Carlos Huante's Prometheus portfolio

Thanks for sharing. I wish the Engineers looked more like the illustrations. Instead we got tall bald guys.

There was some Interesting Concepts he had done, thanks for the Share ;)

@DK

A lot of the Engineer related were still Humanoid, i would say though that maybe the Engineers we got were a little too close to Humans.

Nice to see some Unused Work had Influenced the Neomorph in Alien Covenant, so there is always the Possibility that some of the other Unused Concepts could Influence other things we may see in the Future.

I like the Proportions of some of these Engineers, but then some look SILLY...

"I like the Proportions of some of these Engineers, but then some look SILLY..."

That's Huante's style. If you've seen some of his other work, that's how he draws people/things. And I like it.

Anyways, I tried to replicate some of Huante's Engineer designs (out of curiosity to see if I could), and this is the final result of my experimentation.

*fart noise*

I think the over all look of the elongated heads is a good nod to the neomorph and xenomorph. Dark Nebula, that is nice work!

I mean by SILLY as in some of the Concepts, its better to show you ;)

I like the Proportions that are used that are similar to the Bottom Row, but i was not a Fan of those Pseudo Arms/Wings like look ;)  from the Top Row

I am actually a Fan of this look for the Engineers.

I would say the Body Proportions of the Bottom Row Images i uploaded, with the Head/Neck of above with the Marbled/Glossy Skin of our Prometheus Engineer then i think that would have been more Fitting.

Also 10ft Tall ;)

PS.... Nice Work ;)

I think it would have been Interesting to see some of those Designs used such as Elongated Heads and Lack of Outer Ear (Pinna), who knows if this could be used to Introduce a New Race.

Be it a Ancient One that Predates the Engineers, another Creation of the Engineers or one by David ;)

What i also liked about his Concept work for the First Prequel was that when combined with Alien Engineers, it helps to Indicate the Engineers had this Creation Tool that would Cross-Hybrid Organism Traits/DNA....

That then they Discovered something they had NOT Created and they became Infected with this Organism, and liked the Results and so began to Re-Engineer it.

Which lead to the Many Horrors they Created which included the Xenomorph....  this is the Origins they should have expanded on...

I had tried to indicate as such with a Story i had in mind a Few Years ago...  about a Mining Crew who had been on a World, but needed a Stronger Tool to Cut through a New Kind of Rock... so a incoming Ship arrives with this Tool and they begin to Dig Through and Uncover a Cave System with a Deadly Organism... latter they Discover a Buried Engineer Ship that had attempted to take these Organisms away..

It was to be Ambiguous to if THIS discovered Organism was the Progenitor to what they then Experimented on LV-223 with ;)

I even Pondered this Plot could work as the Origins, and maybe i could have this World as a World that was ONCE in a Prime Condition for the Engineers Final Terra-forming before they could then Commence a Seeding.. (Sacrificial Ritual)....  ONLY this World was not Void of Life, or even only had Microscopic....    as a Engineer explored a Cave System... they Discover a Native Organism and become Infected.

The idea would be to use some of Huantes Concepts for the Organism.

The Spore would be Hanging from the Ceiling of the Cave, and would be like a Egg/Cocoon (bit like Gremlins) but they would have a Vulva like Top, which would Open and Lashing out would be Tentacles that draw a Host towards it, or it towards the Host then a Octopoid like Face Hugger would attach.

It would have been a kind of Re-Imagining of Spaights Alien Engineers Holloway Infection.

I think Fans are Disappointed with the Engineers, i would say that MOST of the Fans would NOT have expected Bald Humans, as we Ended Up with.... (Despite this is Exactly what HR Gigers ALIEN Concepts showed).

Those hoping for a Elephantine Race Revelation better be Disappointed ;)

But we could CHANGE things some what.....

Here is some Detail of the Space Jockey, with the Finished Prop from where it was on Display, which shows (as do other shots) we are looking at a Mechanical Breathing Apparatus and not a Organic Trunk...

some have Speculate the Engineers may have Stolen or Reverse Engineered their Technology... this is something that could have been Explored...

If we Remove the Mask/Snorkel and try and imagine the rest of the Head as a Skull, then to me its not FAR off the New Born, if we Modify it a bit.

Which i have done with the Top Right Image of the New Born in making the Nasal/Top Eye Ridge Gap Smaller.

I would say the Space Jockey Skull would then look like a Hybrid of the New Born, with some of the Elongated Engineers Heads from Carlos Huantes Concept Work

So IF we had a Space Jockey Reveal where the SKULL was some Alien Species that wore a Nasal Mask like Below... then that could be a Alternative to Explore and then the Engineers had Reverse Engineered from this Species.

Some interesting thoughts there, BigDave.

The idea (Giger/Scott) was that you wouldn’t know where the creature ended and the machine began. I find this more intriguing than the concept of a snorkel being attached. In the original Giger lithograph, the creature has something akin to a glass helmet, and the appendage extends way up into the skull. To me this is way more ‘alien’ than fixing a breathing tube on. It’s saying this weird alien creature is in full symbiosis with the device it’s attached to. Pure biomechanoid.

@hox

Certainly the response i was making was in regards to how some Fans are NOT happy about the Engineers being the Space Jockey via Space Suits, and also i was trying to show that the Space Jockey does-not really look like a Skeleton of Some Organism, apart from really the SKULL minus the attached Apparatus... and Connections to the Chair via Skull/Helmet.

HR Gigers Concept did indeed show what looked like a Bubble around the Helmet, the Snorkel Apparatus indeed seems to be a Part of the Head/Helmet.

Personally i only interpret this as being a SPACE SUIT but a Bio-Mechanical Space Suit that Merges with the Wearer.

They could reveal the Occupant of this Space Suit to be a bit Less Human looking and maybe 10-12 Feet Tall, but i think it should be get to a SPACE SUIT...

If not then the other OPTION i would have liked to have seen would be the Space Jockey is a ALIEN very Bio-Mechanical Species... much like how the Xenomorph is for instance (1979 one at least).

I think we could still retain the Space Suit just have the Occupant a bit Different.

I have taken the Engineer on the Left and Enlarged him, and Adjusted some Proportions to give some idea of how we could introduce a Race above the Engineers.

Thank you very much.

Back to topic. When Prometheus first came out, fans complained about the Engineers being different than the 1979 SJ, mostly in height, and some design differences. They didn't like the humanoid in a suit idea. Despite the filmmakers claiming that the SJ and the engineers are the same species, fans still argued. And this might result in future changes so it could please the fans.

I mean, xenomorphs went through design changes over the years and people still recognized them as xenomorphs.

The guy who played the big chap was 6'10", and filmmakers say big chap was over 8 feet tall, and fans are fine with that. Actors who played engineers in Prometheus were around 7 feet tall, and filmmakers say engineers are way taller, yet fans don't buy that.

My biggest issue was that I envisioned the SJ as fossilized and was underwhelmed to see a tall bald guy. Sorry, but I cannot simplify it more than that.

@Dark Nebula, when I look at the comparison photos you posted, it's completely and utterly obvious that the SJ in Alien is not a man in a suit. For one thing, the Engineer's 'trunk' slips under his suit. The 'ribs' of the SJ are fused underneath the trunk, and there is no gap between them.

If the producers *really* wanted to convince us that they are one and the same, why did they make such an obvious mistake? Because it really wouldn't have been that hard to make them the same.

Ah that little Chestnut ;)

I think its as Spaights had said if we explored the Space Jockey as a Skeleton its what would the Alive version look like it could look quite Comical!

HR Giger had made Concepts that indicated Bald Humanoids.

I think if we look at the Space Jockey Prop as seen in the Movie, then its only the Head and Rib-cage that actually look like a Skeleton, the Arms and Hands would look Comical for a Skeleton, unless the Hands are Large Clown like...

Its a Good Point about the Snorkel and how it Enters under the Ribs in Prometheus and yet in Alien it attaches to a Structure that is attached to the Outside of the Rib-cage.

But then you have to ASK so what would this Structure look like if we are talking a Skeleton, what does it look like when its ALIVE?  what a ODD looking Organism to have a Trunk that connects to itself like that... what Function would that have?

I think Alien Apocalypse gives a decent account of what the Space Jockey would look like if this was the case.

Is such a Creature that AWE Inspiring?

To me it looks like a SUIT... not a Skeleton, or it could be a Exo-Skeleton... so we could have it explained as some ALIEN Species that has a Exo-Skeleton like the Xenomorph.

If this Exo-Skeleton Organism is Bio-Mechanical or its a Bio-Mechanical Suit, then over Time it could Deteriorate and appear like its Fossilized/Mummified.

The Design of the Rib-cage and how the Snorkel attaches i think is odd from a Organism stand point... the Arms clearly dont look Skeletal and so only really the SKULL that looks like it was Once a Organism.

So again it could be a Alien Looking Organism in a Space Suit like the Pressure Suited Engineers, that have a Mask/Snorkel that attaches to their Face/Nose.

I feel having it as a Entire Skeleton of a Organism would make the Living Organism appear a bit ODD.. and Comical.

Here are some more Examples of Humanoid Snout/Trunk like drawings.

Ok our Space Jockey could have NO hair.... but then regardless we have to ask HOW and WHY does the Trunk appear to be Connected to a Bone-like Protrusion from the Chest and how this would look if we Considered it a Organism?

For me the Franchise only has ONE such Elephant Man

LOL

"If the producers *really* wanted to convince us that they are one and the same, why did they make such an obvious mistake?"

Maybe because it's not a mistake, but a retcon? Alien came out in 1979, Prometheus in 2012, a lot of things can change in 33 years. 

As I mentioned in many other topics, SJ could just be one of LV-223 Engineers, but the much larger one, created for specific tasks. When I first saw the SJ, it reminded me of the pilot suits some pilots wear.

This whole argument reminds me of a birthday kid finding out that Barney at his birthday was not real, but just a guy in a suit.

HA HA!

But indeed thats a Good Point, yes there are some Aesthetic Differences, but these could be put down to ONE being a much Older version than the others, as Time Progresses then Cars, Planes, Ships all change a little Aesthetically, and Space Suits would too.

Ridley Scott had explained as such...

The Size Difference is still off... but then if we accept the Engineers are the Typical Engineer Size... and yet they are Genetically Similar to us, only differ with Genomes, then not every Human stands about 5ft8-5ft10

So if we stretch the Engineers a bit to be say 7.5ft Average then just as we can get 7.5ft Tall Humans on Rare Occasions...

Then such Humans compared to the Average would be like 9.5ft Tall Engineers compared to their Average.

Then how come a 10ft Suited Engineer looks a bit bigger in ALIEN....  Well as Dallas says "looks like he grew out the chair"

If I recall correctly, Dallas is just a space trucker, not an archeologist. Also in Prometheus when Engineer jumped into the flight chair, the whole suit covered him up, making it look like its part of the chair.

I mentioned this many times, and I will say it for the last time: SQUARE CUBE LAW.

Now wtf is square-cube law and what it has to do with engineers and space jockey you might ask?

What square-cube law states, is as you get bigger, your volume increases 2x. If you take a 6ft human and make him 15 foot tall, a human would collapse under his own weight because his bones could not support all the extra weight. A lot of large and heavy animals are wider and have thicker legs and other specific adaptations to battle against gravity.

The same thing could be said with the SJ. 7-8 ft engineers look human. A 15-foot engineer will have some specific adaptations such as thicker legs, wider chest, much stronger heart, limbs that don't support weight might get smaller (arms, head), etc, thus making him less human. Same thing with the giants from Game of thrones.

@BigDave, I would not even care to speculate what the SJ's trunk is for. It is utterly alien, and that's the way it should remain, with a form and purpose that is entirely unknown to us. I could easily dream up plenty of functions that are more interesting than a scuba tank.

The SJ and its chair in Alien are clearly fused together as a single complete biomechanoid entity. That's a much more interesting history than a creature climbing into a cockpit.

As for what it may have looked like when alive complete with skin, who can tell? It could possibly have formed without any skin whatsoever, with a typical Giger pearlescent lustre. If it were down to me, the ship, pilot chair and the SJ were grown in some mysterious paradise, fused into a biomechanoid symbiosis. I'd have had the SJ covered in a translucent slippery gel (like the stuff that drips from the Alien's jaws). Much more interesting and mysterious than a - yawn - Engineer!

I certainly do agree that the Revelation of the Space Jockey being a Engineer would be something of a Disappointment to many.  I think our Imaginations can always give us better Answers than the TRUTH.  Because with such a Enigmatic Scene, the risk is what ever you do to Answer it,  you do take the RISK that it wont please Everyone..... 

Some Things were maybe better off Left to the Imagination.

In the Beginning.....

Then indeed we had what was a Skeleton, and Not Human at all..

This Race just being a Curious Species that had encountered the Pyramid where the ALIEN spores were stored.   The Pilot had gone through a Few Early Changes.

So we went from a ALIEN Species, were all that remained was its SKELETON to then Ridley Scott then liking HR Gigers Necronom V and giving us something Alien and Bio-Mechanical.

At this point our SPACE JOCKEY had gone from being a Skeleton of a Alien Species, to somewhat a Bio-Mechanical Alien Species that had a Skeletal look.

It was NOT a Space Suit at this point.

HR Giger was then brought in to do more Concept Works, included to Re-Design the Pilot Based off his Necronom V work, and also to do a Mural and also some Face Hugger Concepts.

Looking at the Similarities in these, and Closer look at his Space Jockey Final Concept, then what we see is what appears to be intended as a SPACE SUIT... where the Occupants are Bald Humans.

For quite a while we have had Ridley Scott discus the Space Jockey as such...

In the MOVIE however.... the way the Lighting is and Angles then we do see the Space Jockey looking like a Skeleton, that is what i saw it as before the DVD Release, and Main Stream Internet where i then came across HR Gigers Concepts and Photos from the Set and could Pause the Movie and then i realized that it did-not look like a Skeleton to me.

We have had in the Past various Comic Book adaptions of the Space Jockey, which had them as a Organism with a Trunk, and thus they Interpreted the Space Jockey as a Skeleton.

We had James Cameron who Interpreted it as some Being that is Infused Permanently with the Chair... where we cant make out what is Organic and what is Mechanical

And so Speculation could be regarding if the Space Jockey are Derelict are ONE, and so he has NO LEGS.

so IN CLOSING...

While they intended to go with the Space Suit and Bald Humans, they intended them to be 15ft, then 12ft and Finally 10ft by the time they Started Production.

But ALAS... our Engineers are not that Large.

Some can point out the Atheistic Differences too between the Engineers and their Ships and the Space Jockey and the Derelict.

So it does leave it open to INTRODUCE the Space Jockey as a 10ft+ Race above the Engineers...

Its then a Question of..

1) Taller Humanoid looking beings in Space Suits?

2) Not so Human looking Alien Beings in Space Suits?

3) The Skeleton of some Organism with a Trunk?

4) The Skeleton of some Organism where the Trunk is a Mask/Snorkel attached to the Nasal Area?

5) A Truly Bio-Mechanical ALIEN being?

Regarding SQUARE CUBE LAW.

I think it would apply to something Very Large, something Really Large would have to have Larger Powerful Legs, especially something MASSIVE... a way around this is Multiple Legs to Bare the Load.

I would say up to a Certain Height it would not make much of a Difference, A Giraffe ranges from 16-20 Feet in Height, they have Slender Long Legs while a Elephant usually ranges from 9-11 Feet in Height and have more Shorter but Bulky Legs.

This is to show how Slender Legs could Support a Larger Organism, but indeed in the case of these Animals if they had only TWO Legs then Neither would be able to Stand.

Robert Wadlow's was the Worlds Tallest known Man, who stood nearly 9ft and his Proportions are Slender and Longer Legged than that of Ian Whyte at 7ft 1"

Many of the Tallest Men of 7.5ft+ have a Slender Figure and Legs, compared to Shortest usually having Shorter more Thick Legs.

I am not trying to disprove the Square Cube Law, what i am Suggesting is that to a Certain Gain of Height as long as the Muscles are also increased then there should be NO real Problem, to a Certain Height at least.

Once you get past a Certain Height it would be likely that TWO things would happen, Evolution Wise... you would require say Four Legs, or the Legs would have to have Stronger Wider Bones and Large Muscles.

So as you mentioned with the Game of Thrones Giant (Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun)  who to me looks about 12ft then i agree its likely those Proportions would be what a 10-13ft Space Jockey Race would also need.

I agree, BigDave. Ambiguity prevails, and I'm glad of that.

However, I'm not sure that any of the Giger samples show "bald humans in a suit". The striations on the skin could easily be part of an alien lifeform's natural form. Giger was obsessed by biology. See, for example, this snap of a human embryo. Right up Giger's street!

A curveball is that an Engineer's suit appear to meld into the Engineer's skin.

Sorry for the Low Quality.... i have modified a Gorilla Skeleton to make Legs Wider and Longer, and then Crudely Added a Human Skull Face and Resized it.

I think this would be what a 10ft Humanoid Skeleton would likely look like.

@hox

What i was looking at was the Similarities between the Face Hugger Concepts, and Mural Concepts (Helmets on) and how they also have a Similarity to the Space Jockey Concept.

Regardless what we may like or want, they had intended to follow through with Humanoids, this is something that HR Giger had depicted as well as Space Suit.   And it was ideal to keep this at Play when trying to think HOW do we get Humans from Earth who would END-UP on LV-426 before ALIEN or another World Related to the Space Jockey Race?

Coincidence?  Detect the Derelict Signal?

So the Chariots of the Gods like Plot becomes a Convienence, otherwise its how do they come across a ALIEN Species and one then that they have NO means of any Contact with... 

Not a Problem for a Monster Movie... but if your then going to Delve more into the Space Jockey in Sequels, its then do you find a way that they can Communicate with Each Other and we get SUBTITLES and do they have the ability to Communicate with Humans and HOW?

So the Engineers as our Creators in their Likeness Plot made such things more simply for IF and WHEN they do sequels.

As i said many times i think if our Prometheus Engineers were Taller it would NOT be as much of a Problem, the Revelation of the Planet 4 Engineers did make our Engineers now appear FAR LESS as ALIEN as we could have Concluded the Space Jockey to be..

NOT TO WORRY ;)

The Prometheus Themes can SAVE IT... you see it was about the Hubris of Sub-Creation, the Rebellion of Creation against Creator and what Forbidden/Stolen Technology in the Wrong Hands can do.

So that means we could Introduce another ALIEN SPECIES, be it NOT so Human in a Space Suit, or a Bio-Mechanical Species that had Created the Engineers to Serve, even making them Space Suits that match the Image of themselves...

Which is where some of Carlos Huante's Concepts could come in as a Inspiration ;)

IF they came to me for Ideas on a Sequel... i would Introduce a Race that is either in a Space Suit, or a Space Suit that has NO Helmet but some Snorkel...

But the Species itself is NOT very Human at all.

This is just a Poor Example by me... (lack Skills and Software lol).  But its a attempt to do a Humanoid that has Shorter but Wider Leg Proportions, and Longer Arms.

Then also to show that the Species does-not have to be too similar to Human, you could even go more ALIEN looking than this ;)

I think maybe we need to get past this being a Skeleton, but that does-not mean it cant be another Space Suit with some slight Aesthetic Differences to match closer to the Space Jockey, and Proportions with a more ALIEN Occupant, or just have it as a Bio-Mechanical Species, much like how the Xenomorph is.

If we go for a Space Suit then i feel some of Huante's Concepts (not Limited to Engineers) could be a Inspiration for the Species who CREATED such Technology that they Passed on to the Engineers or they Stole it.

Think back to 1979 when Alien came out. Viewers at the time most likely saw the SJ as fossilized and didn't think there was a bald guy inside. Like hox said- it is of alien origin and not knowing lets the imagination go wild. 

Me too DK ;)

I saw it as a Skeleton, and at the Time well prior to i think 1997-1998 i thought it looked Skeletal.... 

Then i remember i came across a Magazine that had some Set Photos and the HR Giger Concept and i recall that Ridley Scott referred to it as a Space Suit.

I was like i never thought of it like that, only when i then compared the Shots of the Space Jockey (One from the Movie) and One on Set (production staff around it) and compared to the HR Giger Concept in the Same Magazine i could then see that actually only a small part looked like a Skeleton now.

When i got the DVD i think around 2001, and also looked on the Internet and came across some HR Gigers Concepts that to me i then got the Impression that Yeah this was intended as a Suit.

If i was not for DVD and Internet were we can Pause and Examine the Scenes Better, and see Concepts and Stills, then i maybe would still be drawn to it being a Skeleton ;)

so a Revelation in the Prequels of Humanoids was not Shocking for me.... the Scale was Disappointing though.

I do think maybe there needs to be some more ALIEN roots to the Engineers Technology and i dont mean Xenomorphs... but i think it would be IDEAL to introduce another Layer of Creation above the Engineers that is more ALIEN than our Humanoid Engineers.

I would not be a Fan of a Tapir looking Alien though.... so i would be more a Fan of a Bio-Mechanical Life-Form with a Exo-Skeleton, or a Space Suit that does-not have very Human Occupants.

Having seen some Discussions on this THREAD

I said that maybe we have to Accept what the Engineers are and the Xenomorph are in the Prequels, but we could still Change the Space Jockey.

Looking at some of Nevile Pages Concepts for Fifield, i think there is Potential to Incorporate such into a New Species.

I have taken this Concept and Crudely moved the Ear, and also Rounded off the Head to Match the Space Jockey Skull more.

Then imagine this Species, that is in a Space Suit from the Neck Down, a more Organic looking suit than the Engineers maybe?   Then a Bio-Mechanical Hose is attached to that Suit, and it attaches to the Space Jockeys Face and FUSES with it, it in Part goes Under his Top Jaw/Teeth and over his Nasal Area.

I have used the Image of the Sideshow Space Jockey Marquette as i feel its Detailed enough to show what i am on about, and looking at the Snorkel it does appear as some Nasal Masks do.

Either this or as i said before have it as a Space Suit and Helmet but the Occupants Less Human... or have it as a Completely Bio-Mechanical being just as the Xenomorph is or like the Aliens from Species.

Ideally introducing something like this, and then Indicate that they Created the Eggs is WHAT they should have done, and had David as merely Re-Creating his OWN Variant which the Engineers had also attempted to do on LV-223.

As this could allow us to Expand to something else above and beyond the Engineers that becomes more of a Lovecraftian Horror..

But ALAS... i think we will have to End Up, accepting the Engineers are the Space Jockey and David had created those Eggs...

As disappointing as that may be....  for some.. i think its Wishful Thinking for CHANGE... unless Disney Cave In and go for a Prequel REBOOT.

Here are some Concepts by Carlos Huante... even this could be made a bit more Humanoid/Space Jockey Skull like and maybe that would do?