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HOW
TO MAKE AN ALIEN,
Part II
BELIEVE
IT OR NOT!
I study
spots, stripes, furs and scales of earth animals. You've seen
how they can inspire realistic alien art, but even the SHAPES
of earth animals can give you ideas on how to create aliens
or alien ships.
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In the sketches, you can see how a dolphin and manta rays
gave me ideas on the shapes of alien spacecraft.
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You can mix lifeforms as well.
These two flowers inspired very different types of alien creatures.
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Photos
I use photos
of actors and other people to help me draw more realistically.
These people have to pretend to BE the characters, they show
expressions and body movements just like an actor on stage.
But I use photos only as a tool; I still need to know how to
draw freehand or else the art becomes static and lifeless and
photos become a crutch!
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Author or Alien? 
Bruce Coville
poses as an alien character in Too Many Aliens and Snatched
From Earth. His character is a "symbiant," a joining
together of two organisms. I also created the outfit Bruce is
wearing. Illustrators sometimes create clothing, or even sets,
to help achieve what they want from the illustration. And don't
let me fool you, it's work, but it's fun, too!
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I Was
A Sixth Grade Alien was turned into a TV series on Fox Family
Channel. These are some photos of me visiting the set in Toronto.
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 "El-Yunque"
To help
us research the jungles of an alien world in book #8, Snatched
From Earth, Bruce Coville and I visited a real rainforest
in Puerto-Rico.
We learned about the plants and animals, and how a rainforest
is formed. It helped him get the feel of the story, and I did
many sketches, which I later turned into alien plants and animals.
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Arecibo Observatory
An added
bonus was visiting Arecibo - Observatory, (right) the largest
radio telescope in the world, where teams from SETI search for
real extraterrestrial life!
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Objects
Objects from around the house can help you with ideas. Take
a look at the shapes of things around you, or how light reflects
off of metals or glass. This coffee pot helped me create a "Disembodied
Brain Unit."
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  Models
Some sci-fi
illustrators make models of the spaceships they create out of
model airplane parts or simple household cartons. Altering this
toy spaceship was a quick way to get details and dramatic lighting
reference for the illustration.
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 Science
Fact
Sometimes
I get ideas not just from researching science fiction, but from
science FACT as well. The shape of the first manned spaceship,
the Russian"Vostok," helped this drawing of an alien
machine (above left), and a picture of a real space station
inspired my "Interdimensional Camera" (above right.)
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Click
the image to see the answers. |
A
Sci-fi Tribute
Some illustrations
contain a secret tribute to classic sci-fi films and TV shows
that have inspired my imagination over the years. Try to spot
these (above, left) in the illustration (above, right.)
1.The
"pod" from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"
(1953)
2."Gort," the robot from "The Day the Earth Stood
Still" (1952)
3. The
helmet from Star Trek, episode 61 "Spocks Brain" (1968,
Paramount Pictures)
4. Robby
the Robot, from "Forbidden Planet," a sci-fi adaptation
of Shakespeare's"The Tempest" (1956, MGM)
5. The Martian vessel from the HG Wells classic "The War
Of the Worlds" (1958)
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