Back to the world of Alien: Isolation today. The character with the sketchpad in the strip isn’t Mike Tanaka, it’s me; we do share a similar interest in drawing, though. You can find a few more samples of Mike’s work on his Twitter feed.

This is based on that unfortunate conflict I have when playing Isolation: To stay as hidden as I can get whenever the Alien is around, or to try and get as good a look at it as I can possibly can – without getting a very good, close-up look at both sets of its teeth…

Anyone who’s played Alien: Isolation likely knows all the noises the Alien makes in this strip only too well: The thump of its feet on the decks, that strange mix of hiss and spit when it gets a glimpse of you, and then the blood-curdling scream when it sees you clearly and lunges forward for the kill.

There are a bunch of others, of course, and I was tempted to work them in, but reckoned they’d make the comic too busy.

Lessons Learned for Next Time

• Like my last Slamdance strip, this one’s been lurking in my sketchbook for a while, begging to be inked. Cursed procrastination…
• I wanted to deform the two screams (the Alien’s and mine) but the cage deform in GIMP stubbornly refused to work.
• The Alien’s pose is also tricky. Looking at it now, it needed a lot more forward lean in the torso.
• And I’m really not fond of my kneeling pose in frame #3…

Awesome Stuff I Can’t Wait to Try Again

• Once again, I couldn’t resist shading under the table – and after that I knew I coudn’t leave the Alien white.
• Another Alien: Isolation comic inked for next time… and another one in rough sketch stage right now…