At age 14, Bottin sent an autograph request which included one of his intricate drawings to well-known special make-up effects artist Rick Baker, who promptly invited him to discuss monsters with him.
His first big solo break was The Howling, where he was called to create an on-screen transformation from man to werewolf when Rick Baker's schedule was busy with a different production.
Notably, Bottin's effect in The Howling appeared five months before his mentor Baker's similar scene in An American Werewolf in London.
[9] According to the making of documentary on the DVD, Bottin's schedule was so punishing, and his attention to detail so precise, that after filming finished, he was hospitalised with exhaustion and pneumonia.
Little did he know that the melted plastic released explosive paint thinner so when the director decided to put flame under the camera lens the entire prosthetic exploded.