The Concept Art behind the movie Aliens

[Deep Dish]

I have the art book The Movie Art of Syd Mead: Visual Futurist.

It's a great book. You can see the original production concept art of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Aliens, TRON, Blade Runner, and Blade Runner 2049, among others.

There is one page which is most particularly interesting.

It's a scene from Aliens of the cryogenic sleep pod chamber. It's one of those very rare moments where you can see the concept art behind a specific shot, so you can do an apples-to-apples comparison and see design changes. I notice that there are more cables coming down to the pods in the concept art, and in the movie the wall behind the pods was replaced with machinery. Just in my opinion, I personally like the pods in the concept art better, because the shape language of the front of the pods in the movie is more rectangular.

Sadly, Syd Mead passed away a few years ago. He is legendary. I have watched videos of him teaching, and he is a great teacher.

 

[Deep Dish]

Did you check out Giger's work on the Alien concept?

Not yet. There is a book with his concept art, but it's expensive. I should definitely get around to it someday, though.

 

[Sascha_Valieri]

That book is awesome!
Funniest thing. Most if his "AlienArt" was created for Dune and that version of the movie was never produced...

 

[eli77]

love it not everyone can have that talent!!

 

[Deep Dish]

love it not everyone can have that talent!!

I think you meant to say skill. Most of what people call "talent" is simply the result of dedicated training. I do believe there is some support for natural born talent because of how our brains can process information differently, but it's such a small fraction of a factor.

The training resources for Hollywood-level design has changed. Syd Mead studied industrial design at Art Center in Pasadena, which is very expensive, but the price tag for education has significantly dropped over the past two decades, with websites such as ArtStation where industry artists provide workshop courses for under $100 a pop. I've watched on-demand courses at The Gnomon Workshop (of the Gnomon School of Visual Effects), which offers a monthly subscription which I do from time to time.

 

[eli77]

so true i stand corrected !!.

 

[eli77]

post some videos if possible.