The Original "Alien" Concept Art Is Terrifying

H.R. Giger's original designs for Alien are even more chilling than the film.

Posted on May 19, 2014, 10:29 GMT

1. Legendary artist H.R. Giger died last week, aged 74.

2. He captured imaginations and haunted dreams with his bio-mechanical visions, drawn from his own nightmares.

3. A prolific artist for over fives decades, he's perhaps best known for his work on sci-fi classic, Alien.

4. Ridley Scott: "Giger's designs were an especially unique experience for the audience. The world had simply never seen anything like that before."

5. "His work contributed significantly to the success of the film."

6. H.R Giger: "Some people would say my paintings show a future world and maybe they do, but I paint from reality."

7. "If people want to interpret my work as warnings about too much overpopulation, disease and mechanization in the future, then that is up to them."

8. "I like to combine human beings, creatures and biomechanics."

9. "And I love to work with bones - they are elemental and function and, after all, are part of human beings."

10. "Some people say my work is often depressing and pessimistic..."

11. "With the emphasis on death, blood, overcrowding, strange beings and so on, but I don't really think it is."

12. "There is hope and a kind of beauty in there somewhere, if you look for it."

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18. H.R. Giger: “Dutch customs once thought my pictures were photos."

19. "Where on earth did they think I could have photographed my subjects? In Hell, perhaps?”

Images from "The Alien Archive" by Mark Salisbury, released September 5th, 2014, reposted here with permission from H.R. Giger's estate, and Titan Books.