ID4 alien invader comparisons
to details from H R Giger's paintings

leading from

a) Tatopoulos inspired by Giger?
For Independence Day, Patrick Tatopolous attempted to avoid the H R Giger look, but as it went, every time he attempted something that was bio-organic, he would hear "That's very Giger!" So he had to stand back and acknowledge the extremes of Giger's influence on him and how Giger defined biomechanical, and that whenever one tries to create something in that way, you will fall under the influence. Tatopoulos would acknowledge this as the power of an incredible artist.


Patrick Tatopoulos standing before his
sculpture of the biomechanical suit (source: SFX Octobre 1996, p28)
 
 
 
b) Seeing elements of the ID4 creature suit in Giger's Necronomicon
Across page 51 and 52 of Giger's Necronomicon can be found the paintings Mordor VI and Biomechanical Landscape along with an assortment of other paintings with some very interesting details. One can see n Mordor VI a head of a creature that looks as if it could be the starting point of the ID4 Alien suit and in Biomechanical Landscape 2, a funnel like form at the top that shows some interesting patterns that may have made it into the back part of the alien's head's fins. (See below)


Giger's Mordor VI (work 282)
 
 
Head of creature in detail from HR Giger's painting Mordor VI,
with trailing fins and division in the centre and small slit like eyes at the front
 
 
 
 
Head of ID4 alien suit head almost similar to the Giger image

 

Giger's Biomechanical Landscape 2 (work 319) (1976)

 
Fan like form similar to fan like patterns on the side of the suit's head 
from the top of Giger's Biomechanical Landscape 


Fan formation on suit head for comparison
(source: SFX Octobre 1996, p29)


c) Comparison to detail from HR Giger's "Deathbirth Machine II" (work 342) (1977)

The formation with this monster like face guard, the tall ribbed head dress, the woman's head within
and a skull like face at the back might have given the idea of something hiding within a pod as we see in Indepedence Day but of course there are no beautiful women's faces to be found hiding inside the alien creatures of that film. 
 
But these images are likely to stay with those who are inspired and unravel themselves in a different way, and perhaps that helped to evolve the head pods containing another creature within






 
 

Source quotes

  1. Patrick Tatopoulos: I tried to avoid a H.R. Giger look; I wanted the aliens to look like locusts with a reminiscence of a human. They were designed as living exoskeletons, like an oyster, with the pearl, or small alien, inside.(www.vfxhq.com, June 1998)
  2. Patrick Tatopoulos: Every time I draw something bio-organic, I hear, "That's very Giger." Ah, fuck! Giger has been so influential on me. And Giger defined biomechanical. Whenever you do it, you are screwed because it will look like Giger. That's the power of an incredible artist." (DeathRay, Jun/Jul 2009, p87) 



4 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. I do tend to think of it these days as if Giger's work has a habit of melting into the work of others and it happened Tatopoulos. But I find that the way it might have happened in this example to be interestingly different.

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    2. I just realised that I forgot to put 'to' before 'Tatopoulos'

      Delete
  2. Added "Comparison to detail from HR Giger's "Deathbirth Machine II" (work 342) (1977)" on October 16th 2021

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