Raiders of the Lost Ark to Aliens the brilliant design work of Ron Cobb

Ron Cobb designed this great-looking aircraft for Raiders of the Lost Ark. He also created many iconic sci-fi and fantasy creations such as many of the creatures in the Cantina scene in the original Star Wars – the bridge of the Nostromo in Alien and the Delorean’s modifications in Back to the Future – his funky, organic style are one of the key reasons that those movies are so unique.

Cobb worked on concepts for Alien – giving the bridge of the Nostromo it’s distinctive retro-futurist look and his concept drawings from the reconnaissance-mission to the alien-ship show what Alien might’ve looked like if Geiger had not got the nod and he came up with the idea of acid for blood – a pivotal attribute of Alien.

“The ship is a strange mixture of retrofitted old technology, a kind of industrial nightmare, like being trapped in a factory … Ridley’s a wonderful artist and he wanted it to look a lot like a Moebius-designed ship, with all kinds of rounds surfaces and with an Egyptian motif.”

Cobb was also responsible for the awesome drop-ship in Aliens – another truly iconic ship design.

There’s more of Cobb’s work on my blog here and much more on the web – would love to get this book of his work.

– credit to Eavedropping with Johnny and sciencefictionstarsystem and this great article.