fi, and various newspapers and online media.

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Kosart Studios exemplifies the high-standards, work ethic, leadership, and dependability that J. Anthony Kosar demonstrated in front of the world on FACE OFF Season 4, where he became one of the series' most well-known and respected Champions after winning the most challenges by a single contestant in a single season, dominating with 6 of 11 Spotlight Challenge wins and 1 of 4 Foundation Challenge wins, against 13 talented competitors.  Kosar returned to FACE OFF several times over the following seasons as a guest mentor, team coach, and special guest contestant on "Judge Match" helping Neville Page to victory.

Between projects, Kosart has over 10 years of teaching experience doing seminars and demonstrations at schools and trade shows across the country, and has been exclusively teaching our own hands-on classes and workshops since 2011 in the disciplines of make-up FX, sculpting, painting, and the FX lab techniques. Many Kosart alumni have become professional artists in the television, film, theater, collectibles, & haunt industries. Professionals already in these industries come to Kosart to hone their skills. Some students also use what they learn for their own creative hobbies and personal art. Several students followed in Anthony's footsteps, and with his guidance, have gone on to compete, and even WIN, on Syfy’s FACE OFF and GAME FACE.  While our professional projects are keeping Kosart very busy living our dreams, when we can, we still want to help others live their dreams by offering pop-up workshops to help get them on their way.  Click HERE to see and enroll in our pop-up workshop.

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With Anthony’s love and appreciation for art, Kosart Studios also hosts and curates art gallery exhibitions at Kosart Gallery including the widely anticipated Annual MALEFICIUM Dark Art Exhibitions, featuring renown and award-winning artists from around the globe.  For six years, the MALEFICIUM shows have grown to be the Midwest's largest Halloween themed art show, and became a Chicagoland Halloween-time tradition that got bigger and better every year.  While Kosart has become very busy with film and television projects, MALEFICIUM has been on a hiatus since our last show in 2016, but it will make a return.

Despite the familiar connotation of the word “effects,” the original studio name “Kosart Effects” not only encompassed Kosar's alter ego of special effects, but also of all his art and everything that he is. The word “effect” means “end result” and “the extent to which something succeeds.” In a way, “Kosart Effects” was more of a promise to himself and to the world, a promise best said in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, "So much as been done.  More, far more, will I achieve; treading in the footsteps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation."  Though the company name changed from Kosart Effects to Kosart Studios to better signify that Kosart does much more than just FX, this original belief still continues on with every project Kosart creates.

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