Behind The Scenes: Alien Loader Bay (Patreon)

Well it's almost Halloween and the spooky month theme comes to a close. I was thinking about what to do last. We went through some haunted houses, possessed horse carriages and vampires. All pretty much classic horror tropes, that are at this point rather entertaining than scary. I'm pretty sure those stories were scary once upon a time, but our minds get used to these kinds of scares and go a bit numb.

I'm sure there are new horror stories that can be very scary and unsettling, but today, directors have to dig deep into our psyche to push that button. So this time I focused on my horror memories. What was the thing that wouldn't let me go to sleep when I was a kid? And one of them stood above others. The classic Alien. I remember watching it on a black and white TV and being scared to death by the atmosphere and sudden glimpses of the slimy xenomorph.

For some reason, the futility of facing the monster was the most intense. It's alien nature, speed and apparently hardened structure made it feel like fighting a tornado full of knives if you encountered one on your own. And then, the face hugger. Speedy and slimy bundle of tentacle joy ready to jump 5 meters to suck on your face. And not in a good way. All of this mixed with a coldness and dark of space, millions of miles from home accompanied only by a droning hum of a spaceship.

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I started to search and gather references to the most memorable scenes and objects, that would be a great candidate for a quick modeling session. I didn't want to do the xenomorph. One simple reason above all, its really hard and time consuming. There's only one way to approach that, and it's hours of detailed sculpting. And I was in no mood to challenge Mr. H.R. Giger anytime soon.

So I was looking for something else. Iconic enough to catch the attention of the fellow Alien fan. And I didn't limit myself to the first installment either, I saved some of the references from the second as well. To be honest, I can't decide which one I like more. They are so different and so excellent in their own respect. The first is more of an isolated survival horror, where the second is more of a scaled up action packed rampage, that in the end turns into a stand-off between the Ripley and the alien queen.

Maybe that's why I picked the loader. It's the first time you see human being able to face that stabby whirlwind of arms and tail and give her some good old-fashioned beating. It's the ultimate tool that gives my fear a resolution after all. You just need to have a heavy-weight exoskeleton machine at hand.

Also, I love the scene, where Ripley just cannot stand by and offers some help in preparation for a planet drop in the hangar. And despite the chuckles and smirks of manly crew members, manages to handle the loader like a boss and earns immediate respect. 

And of course, the distinct yellow loader offers a nice composition advantage in contrast with the grey metal surroundings, only interrupted by occasional red warning elements. That's why I went for a more stylized approach when sketching, building the room only as a containment environment for a large loader. It's more like a action toy box rather than a representation of a real space, leaving the whole focus on the loader and its magnificent arms, ready to grab the alien queen by the neck.

You can watch the process video on Youtube