Halloween Tricks From Oscar-Winning Makeup Artist

— -- John Caglione, Jr. has been making spooktacular makeup creations since he fell in love with the craft. His passion to transform earned him recognition as one of Hollywood's best makeup artists.

Starting in the business at age 16, Caglione, 57, has created some of Hollywood's most amazing transformations.

“When I started out I couldn’t afford prosthetics and makeup materials. You have to learn how to paint and push the limits,” Caglione said.

Caglione started his career in New York and he did makeup for the cast of "Saturday Night Live" from 1976 until 1981, putting the tops on the Coneheads and soul patches on the Blues Brothers. His first major film work was in the movie “Dick Tracy” and his skills earned him an Oscar for Best Makeup. He said he enjoys the process of finding and creating a character from applying lashes and eyeliner to sculpting, molding and applying prosthetics.

He is known for his iconic makeup work with Heath Ledger as he transformed him into the Joker in "The Dark Knight" and also his work on Al Pacino in HBO’s "Phil Spector."

“The key to any really good makeup not matter if it is prosthetics or special effects makeup," he said, but to "push the limits."

Caglione recalled being surrounded by makeup way before making his mark in Hollywood. His parents wouldn’t buy masks for Halloween and instead used makeup to create their looks, he said.

And it was back then in elementary school that he said he created one of his most memorable makeup jobs on himself.

“I didn’t know then about removable makeup and I used shoe polish to turn myself into a monster and it took a week for it to fade off,” Caglione said.

So this Halloween, Caglione wants to share his secrets and five steps to get a spooky look and dazzle your friends. His main advice is to have fun and a good time during the process.

To create his ultimate evil grinning dead look, you first need to gather brushes, aqua and liquid colors. A steady hand and makeup remover will go a long way.

The first step is choosing a base color or skin tone to have the base to create the character. Caglione picked a grey color as the base for the evil grinning look. Second is creating the mouth by starting to color in black the lips and mouth forming almost clownish grin adding smile lines. Third is to create dark, soulless eyes with a dark black shadow. Forth is the centerpiece -- creating a cavernous, hollowed-out looking nose. The fifth and last step is to blend in all colors and lines to make it a complete makeup.