SilentSurfer's Laboratory: Come up to the Lab & See What's on the Slab.

[snakeeyes171]

you made that alien come alive

 

[MwNN]

Your paint work on the Alien figure is outstanding!
A really fantastic job, it looks like a Giger paint in 3D!
I always look forward to all your work.

 

[SilentSurfer]

Nathan you really are the master at this. How you are able to create that skin effect using acrylics baffles me

This makes me even more excited to see prometheus

Thank you. I'm glad I got it done before Prometheus.

The trick to doing achieving that look in acrylics is in converting my colors to translucent paint and mixing them in layers on the surface of the kit.

Can tell you really enjoyed painting the alien....amazing can't see one part you rushed or got bored with

Thanks. I'm glad my over-attention to detail is evident. No, I definitely didn't rush this one. That's why it's taken me so long to finish (plus finding time between other people's projects).

This piece is the culmination of my entire painting career. When I was a kid I had the 18" Kenner Alien, but the glowing head scared me at night, so my mom threw it away. In high school, I saw that Halcyon had recast the toy into a model kit as part of their Alien line of models. So, I started building and painting models in June '92 when I asked for and got all the Halcyon Alien franchise model kits as a high school grad present from my family. It only seems fitting that 20 years later my Master Piece is the perfect representation of the very character that indirectly inspired me to get into building and painting models.

I still have most of those kits I got for graduation, including the lifesize Facehugger that still needs paint. Only a couple of kits ever got finished, the first being the model remake of the Kenner piece, which being my first kit turned out very badly. I had no idea what I was doing.

As soon as my Sano Alien is complete and in its case, l plan to keep my '79 Alien theme rolling and finally paint the Halcyon Nostromo kit that I built up 20 years ago and primered black, but never painted. If it turns out as well as this one, I'll be stoked.
https://www.smallartworks.ca/Gallery/Nostromo/Nostromo.html

Bravo man! Looks just "wet" enough too. Phenomenal work Nathan!

Thanks. I'm glad you think so. My original intent was to go super shiny all over, but the gloss needs to be built up to achieve that, and it's hard to get an even all over coat on a 3D object with such thick gloss. Wherever the gloss lands that wasn't hit just right tends to leave a texture kinds like shiny sandpaper. After the first coat on the body, I looked at references again and figured it looks right enough, like you said, so I left it alone. The head did get an additional coat though, cause the dome needs to look very smooth and shiny

 

[SilentSurfer]

That's just ridiculous !. Amazing work !.

Thank you.

Thats pretty stunning. I love that effect, I don't know what you'd call it but its most prominent on the collar bone/shoulder thingies. It all looks very accurate,

Fantastic Nate! Would be cool to see how you did that veiny, mottled skin effect. These pics really bring it out, and I keep staring at it, but I can't fathom how you did that all by hand.

Thanks guys. I started with an off white, bone color, did a varnish wash over all of that with a very dark gray/brown varnish mix to stain it and darken the recessed details, but not enough to overpower the off white. Then I used a carefully balanced mix of black and clear paint (so as not to make it flat opaque black but strong enough to build it up solid where I wanted it) to do the veining and patterning and backening of certain areas as appropriate. Then I went back with the bone white and lightly hazed over some areas to create the illusion that some of the veining and detail was under a skin-like surface. Finally I went over everything with very translucent iron yellow first, then burnt umber, and then burnt sienna (working from lighter tone to darker tone) where appropriate to tint it and create depth and diversity in color so it didn't just look kinda black and white.

I think all artist have a little of this in them , but that man does like genitals.
Awesome silent surfer , surprised everyone loves that classic sculpt , i would love to see you work on more alien works or Prometheus stuff.

When I was a kid and had the old Kenner toy, my friend and I used to call the Alien "Hot Dog Head". Good thing I didn't know what kind of weiner it really was supposed to be.

 

[SilentSurfer]

Man....this is so AMAZING! This statue is really Holy Grail!!!

This was definitely my Holy Grail. Thanks!

you made that alien come alive

Thank you. Mission accomplished.

Your paint work on the Alien figure is outstanding!
A really fantastic job, it looks like a Giger paint in 3D!
I always look forward to all your work.

Thank you. I enjoy sharing my work with you.

In all honesty, I am often surprised by how my own stuff comes out. I don't mean to sound egotistical in saying that though. I usually know what I want to achieve, I may have an idea how to get there or I might totally not, and then most often the end result is even better than what I had hoped for. I feel very blessed by God with this gift. I've put a lot of time and effort into my work over the years, but at the same time it just feels natural. I just do what I feel moved to do at each step. I may have put a lot of time and energy into painting this grail piece for myself, but ultimately I have to give credit to God for providing me the knowledge, experience, and inspiration to be able to realize my heart's desire in how this turned out. I have my ultimate Alien grail now, and I couldn't be more pleased with it. And it happened at a time when I was fully ready to make the most of it, 33 years after the movie, 20 years after my first model kits, and about 2+ years of constant, professional paint work, all culminating just in time for the perfect Big Chap sculpt to finally be made by Yoshihiko Sano. Yes, I believe in miracles.

 

[swsqueakquels]

This piece is the culmination of my entire painting career.

I feel lucky to be standing by watching! Unbelievable piece. Amazing to think that on these boards you can see stuff that not only blows away anything HT can do, but the original full-size props these things are based on too.

 

[SilentSurfer]

Wow, thank you. I definitely take that as a fine compliment.

 

[SilentSurfer]

I was doing some research for Nostromo references for when I get around to painting my Halcyon model kit, and found this. A handfull of long videos with crew talking about making Alien and loads of pics I've never seen.

https://www.zen171398.zen.co.uk/Alien.html

 

[Buttmunch]

That alien is just Words can't describe its awesomeness. Giger couldn't do better himself.

 

[The_Darkness_Predator]

Magnificent!
I bet the offers are flooding in.
I know I would love to have my Yoshihiko Sano Alien painted like this.

 

[MrRabba]

God damn, I can't stop looking at it! Unreal

 

[vik2001]

that alien is the craziest paint job in the entire universe of every mutha fokin planet

 

[agonistes86]

That alien is just Words can't describe its awesomeness.

There are no words to describe how awesome it is, so I won't even try.
I can say that is absolutely my favorite paintjob you've done ever, and you've already done some mindblowing stuff before.

 

[SilentSurfer]

Thank you all very much. I feel very relieved and proud to know that you think so highly of the work I put into it. Thank you.

Magnificent!
I bet the offers are flooding in.
I know I would love to have my Yoshihiko Sano Alien painted like this.

I've only had one person ask me to paint their kit actually. The amount of time I put into this is making it pretty cost prohibitive though. Besides, after pouring everything I had into this one, I'm not sure I'd even consider doing it again. From the beginning I was sure I'd only do it once, but now that it's done, I'm slightly more flexible. Even so...

 

[SilentSurfer]

I finished the base last night, but still have to figure out what and how I'm going to label the front of it and sign the back of it. I thought about paint, but then considered decals. I don't just want to use the little "ALIEN" decal it came with cause the display case is going to have "ALIEN" etched into the front of it.

What do you think would be better, "Xenomorph" which will make it look more like a specimen in a research lab, or "Big Chap" which is the filmcrew name for the creature and will make it look more like a prop museum piece? Do I want to maintain the fictional reality, or real world reality?

 

[stshammgod]

Considering the pose is pretty prop like, maybe go with real world.. If the pose was more threatening, then i would go with fiction.

 

[MarfMaster]

Considering the pose is pretty prop like, maybe go with real world.. If the pose was more threatening, then i would go with fiction.

This was my first thought, but a fictional lab specimen would be laid out similar to how the model is posed as well...tough one!

Yes, this post has been no help at all.

 

[SilentSurfer]

 

[MarfMaster]

I think you should go fictional, because not even the real-world prop looks as good as what you've managed to achieve with your kit. Your work is the stuff of magic/imagination.

 

[SilentSurfer]

Fumi agrees, finctional is better. That way I can also make "Xenomorph" look like a computer readout.