Alien : Moebius' space jockey

leading from
a) Mediascene Issue 35 (later known as Prevue) credits this drawing to Moebius. It has the human astronauts seen in Moebius work.

However Jean-Marc Lofficier, Moebius' former agent acknowledged to the writer of this blog that he himself wasn't so sure about this being Moebius work apart from the presence of the astronauts.

When Charles Lippincott came to scan the image for the internet, he found his copy in the Moebius file but was not certain it was his, the pen strokes were so different.

Black and white image of Moebius' space jockey
(I scanned this from American Cinematographer August 1979)
 
 
Black and white image of Moebius' space jockey
(I scanned this from Mediascene #35, January 1979)

 
b) The head of the space jockey here is basically the same as the space jockey head drawing by Chris Foss. (See Alien : Chris Foss' space jockey)

Neither Foss or Moebius have talked about the preproduction drawings of the space jockey so it is hard to say anything more.

Moebius was only there for a short time while Ridley was working on the project and Chris Foss had been released from the project by Ridley when he stepped in.

Imogene, daughter of Chris Foss identified the image as being not by Chris Foss and so assumed it was by Moebius.

The orange coloured suits of the explorers are present in Moebius' and derelict exterior and closeup of the derelict exterior

Section of colour image of Moebius' Space Jockey 
(I scanned this from L'Écran Fantastique n° 167. Novembre 1997)

Moebius space jockey (I scanned this from Alien The Archive)

 
 
 
c) Sylvain Despretz the former protégé of Moebius recognised it as most likely being a watercolour by Moebius that Ridley Scott showed him some time after Alien

d) See also Alien: Development of Moebius' outsized pilot via Ridley Scott's pedalo Ridleygram for Alien, the Pink Panther comic book cover and the Betty Hill star map? 

https://alienexplorations.blogspot.com/2019/12/alien-development-of-moebius-outsized.html



Quote source
  1. Wmm: Just wondering if there is a way to get a final word on this. Here's a picture of the Space Jockey skull sketched by Chris Foss for the Alien production in comparison to a drawing of the space jockey attributed by Mediascene magazine many years ago to Moebius. It is not a widely published image. The head of the Moebius drawing is similar to the head in the sketch of the space jockey head by Chris, otherwise it fits with Moebius' other concept work for Alien. However fans are interested to know whether it is or isn't by Chris or anything he has to say about the matter.

    Imogene Foss: I'd say the sketch looks like Chris's and the colour looks like Moebius (Chris Foss Artist fanpage)
  2. Charles Lippincott: Thank you. It was in my Moebius file but the work is so different I wasn't sure I had misfiled it. The pen strokes are so different. (Source: Charlie Lippincott at Facebook, uploaded 28th September 2014)
  3. Sylvain Despretz: Yeah, I think that's the one. Ridley kept these originals by Moebius in a binder. (Alien Explorations on Facebook: see thread 27 May at 11:38

Moebius space jockey (I scanned this from Alien The Archive)

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