Aliens WIP, C&C appreciated!

[PhilOsirus]

I see no image!:p

EDIT: Oh there it is! I'd say first make a complete sketch in black and white, no lighting or anything, just a sketch. Then you will be well positioned to review the composition/perspective/meaning/etc. and so will we:) Better to go one step at a time!

[chadjellis]

i started to play with the focal point more, but since "subject matter" wisem theres no real deviation. so, i started playing with depth of field, forcing the viewer to focus on one alien, the one thats possibly most dangerous, the one with the mouth gaping. Its hard to see in the little sketch that i've made, but possibly its enough to get my point across.

thoughts?

ps. - i've found that quite often i have to refresh the page to see the images, so if for some reason its not showing up, hit refresh and it should do the trick.

thanks as always

http://students.uwsp.edu/celli097/aliens2.jpg

[JH-Saucedo]

I think you are doing a great work on the detail of the mouth. The blue membrain in the creature's head bugs me a little. It seems too artificial or superimposed. I think it's because of the high contrast between the earth-like colors and the blue.

Great work with ligthining! But even if it's an split light, very little of light on the dark areas will make this stand out more.

[chadjellis]

never thought about using two light sources, one close ( to the left ) and one farther away or dimmer or perhaps a different color like red, on the right. i like that idea! thanks a lot!

i agree with the membrane, its the piece that i've worked the least on yet, mainly because i'm not sure where i want to take it. the main thing that i was curious about was how the skull would look under that membrane, and i didnt give a ton of thought to how the memebrane should look. at first i liked the contrast beween the colors, but the more i look at it the more my eye gets caught there versus the mouth where all the tasty details and fun is.

thanks for the crit and glad you like it! :)

[wo0lF]

Alien with human nose and eyes? Fix top of skull - it's identical to human's.

[chadjellis]

i understand what you are thinking, the human skull looks out of place. and i agree that as of now in the process its too dominant. however, in the actual design of the creature, the skull of the alien thats covered by a semi transparent "membrane", is actually a mutation, if you will, of a human skull. heres an example:

if you look closely you can see the eye sockets and nose very reminiscent of a humans. when i first noticed this i was shocked! but i loved it. too me it increases the creepy factor on an already creepy character. i know that 99% of the aliens are depicted without the human skull. but some of the original designs of H.R. Giger included the skull, and i find it awesome. So, i'm going to keep the skull, but tone it down, so its not a first read, and "mutate" it more to separate it from a human skull a little, more like the photo below.

thanks for the crit.


http://www.orphic.nl/aliensNL/Aliens-02.jpg

[JH-Saucedo]

In that alien reference the eyes are creepy because of the big eye sockets. This makes the skull more frightening imo. You are keeping human-like eye sockets, you need to deform these a little.

[chadjellis]

i agree, thats definately on the agenda.

[wo0lF]

i understand what you are thinking, the human skull looks out of place. and i agree that as of now in the process its too dominant. however, in the actual design of the creature, the skull of the alien thats covered by a semi transparent "membrane", is actually a mutation, if you will, of a human skull. heres an example:

if you look closely you can see the eye sockets and nose very reminiscent of a humans. when i first noticed this i was shocked! but i loved it. too me it increases the creepy factor on an already creepy character. i know that 99% of the aliens are depicted without the human skull. but some of the original designs of H.R. Giger included the skull, and i find it awesome. So, i'm going to keep the skull, but tone it down, so its not a first read, and "mutate" it more to separate it from a human skull a little, more like the photo below.

thanks for the crit.


http://www.orphic.nl/aliensNL/Aliens-02.jpg


This concept was made for "Alien vs Predator" and it doesn't have human nose or eyes. What you see on picture you show is shadow/reflection.

This is same concept:
http://www.monstergalaxy.com/images/Lifesize-Alien-Prop.jpg


http://img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/rsz/434/x/x/x/medias/nmedia/18/35/18/23/18390461.jpg
http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/176/predalien2finalyg3.jpg
http://el-grimlock.deviantart.com/art/Alien-71403582

[chadjellis]

I know that my picture doesn't "jive" with the current rendition of the alien monster design. but thats because the current version is the result of nearly 30 years of changes in hollywood. the original creator of aliens, H.R. Giger, was the artist that penned the design for the ORIGINAL alien in '79. Since then the creature has undergone a series of redesigns, resulting in the creature that we see today (the one that you have sited). I, however, am facinated with the design that the mastermind of the orginal creature, and decided to do an "homage" to the original. So, no the sockets that you see in the picture i sited before are not the result of reflections and lighting, just a different design that we don't see anymore today, which is why i chose to design my creature the way i did.

this is a replica, that is actually available for sale with an autograph of the famous H.R. Giger, and as you can clearly see, its a mutation of a human skull. this isn't, however, how we see it in the movie.

http://students.uwsp.edu/celli097/AlienHeadPropReplica.jpg

This is how we see it in the movie. As you can see its much more subtle, but it is definately a mutation of the human skull. this is ultimately the way i would like to render my painting, the skull being there, but not the first thing you see.

http://students.uwsp.edu/celli097/GigersAlien2.jpg

just so you know, i'm not fighting to prove a point here, i know what most don't know about the original design, and thats totally fine with me, the current design is still the best monster design ever, but its seen everywhere. the design i'm doing isn't the "norm", thats part of the reason that i am painting my creature this way. Here's to you Giger! :)

[wo0lF]

Heh.. i didn't know that. I'm not even fan of those aliens or anything i just google it and didn't find any with human skull.
Anyway... do it however you like it. I would change it or at least modified it.

[wo0lF]

Ohhh.... i found one..
http://fc99.deviantart.com/fs25/f/2008/125/9/4/ALIENS__ALIEN_WARRIOR___by_adonihs.jpg

[Rumkugel]

some stuff that might help you :)

http://www.gadgetmadness.com/cm/thumbnails.php?album=34

the original movie suit


and the skull (original sculpt standing in gigers garden)

http://www.heycomputer.com/images/bruce/bruce3a.jpg

the eye sockets look pretty regular to me btw.

as you can see, most of the replicas dont really match the details giger put into the actual thing.
and if you ask me, none of the "newer" aliens will ever match it.

keep it up :)

[chadjellis]

thanks for the resource! thats awesome! and you are totally right, Giger is a master, no one can touch his originality and craft. i will always love all the alien flicks, but his designs really stand out to me.

thanks again for your help, you've got me all pumped up to start workin on it again. :)

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