Lee Romaire, Creature FX Artist for Letters From the Big Man, Offers Opinion on Game Cam Bigfoot Picture

Photoshop illustration of Lee Romaire, of Lee Romaire Studios
 checking out Melissa Hovey's game cam Bigfoot picture

"The fur is simply too uniform in color, density and direction to be authentic..." -- Lee Romaire, Creature FX Artist on Letters From The Big Man

As you may remember from an earlier posts, Letters from the Big Man, was an attempt to make the most authentic depiction of Bigfoot, not only in behavior but also visually. Lee Romaire, in our opinion, succeeded. Bigfoot lunch Club was provided exclusive photos and a test video of the Bigfoot costume. You can also see a few examples of Lee Romaire's work below.

You can see an artist cutting the hair to different lengths as mentioned in Lee's opinion.
It should be noted these photos are "In Progress" and not reflective of the final costume

Here is Lee's expert opinion provided this morning (Feb, 24, 2012)

Possible Sasquatch Picture Taken from a Game Cam (click to enlarge)

"In my opinion it's  fake.  The hair used here is identical to an expensive brand of fake fur that we use.  This particular fur type is called  werewolf fur, woven on a 4 way stretch fabric (which is identical in color to the skin showing under the fur in the photograph).  You can order this fur in medium or sparse density, and this one looks to be medium density.  

The fur is simply too uniform in color, density and direction to be authentic.  Even though this is a high quality fur, it needs to be trimmed, painted etc. to achieve a hyper realistic look.   The skin is also too uniform in color.  

If one was able to zoom in very tight on this photograph and manipulate it I'd bet that you'd find a weave pattern on the skin areas." 

To make [recreate this exact photo] in your garage would probably cost less than $800.

--Lee Romaire

UPDATE: Lee Romaire wanted to make it clear that he did NOT mean a Bigfoot costume could be made for $800, he has emailed us with more specificity, "what I meant by that photo being created for $800.00 is NOT that you can make a whole suit, but someone could sculpt a bust from the back up (with no detail on the face, paint it and stretch $500 worth of artificial  fur on it and it would produce that shot.""

He continues, "I believe that bigfoot is real, and that I have been fascinated with the subject for years. People have asked me to comment on the Patty footage, but I want to believe it's real too badly to be objective."

Lee's opinion matches up with our post yesterday featuring Bill Munn's expertise.

Also, in our opinion, we wouldn't worry about these being tips for hoaxers. Any body with the time and talent for this stuff is already using those two resources to make money in Hollywood. And as you can see, even two FX experts and Bigfoot hopefuls (if not full-on believers) can detect details of fabrication. Neither one of them had see the other's opinion.

You should read our post, "The Making of Letters from the Big Man" to read our interview with Lee Romaire and learn how he collaborated with Christopher Munch on the Sasquatch design.

Also, Be sure and check out Lee Romaire Studios, he's been working on a lot of great stuff lately, from the animatronic Lincoln for Disney, to an animatronic goat for Sacha Baron Cohen's newest movie  The Dictator.

We will always appreciate the respect and work he put into Christopher Munch's Letters from The Big Man.

Bill Munns, Creature FX Expert, Weighs in on Game Cam Bigfoot Picture

Photoshop illustration of Bill Munns looking at the Melissa Hovey Bigfoot Picture

"If it is fake, it does represent a fair amount of both skill and expense on the part of the fabricator." --Bill Munns

Professional creature effects artist and 3D digital expert, Bill Munns, weighs in on the game cam bigfoot picture released by Melissa Hovey at her Search for Bigfoot blog. You can read Bill Munns' opinion following the picture in question.

Possible Sasquatch Picture Taken from a Game Cam (click to enlarge)

My immediate concern was that the photo, if a game cam type, is cropped, since such photos usually have some time/date material included. So I must assume this photo was cropped. I have been told that the cropping was because something in the wider landscape would identify the location, and there was concern to keep the location secret. I find this explanation lacking, because the full image could be shown with minimal Photoshop re-touching of any landscape element which might identify the location, while still allowing more of this subject's body. So that issue immediately raised suspicion in my mind.

The subject, as we see it, is just hair and the hint of skin through sparse sections of hair, in the shape of a head, shoulders, torso and one upper arm. This can be so easily fabricated that it would be impossible to falsify the alternative, which means it would be impossible to validate this as being real.

The hair is curious for its length and sparseness, with a pale flesh tone through the hair. This is not standard cheap fake fur. Such is occasionally seen with custom hair made by National Fibre Technology (NFT) for movie creatures, but it's not cheap. The mixture of greys and black hair colors is also something NFT can produce on order.

The disheveled lay of the hair reminds me of fake fur that's been mussed up rubbing against things and not brushed out. The fact that the hair tends to be consistent in density, length, and color tones, also is a characteristic common to use of artificial fur. Real mammals tend to have more variance of the hair (length, density, tone, or combinations of these traits) from the head into the torso and arm, but this does not.

So my conclusion is that the figure is suspicious, and while it cannot be called an outright fake, I know it could easily be faked, and as such, I would not put any confidence in its being real.

If it is fake, it does represent a fair amount of both skill and expense on the part of the fabricator.

Bill Munns Feb. 18, 2012

Bill Munns has created a great replica of Gigantopithicus Blacki. he has also done extensive research on the Patterson/Gimlin film. Click to read our Bill Munns biography. Bill will be speaking at the 2012 Oregon Sasquatch Symposium on October 13th, with Bob Gimlin. They are presenting together and will share new information regarding what happened at the Bluff Creek location.

Below, you can see examples of Bill's creature work and a video he has done using 3D graphics to describe Patterson path with the camera, as well as the path Patti took. For you newbies, Patti is the name given to the Sasquatch in the infamous film.

Want more Bill Munns stuff? Check out his websites!!!

The Munns Report
Bill Munns Creature Gallery