Giger S Alien

The classic status of Alien, the movie, is in large part due to Academy-Award winning artist and designer H.R. Giger. This book provides a complete illustrated record of the months of painstaking work that went into designing the most frightening movie monster of them all.

HR Giger worked in the Shepperton Studios near London from February to November 1978, creating the figures and sets for the film Alien (1979) directed by Ridley Scott. The film became an international success, earning Giger an Oscar. In the transcribed Alien Diaries, published here for the first time as a facsimile, HR Giger describes his work in the studios. He writes, sketches, and takes photographs with his Polaroid SX70. With brutal honesty, sarcasm and occasional despair, Giger describes what it is like working for the film industry and how he struggles against all odds be it the stinginess of producers or the sluggishness of his staff to see his designs become reality. The Alien Diaries (in German transcription with an English translation) show a little-known personal side of the artist HR Giger and offer an unusual, detailed glimpse into the making of a movie classic through the eyes of a Swiss artist. The book contains almost completely unpublished material, including drawings, Polaroids showing the monster coming to life, and several still shots from the plentiful film material that Giger took in Shepperton.

Giger's multi-faceted career: From surrealistic dream landscapes, to album cover designs, and sculpture For the last three decades H.R. Giger has reigned as one of the leading exponents of fantastic art. After he studied interior and industrial design for eight years at the School of Commercial Art in Zurich, Switzerland (1962-1970), he was soon gaining attention as an independent artist, with endeavors ranging from surrealistic dream landscapes created with a spray gun and stencils, to album cover designs for famous pop stars, and sculpture. In addition, Giger's multi-faceted career includes designing two bars, located in Tokyo and Chur, as well as work on various film projects--his creation of the set design and title figure for Ridley Scott's film Alien won him not only international fame but also an award for Best Achievement for Visual Effects (1980). "The more famous I get, the more I am tolerated, albeit with some head-shaking." --H.R. Giger About the Series: Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Art Series features: a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance a concise biography approximately 100 colour illustrations with explanatory captions

This volume brings together around 200 of Giger's paintings, sketches and photographs, as well as autobiographical passages and the artist's personal reflections on his work.

Text and photographs trace the design and construction of the alien creature, and other special effects, from the motion picture.

Swiss fantasist H.R.Giger conducts readers through his diverse alien landscapes, inhabited by the spectral offspring of his vivid dreams and darkest nightmares.