vaderdarth
Master Member
Impressive!
Bob the Alien (Giger inspired Alien)
- Thread starter Leigh
- Start date
Techuser
New Member
Reddit brought me here, you have some guts doing something this big as a first.
I always wanted an alien head since as a kid, but contained myself with a small Neca figura. I'm getting into modelling and plan to copy something similar to the alien pile in the future, as it's too expensive to buy but it's my favorite.
I always wanted an alien head since as a kid, but contained myself with a small Neca figura. I'm getting into modelling and plan to copy something similar to the alien pile in the future, as it's too expensive to buy but it's my favorite.
arachnophilia
New Member
WOW! Thanks for the heads up:thumbsup Theres some really nice comments there
hi leigh, i'm the guy who linked you over on reddit.
i stumbled in here looking for pictures of giger constructing the original head, and found your model instead. the thumbnail i saw on google image search could well have been the original head. i've seen a lot of replicas, models, etc made of the alien, and they're always... wrong some how, even the ones that get the shapes mostly right. even most of the original costumes have deteriorated to the point where they no longer quite right.
this does. in almost every detail. and where it differs, it improves on the original. even the subsequent alien films didn't do this good of a job.
i'd also like to note that giger cobbled together his model in about a month, with a full modeling team, between june and july 1978. you've put in far more work on this than even the original, crafting everything by hand, and hunting down parts, where giger used found bones and tubes. and the level of detail (skin texture?) goes well beyond anything they did for the screen.
anways. keep up the good work. this is truly impressive to see.
Thranduil
New Member
Very cool!
Super detailing.
I got the same itch way back when Alien was released but couldn't do anything with it until I got pneumonia about 11 years later, the doc told me to sit still; not something I do well.
I pulled out my plasticine and started sculpting (sitting quite still mind you).
So one thing led to another and then Halloween was approaching.
The rest became history:
Super detailing.
I got the same itch way back when Alien was released but couldn't do anything with it until I got pneumonia about 11 years later, the doc told me to sit still; not something I do well.
I pulled out my plasticine and started sculpting (sitting quite still mind you).
So one thing led to another and then Halloween was approaching.
The rest became history:
I'll be honest, I'm really looking forward to getting on to the dome part but I need to get the head cast firstI'm waiting to see if you can nail the shape of the dome.
Very cool!
Super detailing.
I got the same itch way back when Alien was released but couldn't do anything with it until I got pneumonia about 11 years later, the doc told me to sit still; not something I do well.
I pulled out my plasticine and started sculpting (sitting quite still mind you).
So one thing led to another and then Halloween was approaching.
The rest became history:
Very nice! :thumbsup Yours has poseable lips & jaw :cool
Got a quick question for the Sculpting/moulding/casting guru's....
I'm thinking it might be a good idea to remove the front teeth complete with the gum from the head as one peice & mould/cast it separately.
The cut lines would be just under the tube across the front & down the sides just behind the rear most fangs. Even though I'd go out of my way to get a perfect fit between the head & the teeth, the join between the two should end up behind the lips, so unseen after assembly.
My thinking behind this is that it would probably allow me to get better casting results with the teeth & it would make the main head mould simpler. I'm worried that if I leave the teeth as part of the main head mould I may suffer from some trapped air in the tips of the teeth & I want to achieve as near as damn it a perfect cast of the teeth without having to throw away a whole head casting because the teeth didn't come out well.
Time wise to do this minor alteration would be minimal, so it wont really set me back any.
What do you guy's think ???
I'm thinking it might be a good idea to remove the front teeth complete with the gum from the head as one peice & mould/cast it separately.
The cut lines would be just under the tube across the front & down the sides just behind the rear most fangs. Even though I'd go out of my way to get a perfect fit between the head & the teeth, the join between the two should end up behind the lips, so unseen after assembly.
My thinking behind this is that it would probably allow me to get better casting results with the teeth & it would make the main head mould simpler. I'm worried that if I leave the teeth as part of the main head mould I may suffer from some trapped air in the tips of the teeth & I want to achieve as near as damn it a perfect cast of the teeth without having to throw away a whole head casting because the teeth didn't come out well.
Time wise to do this minor alteration would be minimal, so it wont really set me back any.
What do you guy's think ???
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Doesn't sound like a bad idea. People do things that way, and it would reduce the pain of a cast failing from just the teeth not coming out well. Also, going that way would allow you to use one of the cold-cast metallic resins for the teeth, you know, as an optional extra or something.
Thranduil
New Member
Silicone would be your best bet to make a mold of the teeth. You don't need to cut them out to cast them, you could build a plasticine dam/wall around them and pour the silicone around them.
Go to BITY Mold Supply - Mold Making, Mold Rubber and Casting Resins | Home. they've got many varieties available plus videos to help you learn and prices aren't too bad.
Go to BITY Mold Supply - Mold Making, Mold Rubber and Casting Resins | Home. they've got many varieties available plus videos to help you learn and prices aren't too bad.
Madhatter
Sr Member
I have just sat here for the past hour or so and read your thread from start till present and I now have to go and clean the carpet of all the dribble that's escaped..... I think I drooled more than the Alien does!!
Although I am completely incapable of offering you any constructive feed back of any sorts (severe lack of sculpting talent), all I can say that this is the closest replica I have seen yet to the actual movie creature. :love
As a HUGE Giger fan, IMHO, you are really doing his work justice. You've got your self another follower here...
Although I am completely incapable of offering you any constructive feed back of any sorts (severe lack of sculpting talent), all I can say that this is the closest replica I have seen yet to the actual movie creature. :love
As a HUGE Giger fan, IMHO, you are really doing his work justice. You've got your self another follower here...
Leigh, is there a chance you may appear at the upcoming UK RPF prop meet in November? Its at the NEC in Bham, be awesome to have you there with Bob?
Anyhoo, cant say more than the likes of Martyn and Co, this is just amazing work, that base, a base of all things.....is just so beautiful.
bests.........lee
Anyhoo, cant say more than the likes of Martyn and Co, this is just amazing work, that base, a base of all things.....is just so beautiful.
bests.........lee
arachnophilia
New Member
hi again leigh,
i've got some stuff that might fuel your perfectionism.
i started noticing some things in your version that didn't quite fit with what i remember, and i've been going back to check pictures and whatnot, and i'm finding inconsistencies in the actual costumes and heads, regarding those details. crazy, huh?
this stuff is all strange to notice. it's not quite as jarring as the "millennium falcon's insides don't match its outsides" problem. but it's definitely weird stuff you never notice watching the film.
i think you're doing a very good job of splitting the difference between the costumes, and taking some artistic license where necessary. it'll never quite match up, because the damned production still don't even match each other.
i've got some stuff that might fuel your perfectionism.
i started noticing some things in your version that didn't quite fit with what i remember, and i've been going back to check pictures and whatnot, and i'm finding inconsistencies in the actual costumes and heads, regarding those details. crazy, huh?
- someone already mentioned the fin -- they seemed to move it when convenient for the movement of the actor. it changes height rather drastically between photos.
- the sternum tube leading into the "adams apple" on your version seemed a bit too short. at first, i thought you'd added an extra vertbra to the sternum/spine. see, for instance this photo or this photo where the tube appears to go down much further uninterupted. it's a little hard to say, though, because there appears to be a vertebra on this which i believe to be the original model the costumes were cast from. fwiw, i like the vertebra there (but note that they flatten out near where the giant clavicles meet). it's on the spot where the neck piece joins the shoulder piece, and it seem to have been fudged a bit on the current state of the costume. it might been removed because it simply broke off due to frequent joining of that section.
- the jaw-tubes. note that in this famous still they don't even seem to be present at all, on this picture of the current status of the costume they attach to base of the skull behind the neck, and in most of your references, they seem to attach to the fin or the back. but that gives them too much support, i think. i'm really starting to believe they just kind of chucked them over the shoulders, or modified them based on the individual costume/head being used. check out this photo where they just dangle. the real costume is really kind of half-assed -- i meant it when i said yours looked way better.
- i knew there were several different versions of the head. the three articulated versions appears to have jaws that are bare-bones, tied together with springs and condoms, with barely anything solid where the cheeks would be on a human. see the above photo. the stunt head was solid cast. the other two "hero" heads seem to have solid cheeks, like yours (based on your reference photos). i assume you went the way you did to maintain accuracy and not have it look like ass. though there is potential for a good look there. the alien 3 design used the hollow cheeks thing quite effectively in my opinion, though the subsequent films did not. it was just strange to see in the first alien. (speaking of which, how do you plan on making the lips/tendons/etc?)
this stuff is all strange to notice. it's not quite as jarring as the "millennium falcon's insides don't match its outsides" problem. but it's definitely weird stuff you never notice watching the film.
i think you're doing a very good job of splitting the difference between the costumes, and taking some artistic license where necessary. it'll never quite match up, because the damned production still don't even match each other.
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Thank you for that post. I knew there was something bugging me about the jaws. I've always drawn the jaw as being very open on the sides with just the tendons stretched across the spaces. However, we have Leigh's accurate sculpt that has the jaw mainly filled in. I have been wondering what it will look like with condoms stretched across the 'solid' jaws...
Hollow jaws?
Hollow jaws?
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During my research into this I spent alot of time reading articles online & in books, I've gathered lots of reference images etc. When going through the articles that people have writen I've tried to only keep & use the info that seems to be constant throughout all the different articles, whether they've been writen by Giger him self or just a knowledgeable fan.
The way I understand it there were a few heads made, 6 in total I believe & all were based on Giger's original sculpt. In the book Gigers Alien he suggests that one of the castings of the original sculpt was sent to Rambaldi to be mechanised, Rambaldi then set about recasting the head, chopping lots off of it & reinforcing it in various area's. If you look at the pic's of Rambaldi working on the head you can see the head looks nothing like the original. In an effort to bring the head back to how it was originaly sculpted, latex rubber castings were made & glued onto Rambaldi's modified, mechanised head. As a result the rubber peices didnt fit quite like the original & there are many differences in these two versions. Some of the more obviouse differences are the eye sockets, the cheeks & the jaw sides. The lip & tendon arrangements are completely different aswell & that seems to be due to the mechanisation of the Rambaldi head. I guess Rambaldi felt he couldn't get the mechanisms he intended to create to work with solid jaw sides at the time.
With regard to the tubes comming off the rear corners of the bottom jaw I used the HGC & Sano sculpts as reference to where they actually stop. From what I've found, it would seem the Sano bust is actually wrong in this area & the HGC version is accurate. My findings are based on trying to follow where the tubes end by closely scrutinising other original images & that HGC claim that their suit is taken from original moulds which I believe, though I dont feel that way about their head.
It would seem the tubes were permanently fitted to the jaw & slotted into the suit making it easy to remove the head.
All these differences in the original mean making a bust that can be displyed & scrutinised closely is a difficult task. What I'm aiming to achieve is a bust that captures the essence & overall look of the creature from the first film by trying to incorporate all of the distinguishing features, in the process I'm left having to use a little artistic licence. Unfortunatly I can only capture the features as I see them, others may pick up on different features as more prominent.
This project started out as a bit of fun, something I'd always wanted to do & at first I wasn't even sure which version of the Alien I wanted to make or even if I should make something that has features from all the different versions. I settled on the Original Alien because it was the one that started it all & it was designed & created by Giger, I've always loved Giger's work.
I did my final GCSE art exam on Giger & got marked down because it wasn't original.
When I started this I had no intention of going for an accurate replica, it was going to be my version loosely based on the original. The advise & support I've recieved here on the RPF has been somewhat overwhelming & has spurred me on to make something alot more accurate but complicated.
So this project has changed somewhat since the start but I am enjoying building this & I really do hope to be able to produce something that will be enjoyed by many
The way I understand it there were a few heads made, 6 in total I believe & all were based on Giger's original sculpt. In the book Gigers Alien he suggests that one of the castings of the original sculpt was sent to Rambaldi to be mechanised, Rambaldi then set about recasting the head, chopping lots off of it & reinforcing it in various area's. If you look at the pic's of Rambaldi working on the head you can see the head looks nothing like the original. In an effort to bring the head back to how it was originaly sculpted, latex rubber castings were made & glued onto Rambaldi's modified, mechanised head. As a result the rubber peices didnt fit quite like the original & there are many differences in these two versions. Some of the more obviouse differences are the eye sockets, the cheeks & the jaw sides. The lip & tendon arrangements are completely different aswell & that seems to be due to the mechanisation of the Rambaldi head. I guess Rambaldi felt he couldn't get the mechanisms he intended to create to work with solid jaw sides at the time.
With regard to the tubes comming off the rear corners of the bottom jaw I used the HGC & Sano sculpts as reference to where they actually stop. From what I've found, it would seem the Sano bust is actually wrong in this area & the HGC version is accurate. My findings are based on trying to follow where the tubes end by closely scrutinising other original images & that HGC claim that their suit is taken from original moulds which I believe, though I dont feel that way about their head.
It would seem the tubes were permanently fitted to the jaw & slotted into the suit making it easy to remove the head.
All these differences in the original mean making a bust that can be displyed & scrutinised closely is a difficult task. What I'm aiming to achieve is a bust that captures the essence & overall look of the creature from the first film by trying to incorporate all of the distinguishing features, in the process I'm left having to use a little artistic licence. Unfortunatly I can only capture the features as I see them, others may pick up on different features as more prominent.
This project started out as a bit of fun, something I'd always wanted to do & at first I wasn't even sure which version of the Alien I wanted to make or even if I should make something that has features from all the different versions. I settled on the Original Alien because it was the one that started it all & it was designed & created by Giger, I've always loved Giger's work.
I did my final GCSE art exam on Giger & got marked down because it wasn't original.
When I started this I had no intention of going for an accurate replica, it was going to be my version loosely based on the original. The advise & support I've recieved here on the RPF has been somewhat overwhelming & has spurred me on to make something alot more accurate but complicated.
So this project has changed somewhat since the start but I am enjoying building this & I really do hope to be able to produce something that will be enjoyed by many
.... this project has changed somewhat since the start but I am enjoying building this & I really do hope to be able to produce something that will be enjoyed by many
I don't think you'll have any problems with people enjoying your build, this is one of the most amazing first sculpts I've ever seen :thumbsup :thumbsup
