Platypus of Truth

  AI and drawing from the AI. Working in reverse this time.

 

H.P. Lovecraft excelled at creating visions of evil that were believable in a materialistic age. His witches, cultists, and eldar gods require no supernatural explanations, and yet resonate every bit as much as anything found in Cotton Mather or Algernon Blackwood. It is no wonder then, that H.R. Giger and screenwriters Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett turned to H.P.L., particularly his At the Mountains of Madness , in creating the film Alien . Ridley Scott's direction of Alien , Prometheus , and Alien Covenant  consciously bathes in the arctic light of Lovecraft's novella. So after another viewing of Prometheus  and Alien Covenant  this summer, here are my own interpretations of the alien: part corpse, part machine, part dragon, part demon. It is a secular antichrist, man's failed attempt to become God.

Alien Covenant I've been pouring over pieces of this one as well as trailers, additional content, and fan fights since it came out this summer. Even after watching the film for the first time at Thanksgiving, I've gone back and watched specific scenes for closer study. So what have I found? The opening scene tells us right off the bat that Ridley Scott wants to have a serious conversation about Creation (just like he wanted to talk seriously about the corporate dehumanization of American workers when he shot Alien ). Each item in Mr. Weyland's collection is a creative masterpiece. This is the beginning of the film's world as it is the beginning of connecting character David's world. I've had the privileged over the years of encountering almost all of the creative pieces on display (Wagner's Das Rheingold  in performance at HGO, a Buggati throne at the MFAH, a concert Steinway at the Forsche Studio, and the David in Florence -if I saw Paolo Francesca'...

Drawing of life form uncovered by the disastrous Miskatonic expedition to Antarctica in the 1920s No organic specimens related to these drawings has been located though a related bronze artifact of unknown provenance is in the keeping of the Mathematics department Please forward this picture and attached memorandum to Mr. Weyland

This summer has been a film summer as much as it has been anything else. That is due in large part to kicking things off with a read through the unofficial screenplay bible  Save the Cat . While I was casting about for a means to better digest its principles, I noticed that another Alien  prequel had landed and so my Save the Cat  homework for the next few months was set. In order to prepare for Alien Covenant , I would work through three other movies in the franchise and an assortment of related films. You can find my assessment of Prometheus  here . In anticipation of Alien Covenant , I chose to work through the films according to the mythos' chronology. That meant beginning with the most recent of the three, Prometheus . I then moved on to the core of the franchise with Ridley Scott's Alien  and Jame Cameron's distinctly different sequel Aliens . Each of the core films is very much the product of the decade that produced it. Alien  is a horror pic th...

In preparation for this summer's Alien Covenant , I went back and did something I should have done a while ago, watched Ridley Scott's Prometheus . The film marked Scott's return to the franchise after being there at its creation in 1979 when he directed Alien . The Alien  franchise is a bit of a mish-mash, which each film in the series having its own unique director who exercised considerable freedom. Scott's  Alien  is a simple yet elegant "monster in the house" horror film. James Cameron's Aliens blends "monster in the house" with Ellen Ripley as the "dude with a problem" who must willingly confront and destroy the monstrosity from which she originally fled. As opposed to the original movies limited cast and claustrophobic feel, Cameron gives us an action flick with plenty of "red shirts", a "boss bad guy" complete with an evil lair, varied locations, and cool sci-fi gadgets galore. David Fincher's Alien 3  ...

As part of my Save the Cat  homework, I'm working my way through the Alien  series. It also has the added benefit of getting me ready for a viewing of Alien Covenant , whenever that happens. In addition to all the Alien  material, I've also been taking a closer look at some of my favorite comic book artists. Mike Mignola and his team have been right at the forefront with Helllboy: Into the Silent Sea and Hellboy: The Midnight Circus  along with Witchfinder  volumes I-IV. On a very different end of the spectrum, I've also been looking back through Doug TenNapel's old black and whites. My eye is specifically on the use of shadow and highlights and last weeks Alien -inspired mini-comic reflects that. This week again merges my two fields of study into my ongoing quest to become a better artist. The above picture is a refinement of my first Alien  homage refined with Prismacolor markers and colored pencils (no computer editing). The second is a new piece co...

This summer, I'm spending some dedicated time with my art markers and copy of Clip Art Studio. As part of this artistic endeavor, I've put together a rudimentary comic inspired by Ridley Scott's Prometheus  and Alien Covenant . My goal was to try illustrating in simple black and white under the influence of Doug TenNapel's early work and Mike Mignola's Hellboy . So here we go...

Ok, so one more before I close up shop for the night. Incidentally, have you noticed that the focal character in each Alien  movie is a woman? That makes it rather unique in a male dominated genre. When I was in college, the one unforgivable sin was not inviting the our female friends over for an Alien  marathon. So, Ripley, Shaw, Daniels... Why is it always a woman? Is it a matter of "give me the same thing... but different"? Is it that images of motherhood and birth dominate the dark language of the films? Does one necessitate the other? Given Alien's  roots in H.P. Lovecraft's fiction, the choice to consistently move away from an academic, male, hero is a decisive one. It's given us some great characters and a great string of movies (I leave the exceptions up to you).

Here are two more entries in what's shaping up to be my Alien -inspired oeuvre. These aren't taken from any movie in particular, but rather involve images from across films, comics, and concept art surrounding the series. After looking the material en masse, it underlines the Save the Cat  principle of "give me the same thing... bu different!" That's what these movies are: giving us the same thing by different. We, the audience, are paying for story, but fundamentally we're paying for the " Alien  Experience" one more time.

I was dissatisfied with my first attempt at creating a creature from Alien . Here is my second attempt using only black pen. I've tried to pull toward the Egyptian elements of some of the original artwork that keep the world of Alien  close to its lovecraftian roots.

Alien Covenant  has just come out and I thought I would make a small contribution here with a quick bit of fan art. The art of Alien  puts teeth into H.P. Lovecraft's tales of forgotten extraterrestrial civilizations or Clark Ashton Smith's journeys of interstellar doom. They are the consummate horror stories for a secular age.