QuoteThanks Xenomrph; yeah, I totally get where you are coming from. I view the Xenomorph as an animal to be studied rather than a metaphorical space creature that has no rules our boundaries which is the way the first film plays out. It's a cryptic legitimate monster and many people want it to stay that way.It's worth pointing out that the Xenomorph only has "rules" insofar as they're useful to the storyteller at the time. A good practical example is Alien acid (and the USCM Tech Manual tackles this exact topic - and we're talking about a book that only dealt with 2 movies at the time). How strong is Alien acid, and what can it do? These properties vary from movie to movie (and sometimes, within the same movie) to suit the situation at hand. The acid is only as capable as the storyteller needs it to be at that exact moment.
I am not that way inclined, I want to know, I want to look at it, and I like looking at pretty pictures which explain possible ways things work. Which is why I really enjoyed a lot of the 40K lore actually haha.
QuoteI have a few ideas planned out and it would focus on around six individual Xenomorphs of different breeds that are available. This allows me to draw lots of illustrations showing different crests, hands, feet, tails, all those details which varies between films and comics that I find most interesting.If the premise is that it's all being drawn by someone who is first-hand dissecting the Aliens, it would make sense to perhaps depict different Alien designs that are coincidentally similar to the ones we see in the movies, even if the "scientist author" isn't necessarily aware of it. For instance, the scientist author couldn't literally dissect the Alien variations seen in 'Alien Resurrection', because all of those particular Aliens were contained to the USM Auriga. You could certainly still depict that variation in the book if you wanted to, it just calls into question how and why the scientist author was able to come across them - the easy explanation would be "they're just a visual variation of Alien that can naturally occur", a conclusion supported by the two AvP movies, but the ramification is that any notions of those Alien's design being influenced by "genetic tampering" gets throw out the window.
There would be many references noting these are just the creatures available- that there are likely more and may have completely different biology to the ones studied (and these are all Xenos birthed from the same human hosts- again, limiting huger variations).
Quote from: Local Trouble on Nov 26, 2017, 07:29:11 PMwink wink nudge nudge
You're treading very close to heresy.
Quote from: Killveous on Nov 25, 2017, 08:08:38 PMI think a lot of it is because it takes away the mystery. The USCM Tech Manual has a whole chapter about exploring Alien biology, but the end result of the chapter is that no one knows anything new and stuff is more confusing than when it started. That wasn't done by accident.
I can understand people really adoring the in depth details and cutaways into ships, machinery, weaponry; Like Xenomrph said the Blueprint book is coming out. But no one seems overly keen to cut into a Xenomorph and see what they can find (maybe because it takes away the mystery?)
Quote from: Xenomrph on Nov 25, 2017, 12:45:55 AMHey, thanks for the heads up. I never really post my images at fullres due to having my work stolen and traced n stuff before (also my work being used in a roosterteeth video once haha). But I will be very keen to keep any of my art quite downsized and watermarked here if it is something I spent more time on... which leads me to the next bit;
but other times FOX will just commandeer fan work and use it without compensation or consent (such as using SM's star chart in the backgrounds of the Anthology blu-ray, and some other example that I can't recall the particulars of offhand).
Quote from: Killveous on Nov 24, 2017, 02:18:17 PMPerhaps it's like the pharyngeal jaw, which the moray eel uses because it lacks the ability to swallow on its own - the jaw is literally used to pull food back into its gullet. The Alien inner jaw may serve a similar purpose.
Hahaha, oh you two~ I like to look at all sources, though do agree on part with Local Trouble that the AVP:R movie is not really one I look into for much depth.
However, I think the movie itself actually does prove a certain point here; We do see an Alien apparently feeding with his inner mouth. What we see is him striking repeatedly, biting and pulling back. If the throat was all the way through from the inner mouth then surely, he could keep it extended to take pieces of food, or simply move it up and down in shorter bursts rather than retract it in it's entirety into his primary mouth.
I have tried to demonstrate what I mean with Pringles (which is now an ongoing joke between me and friends about how the only reason for the inner jaw to be so long is because they can reach the last pringle in the can) and honestly having the throat running through the middle just seems unlikely.
Quote from: Killveous on Nov 24, 2017, 07:11:59 PMA little of column A, a little of column B.Quote from: Local Trouble on Nov 24, 2017, 04:28:15 PM
I don't know what line of work you're in, but history has shown that what you post here may come to the attention of Fox and make its way into some officially licensed project in the future.
Have you acquired a copy of the WYR yet?
Oh do you mean that Fox will just take peoples work without credit and use it? Or you mean they approach you want to use it with permission?
Quote from: Killveous on Nov 24, 2017, 07:11:59 PMI searched a bunch of stuff for WYR (which i didn't even know what it stood for when you said lol) and Was this a fanmade book first? It looks very professional and well funded.The Weyland-Yutani Report is an official sourcebook written by long-time Alien/AvP author S.D. Perry, but had some fan consultation and some of the artwork contracted for it was done by an artist who posts on these forums.
Quote from: Killveous on Nov 24, 2017, 07:11:59 PMYou might also be interested in the recent Book of Alien: Augmented Reality Survival Manual - it's got similar content and presentation to the WY Report but presented from a slightly different perspective. I'm still reading the AR Manual right now so I can't comment on the total package, but so far it feels like a companion book to the WY Report.
Pages like these;
Look like real 3D graphic renders of the Aliens made for this book? It's awesome. I would love to make something like that but far more in depth and all about just the Aliens, not ships and people or any of that. The science of the creature is what I am hugely into.
Quote from: Killveous on Nov 24, 2017, 02:18:17 PM
BTW thanks for all the lovely comments! Two friends are very eager for me to talk more about Alien anatomy aspects and breeding and classifications, etc etc. Might end up doing a series of things as I have hundreds of pages of theorems and study deductions though what I have needs far better illustrations that these sketches to go into depth. May do pencil work as well, to make it feel more real in hand as if it was a real scientists work.
Quote from: Local Trouble on Nov 24, 2017, 04:28:15 PM
I don't know what line of work you're in, but history has shown that what you post here may come to the attention of Fox and make its way into some officially licensed project in the future.
Have you acquired a copy of the WYR yet?