ALIEN: The Weyland-Yutani Report (S.D. Perry, 160 pages)

[Corporal Hicks]

There are no current plans for a trade edition of the book.

[HuDaFuK]

Are you shitting me?

Like I said before, I get the impression this is simply a marketing ploy to shift more copies of the pricey version. They're probably desperate to offload as many of the Collectors' Editions as possible before announcing a cheaper version, because they likely won't sell any of the $300+ editions after that, so they're claiming it's the only version we're going to get.

[USG Ishimura]

Marketing ploy.....No. A desire by the artist to show the fans of the Alien series the effort that goes into a typical illustration such as this.....Yes. Pretty certain (99%) John made the video off his own back while making the art way before showing it to Insight, but sure he can elaborate once he's online. 

[Corporal Hicks]

He's not referring to the video, USG. He's referring to the comments about their being no standard edition of the book planned.

[HuDaFuK]

Marketing ploy.....No. A desire by the artist to show the fans of the Alien series the effort that goes into a typical illustration such as this.....Yes. Pretty certain (99%) John made the video off his own back while making the art way before showing it to Insight, but sure he can elaborate once he's online. 

As Corporal correctly said, I was talking about the "no standard edition" plans, not the video! The video was awesome, and I'm hugely impressed by the work that went into just that one illustration

[USG Ishimura]

Haha! Okay, cool. Thanks for clearing that up. I know John saw it and was thinking the same as I! 

On both his artwork and mine, we really want to do what's right when it comes to showing accurately as best we can how it's depicted in the movie, and by doing that, do right for the fans of the movie. Basically I was working on the APC blueprint, at the same time he was working on his print for the book, and we both worked at the same time researching, looking at screen-grabs and behind the scenes pics helping each other. Lot of fun trying to figure it all out.

[Corporal Hicks]

So you worked on the book too? What's your name?

If you don't mind me asking.

[USG Ishimura]

Graham J Langridge. I am known on a few other forums as 'Space Jockey'.
I did not work on the book directly. Just as a behind-the-scenes 'guide' helping on vehicle / ship accuracy. The APC artwork depicted here is entirely John's work. 

[MrSpaceJockey]

You're the fellow behind the Nostromo blueprint in the Alien Vault book, yes?

Amazing work.

[Quarax]

Graham J Langridge. I am known on a few other forums as 'Space Jockey'.
I did not work on the book directly. Just as a behind-the-scenes 'guide' helping on vehicle / ship accuracy. The APC artwork depicted here is entirely John's work. 

Did you make those blueprints that are going to come with HCG's Power Loader too?

[Johnny Paintbrushes]

Thanks for all the comments guys - it's a buzz to see all the discussion about the artwork.
This is rumour control, here are the facts: 

- The film and making-of photos I posted were all initiated by myself and the film in particular is something I've wanted to do for a long time. Insight were cool enough to help push it through as a Fox-approved film and even though it's being used to promote the Collector's edition of the book, the film exists because I wanted to show the creative process that goes into making a cutaway artwork and will be there online to enjoy long after the Collector's edition has been marketed & sold. It was simultaneously an opportunity to write instrumental music for film & showcase my band Last Picture Show.

- The model supplied by Gearbox was the same as used in Colonial Marines but I only used the outer shell ( which was thoroughly checked by myself and the Brain Trust & cross referenced with production photos for accuracy ). All of the interior was calculated by myself and Graham J. Langridge ( USG Ishimura on this forum) to whom I am heavily indebted for helping ensure everything was as seen in the film and in its right place. I also used some Gearbox models for the other artworks in the book such as for the Powerloader ( which did need fixing ).

- As Corporal Hicks rightly suspects, research time is very consuming - just over 100 hours were spent drawing, inking, colouring and then photoshopping. It's harder to quantify time spent researching the interior content - I    allocated 20 hours to the time spent exchanging countless long emails with Graham and the rest of the Brain Trust. But I suspect this figure is actually quite conservative and was probably a load more.

- The Tardis like quality of the APC wasn't actually too much of a problem. The scale difference is slight enough to work around. The biggest problem I faced was where to put the engine as pretty much every bit of available interior space is taken up by the APC interior set we see in the film. It was Graham's idea to present the solution as in-wheel drive technology, aka the Transaxle.

Hope that helps 

Sorry - didn't refresh the page to see the more recent comments from Graham who is being very modest about his invaluable help with this piece ( and also the Nostromo artwork which I produced with his and Derrin Procter's help ) .  It was a really fun collaborative process to ensure everything was accurate.

John   

[USG Ishimura]

You're the fellow behind the Nostromo blueprint in the Alien Vault book, yes?

Amazing work.

Hi Mr.Space Jockey;
Yes, that is correct and thank you. 

Did you make those blueprints that are going to come with HCG's Power Loader too?

Hi Quarax,
Yes, that too is correct. I wasn't intending to draw up the Power Loader, but was asked to by HCG specifically for their model / statue.
When I completed the APC blueprint, HCG was made aware of it by a friend who then introduced them to me. A small version of the APC blueprint was included with their APC statue and that led onto the request for a Power Loader diagram.

The Tardis like quality of the APC wasn't actually too much of a problem. The scale difference is slight enough to work around. The biggest problem I faced was where to put the engine as pretty much every bit of available interior space is taken up by the APC interior set we see in the film. It was Graham's idea to present the solution as in-wheel drive technology, aka the Transaxle.

Yes, the whole engine and axle location thing is something that people have been wondering for a while. The inspiration for the in-wheel drive technology came from stumbling upon a website by Protean Electric, a UK fim that is developing / has developed an in-wheel electric drive system.
So I thought it was really interesting and an ideal solution for the APC especially with the large wheels it has. That left it needing a powersource, and inspiration from that came from reading an article on the Jaguar C-X75 and its micro gas turbine engine. Small enough to locate at the front passenger-side of the vehicle.

The axle component, rather than running it from the wheel into and through the APC, I chose to connect at the back of each wheel, then run it vertically toward the top of the hull where there would be another, smaller drive system acting as a 'pivot' allowing the wheels to turn independently. The way it connects at the back then vertically, I guess a similar thing to visualize it may be a front bicycle wheel (minus one of the two forks) or the Daihotai 'Jordan' Tractor, which seems to use a similar concept.

In addition what we came up with had to complement the Aliens Tech Manual and the information provided in that, because we're aware that it can be frustrating to see one book say one thing, another book say something else entirely, so we were mindful of that too.

As Corporal Hicks rightly suspects, research time is very consuming - just over 100 hours were spent drawing, inking, colouring and then photoshopping. It's harder to quantify time spent researching the interior content - I    allocated 20 hours to the time spent exchanging countless long emails with Graham and the rest of the Brain Trust. But I suspect this figure is actually quite conservative and was probably a load more.

That's right; the thing about these movies is that one is reliant on three sources, 1.) being able to get a hold of studio blueprints; 2.) Set photographs; and 3.) the movie itself.

With 1.) we had access thanks to the brain trust of an interior APC blueprint, the trouble was it was based on an early design of the APC which was nothing like the final set (the gunner seat for instance was at the back). So that left 2.) and 3.), both of which were a case of really analysing the movie and photos on bluray and dvd releases, plus any reference photos the brain trust we able to provide. By working on the blueprints simultaneously we we able to work on one area in different views and scales to ensure it all worked and matched what was seen on screen.

[HuDaFuK]

Great to hear from you guys about your work!

[MrSpaceJockey]

I am not lying when I say that it is seriously inspiring stuff.

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

we had access thanks to the brain trust of an interior APC blueprint, the trouble was it was based on an early design of the APC which was nothing like the final set (the gunner seat for instance was at the back). So that left 2.) and 3.), both of which were a case of really analysing the movie and photos on bluray and dvd releases, plus any reference photos the brain trust we able to provide. By working on the blueprints simultaneously we we able to work on one area in different views and scales to ensure it all worked and matched what was seen on screen.

Sounds like fun, I know even in the film itself the APC (at least it's exterior) is not consistent with itself. There are numerous little differences between the full scale prop vehicle and the two scale miniatures used in the film.