This was a joint summer project to produce a full size, posable ALIEN from the classic 1979 Ridley Scott film.
It's purpose was to act as a display figure to inspire students and showcase the skills of it's creators. This was a self-financed project with a limited budget and, as such many of the materials are recycled, scavenged or donated.
We also had a limited amount of time and had to fit this project in around other private and work commitments so it was a challenge in many respects. We hope you enjoy following our progress and learn as much as we did in the process.
Although we created a fully posable armature to build our Alien on, it became apparent that at eight feet tall (nearly two and a half meters) there weren't many places within the department where we would be able to publicly display the work without it being in the way or in danger of it being damaged. We therefore negotiated a display space that would be suitable in every respect, other than the height requirement and then adopted a pose that would not only fit the space but also help bring a sense of movement and life that a standing pose would not have achieved.
As the figure is unlikely to be moved from this position for some considerable time, we fixed the armature (with a little bit of flex) into it's pose, on a base plate, before we started to clad it. This also made it inherently more stable and therefore safe. A metal 'barrier' was fabricated as additional support at the front and to place the creature in some sort of 'scene' and, to ensure further safety in the event of any movement in or failure of internal support over time.
