“…FOR WITHIN EACH SEED, THERE IS A PROMISE OF A FLOWER, AND WITHIN EACH DEATH, NO MATTER HOW SMALL, THERE'S ALWAYS A NEW LIFE.”

Dillon (Alien 3).

...And to think, till this point it had all gone so well…  

Anyway. There I was, thinking I’d finished the damn thing. I’d painted, highlighted and sat it proudly on my writing table with a custom-made backdrop and- SNAP. It broke off at the wrist, the one on which took the weight. With nothing to further support its weight, the whole figure arched forward, uprooting the right foot. Alien, stand and backdrop inevitably came crashing down. In the fall, the Alien also lost his entire right leg. I considered gluing the thing together, but I figured it would be too complicated to exactly match the colour tone, even with the same paints. All in all, it was fucked. I gave the thing a few weeks, then resolved to start over.So, the first thing was to reassemble the figure. I glued the limbs back together, reattached it to the base, and then used a little modelling putty for good measure. I also used this as an opportunity to correct a few things I felt I’d got wrong the first time.

Colour references, behind the scenes of Alien 3.

I removed the odd ‘sticking out slab’ from the base. It was a holdover of the base’s original function, and this slab would have housed the original model’s leg (seeing as this base is a holdover of an actual model kit, for which I had lost the other pieces). This left a hole, which was alright, seeing how I nearly always stand the Alien facing right, but as I intended to be able to position the alien in any direction, a small piece of putty was discreet enough to mask it. 

First time around, due to a mishap in the gluing process, the alien took to leaning on one side. This time I ensured the beast was straight. A slight lean may have looked dynamic, but this time I went for stability over style. To this end, I also made use of a supporting beam to take some of the weight, connecting the lower rib-cage to the base.

Building up the colours.

I also cut-off some of the more lumpy looking putty work, especially from the knees and elbows, for a more natural shape. I also carve-in a little detail to the putty under the neck.
The backdrop, while it looked pretty good for being made from home-only materials, never sat quite right with me, made worse by the fact I hadn’t glued the pipes straight, and polystyrene (no matter how well painted) always looks like polystyrene. So this time round I ditched the elaborate backdrop for something more simplistic. I was always happy with the way the scaffolding, chains and canister turned out, but it was difficult to find a pleasing way to suspend it over the creature, so I just reused the canister. Seeing how I cut a tile from the original base to make it more symmetrical, I reused this tile to base the canister onto, so that whatever way the alien faces, the canister can be moved bend it.

Next came the painting. The backdrop and base was simply a whole bunch of browns, grays and reds all smudged together, I felt detailing here was less important as it would not represent the final focus- it simply had to set the mood. That left the beast. I muted the colours with a thick black wash.

Movable canister.

Now, for all my work last time around, the alien ended up looking a very similar ruddy colour to the actual figure you can buy pre-painted. Sure, it was nice, but I still; felt I wasn’t getting the ‘natural lighting colour’. I went back to some of the behind-the-scenes photography, and discovered without the orange hue that the alien was in fact a dirty grey, with a touch of cream and green here and intermittently. So I begin by base coating my alien grey, and over the top of this I dry brush predominantly a fleshy / bone cream, along with browns, greys and a little olive green. The overall look is bright, but this is soon dulled by a thick brown ink-wash, which also helps to merge all the colours into a pleasing whole. Final touches include highlight work around the lounge and gums, the spine, and detailing on the metallic teeth.

I finish by coating the alien in a shiny varnish. This not only gives the thing a little more protection from knocks and bumps, but gives it a nice wet-and-slimy look.

Facing both directions.

And now, once again, I’m finished. Here it is, in all its vile glory. Hope you like it?

“AS LONG AS IT'S ALIVE, SISTER, YOU'RE NOT GONNA SAVE ANY UNIVERSE...”

While the third Alien film has always been a problematic guilty pleasure of mine, I've always maintained that the creature design was the standout highlight of the whole franchise. After James Cameron's unceremonious decision to not call back Swiss surrealist H.R Giger, whose seminal monster design in the first Alien film helped elevate it into movie legend, director David Fincher reached back out to the artist for his take on a more animalistic beast. While the creature in Alien 3 may not entirely be Giger's own, the surrealist definitely helped to shape the monster into what was seen on the screen; a slick, quadrupedal thing. This time, born of dog (or ox, depending on which edit of the film you watch) the bio-mechanical styling had been dialed back in favor of a more naturalistic bone-and-sinew aesthetic, while the phallic domed head also returned. It is, in an odd way, a thing of horrific beauty.

Anyway, my youngest son (with a little help from his mother, I'm certain) bought me the NECA figure of the aforementioned Dog Alien for Christmas. NECA may make beautifully crafted figures, but read any review and you'll see that craft is somewhat let down by the way they are put together. Sadly mine was no exception, and straight out the box my wonderful new model was missing a shoulder blade. This led to a debate with the seller, who eventually credited me with a free replacement. This still left me with the damaged figure, and an unusual opportunity to try my hand at some amateur modifications. The NECA toy, as articulated as it is, was not designed to be put on all-fours, which seems odd seeing how it spends most of the film in this way; the legs do not bend in on themselves, and the neck and skull don't lift enough. The end result is an alien left staring at the floor, looking like its in the throes of an unusual yoga pose rather than running on the heels of its next victim. So I resolved to force this damaged figure into a dramatic running pose and re-base it. The following is what came to pass...

First I assembled a few items; polystyrene, garden mesh, straws and some of my oldest son's old toys. I used the polystyrene as a wall, which I hoped would act as the backdrop for the alien. I pinned some of the garden mesh to the back to act as type of metal grill or fencing. The purpose of the backdrop is not to be anything specific, just to hint at the sort of backdrops from the film; bricks, pipes, chains, etc. Wallpaper cut into squares and mounted on card were used to replicate the look of uneven bricks. After applying the decorative touches I coat the backdrop in black. The base is, funnily enough, a leftover from a plastic Alien 3 model kit. The alien itself broke long ago, I held onto this for some unknown reason. I paint it concrete grey and give it a black wash. Here you can see a the hand of the Alien figure, used for scale.

I use a number of browns and grays on the brickwork, and a combination of gun metal and silver paint on the pipes (formally drinking straws) and metal-work. The canister was an old plastic toy, repainted. I used a silver paint to make the thing looked scratched, and a black wash again to make it appear suitably grimy. Again, the scaffolding was another toy. I gave it a similar treatment to the canister. A fine bronze chain is also applied and left hanging irregularly, again to hint at the type of imagery from the film.

Next I take the alien figure apart, stripping it into its individual components. I discard all the joints, as when in place they don't look particularly natural and only elongate the limbs. I take some time to play with these, and to work out the final pose. The tip of the tale was crooked from how it was packaged clumsily, so I used Milliput to straighten it. This is mostly successful. Clay failed to hold the limbs together, so I'm forced to splash out on more expensive modeling putty. It works, but keeping the thing together while it sets presents issues. Finally I manage to balance it on a combination of household items. Amazingly, and by pure luck, the thing actually balanced on its own without being propped up.

I examined a number of photo references from Alien 3, film stills, behind the scene pictures and other models and figurines. The colours seemed often contradictory, and the sepia lighting of the sets often just bathed everything in a brown hue. Finally I opted to begin with an olive green base coat. The second coat of paint was a tan brown, although I'm sure not to coat the thing entirely, so in areas the olive green still breaks through, especially on the fleshier parts. I base the backdrop (which couldn't support its own weight) onto a piece of MDF. It's cut so that it's wide enough for the whole wall, but cut into an angle that should compliment the alien's base. I add further highlights to the ribs, spine, shoulders, teeth, tongue and lips. I also use modeling putty to fill in the gaps between the dome and lips, and use black paint on each end of the dome.

... All in all, coming along nicely.

"SOMETIMES PEOPLE ONLY SEE HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE THINGS IN MY PAINTINGS..."

H.R. Giger 

The man himself.

A sad farewell to H.R. Giger, the man who shaped so much of my life. Sorry this is so belated...

Beyond the influence of my parents, Giger* is likely the person who had the biggest impact on my life and the direction I have chosen for myself.

"When I was a young boy, I was obsessed with skulls and mummies and things like that."

H.R. Giger

I always enjoyed drawing, and from early childhood I had a natural flair for it- and this gave me an appreciation for other people's work. While I was in my early teens my mother showed me the film Aliens, knowing full well I was going to love it (out of sequence, I know, but it still holds up on its own). I remember being blown away by the creature design and immediately became interested in not only the 'creation' of movies, but who could have possibly imagined such a nightmare. That, as I'm sure it did for many others, led me to the works of H.R. Giger- who had earned an academy award for his work on the first Alien film**, designing the creature itself as well as the desolate landscape of the planet where the ill fated crew of the Nostromo first encounter it. That's when I started to take art seriously; not just as an interest but as a possible career. Aliens soon became one of my all-time favorite movies.
Giger is the reason I excelled in art at school, submitted the work that I did, and pursued the subject beyond mandatory education... I may no longer seek art as a profession (well, I still do a little freelance work here and there), but it's certainly shaped who I am today.

"You get talent when you discover the ground of your pain."

 H.R. Giger

His work on Alien earned him international attention, and rightly so.

Whatever your personal opinions on his work, whether they're a kind of morbid and immature kitsch*** or a deeply unsettling and surreal look into the physical and sociological environment surrounding us, there can be no denying the level of talent and imagination required for their creation; talent and imagination that H.R. Giger had in spades...

"Some people say my work is often depressing and pessimistic, with the emphasis on death, blood, overcrowding, strange beings and so on, but I don't really think it is."

H.R. Giger

Goodbye H.R. Giger, may you forever ride the ghost train home.

February  5, 1914 - May 12, 2014.

A typical Giger piece; a surreal and Freudian sado-masochistic exploration of feminine form and bio-mechanical organs.

*It's pronounced "Geager", like eager. not as in "Geiger counter".

 **James Cammeron infamously cut H.R. Giger out of production for his sequel to Alien, choosing to work on the creature designs himself. However, Giger was subsequently rehired by David Fincher for the 3rd installment-creating what many consider (myself included) the Alien's most awe-inspiring interpretation.

***I said to my tutor "you dismiss Giger because you call his work Kitsch, but you're hanging all this shit by Andy-fucking-Warhole around the room? You don't see any irony in that?" What a clueless dick.

ALIEN 3; Carlisle's Final Word.

"Let me see if I have this correct, Lieutenant - it's an 8-foot creature of some kind with acid for blood, and it arrived on your spaceship. It kills on sight, and is generally unpleasant. And of course, you expect me accept all this on your word?"

Andrews.

 

 

 

Script Logic; 1/2

Pace; 1/2

Acting; 2/2

Aesthetic; 2/2

Originality & Intention; 1/2

Score; 7/10

 

Final Word; A difficult film to review, and it needs to be said that after all the studio interference its miraculous that David Fincher managed to put together a film at all. The acting can’t be faulted (no matter how unlikable the characters), nor the sets or phisical effects, and the Alien itself has never looked better- a faster, nastier and leaner beast than before. Despite its unrelenting grimness and hotchpotch story, there is still much here to be admired, making this a curiously eccentric entry in the Alien saga.