ALien coVenant: DaViD’s DraWings

The Art Of Gore

released out now! 240 pages | Hardback Artists dane Hallett, Matt Hatto Publisher titan Books

Even those who hurled brickbats at Alien: Covenant should be impressed by this compendium of artwork.

Its two volumes come packaged in a slipcase. Developing The Art Of An Android is essentially a 45-page interview with Dane Hallett and Matt Hatton, the pair charged with creating the ink/charcoal sketches scattered about the home of Michael Fassbender’s David. This provides some interesting insights into the duo’s process.

Then there’s a “sketchbook” featuring hundreds of examples. Starting with flora and fauna rendered à la Rembrandt or Da Vinci, it gradually becomes more attuned with HR Giger, 19th century medical illustrations and Goya’s The Disasters Of War. The imagery grows more morbid and sexualised, progressing via decapitated Engineer heads and conjoined foetuses to an image of Elizabeth Shaw, gagged and splayed open, presented in the manner of a religious icon.

It’s a collection that sits at the nexus of perversity, insanity and beauty. Ridley Scott took some of the art home to frame. Readers with goth tendencies might wish to do likewise. Just be prepared to whip it off the wall sharpish when relatives come calling…

When Dane Hallett ran out of time coming up with notations for the drawings, he used Slayer lyrics translated into Latin.