The Story Is All Here … – Alien: Romulus Artists Begin to Share Work!

To quote another famous science fiction franchise that also originally came from 20th Century Fox that now lives under House of Mouse, “this is where the fun begins.” As Alien: Romulus’s third week in cinemas continues and the film continues to roll in that box office money, many of the creatives who helped make the film a reality are now sharing concept art and behind-the-scenes pictures! Spoilers for Alien: Romulus follow below.

Many talented concept artists worked on Alien: Romulus and they are now beginning to share the process they went through designing the elements of the film that made it feel like it slotted into the Alien franchise so perfectly. The amazing Joshua Viers was responsible for the initial designs of the Renaissance Station, as well as the interior look of Tyler and Kay’s trailer.

I couldn’t believe my luck when Naaman Marshall brought me on to this project and told me I’d be in the office of @iamfedealvarez ! Sitting with Fede and figuring out the shape of the Renaissance space station was a thrill. And then seeing @alexniceartist take it even further and make it feel so real was amazing.

I will always be grateful to be in an art department so full of talent, and I can’t wait for the other art department folks to share their beautiful work.

I pitched the idea that our characters could approach the Renaissance space station from underneath because I was hopeful for what its oppressive presence might do for the film’s tension. To see that idea fit into Fede’s vision and Naaman’s aesthetic, and eventually the movie itself, was incredibly gratifying.

The spikes and spires at the bottom of Renaissance station were something that Josh designed intentionally to reference the antenna at the front of the Sulaco. Once Fed Alvarez and Josh Viers had locked into the look and feel of the station, the fantastic Alex Nice worked to refine the station’s exterior appearance for the finished film, in addition to working on interior spaces within.

It’s important to note that this design was a two person collaboration with the incredible artist @conceptbyjosh – who locked in the first approved look with the director. Once Josh’s initial design silhouette was approved, I was tasked with creating the film-ready version to match the story beats and set locations on the station’s disc underside. Locations such as the hallways, hangers, escape pod hatches and utility entrances were worked out to match the script’s action points.

Alex has also shared some early iterations of Rook, showing a much more damaged visage that would be utilized for the finished film.

Last Friday I had the opportunity to attend a panel at Concept 101 in London where I got to see some of the fantastically talented people who worked on Alien: Romulus present some of the work they did for the film: Col Price, Matthew Savage and Nick Stath. Nick, a former architect, brought a lot of his experience in that field to designing the interior spaces on the Renaissance station that he was responsible for, including the hived up hallway.

As we enter the third act of the film, I wanted to create a simple bold shape, that would dramatically lean over the protagonists to create a feeling of weight and discomfort.

The taper and height of the ceiling would also aim to give the impression that we are far into the depths of the space station. The raw, industrial nature of the space is a nod to Aliens (1986) and also intended to make the space feel utilitarian, as it is a ‘service zone’.

While the bulk of Alien: Romulus’ runtime takes place on the Renaissance station, the Corbelan cargo haulers that are used by the miners of Jackson’s Star also played a vital role in grounding the design language of the film in the world of Alien, as well as serving as the location of the final surprise act. The talented Matthew Savage was responsible for designing the Corbelan and has begun sharing his own designs and cross-sections.

Back in July 2022 Production Designer Naaman Marshal and Director @iamfedealvarez invited me to join the Alien Romulus art department to help develop the design and look of the Corbelan ship, interior and exterior. These visual represent the very final passes after months of work inching closer to Fede’s vision for the mining ship. in terms of dream jobs, this was the one…and then Fede commissioned @promachina to build the ship in miniature! swipe for early sketches and different views.

Developing the design of the exterior ship and the interior spaces was an intrinsic task and one of the things I enjoyed the most. This cross section was drawn after the exterior and interiors were lock off by @iamfedealvarez and PD Naaman Marshal as a tool to demonstrate how the ship worked as a whole.

Alien: Romulus also offered us our first cinematic look at a colony that had developed past the initial terraforming stage, something that the brilliant artist Col Price was responsible for exploring and developing.

Was super honored to be asked by @iamfedealvarez and PD Naaman Marshal to work on Romulus and more specifically world build the jackson star mining colony, street sections and overall world mood and layout . This was such an incredible honor and such an amazing task. Here are just a couple of early wide shots , exploring mood and tone and the world structure.

During the opening scenes of Alien: Romulus we are shown an AI driven probe, something the wonderful Pablo Dominguez has shared concepts of.

Like the original Alien and Aliens, Alien: Romulus’ characters also looked as worn down as the world they inhabited and that vibe was embodied in the clothes and costumes they wore. James Casey Holland has also begun sharing some of his own fantastic concepts, exploring the costume design.

And what Alien film would it be if we also didn’t have lots of creature concepts to obsess over? The iconic Dane Hallett who previously worked on Alien: Covenant returned to work on Alien: Romulus. Dane has shared a number of concepts of the work he did designing the Alien’s cocoon – practically built for the film by Legacy Effects – including showing explorations he did where he took the eggmorphing into account.

The events that would bring about the disaster aboard the Renaissance station began with the recovery of Big Chap and ended up with his crucified form having melted through several decks of the station. This scene is depicted in one of the pieces shared by the amazing Marc Simonetti on Twitter.

Some years ago, I was incredibly lucky to work on Alien Romulus. Here is a very small sample of my work on the movie. As a massive fan of both Alien and Giger, this was a massive blast for me.

Last, but by no means least, as he made his appearance towards the end of Alien: Romulus, he makes his appearance at the end of this news post – Alien: Romulus’ iconic Offspring! Santiago Vecino, the brilliant artist responsible for the viral artwork of a face-hugger-ified phone clutching someone’s face, has shared the first look at an earlier iteration of the Offspring, as well as storyboards of Bjorn’s death.

Alien fans are keeping track of all the concept art and behind-the-scenes pictures being shared in the Alien: Romulus board on our forums. If you’re interested in checking these out, be sure to head on over!

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