For all the talk of Giger being a unique genius (and he is) I don't think Ron Cobb gets enough credit for the unique look of the Aliens films. I think it was a brilliant idea to have basically two designers, one to do the alien stuff (Giger) and one to do the earth technology (Cobb). This really created the proper contrast between the two cultures.
Surprisingly, very few films have used this good idea, and instead have one or two artists just work on everything, with no division. One of the exceptions was the Lord Of The Rings series where they had Alan Lee design most of the "good" stuff and John Howe design most of the "bad" stuff. But that was something that really evolved more during preproduction and wasn't part of the original strategy the way it was on Alien.
Then again, the strategy in the design for Alien of having Giger only do Alien and Cobb do human stuff may have grown out of the fact that Giger's stuff just WAS alien. There was really no way Giger could design familiar Earth technology, even if he wanted to. It's just not in his DNA.

Ron also did the design work on Conan and did some of the creatures from the Star Wars cantina (Hammerhead comes to mind)

I'm sure it's all old news to you guys, but here's the wikipedia page about Ron Cobb:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Cobb

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^^ Hence the name of the Hammerhead / Ithorian Jedi in Clone Wars

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Ron also designed the Gunstar from "The Last Starfighter."

I've tried contacting him through his web site, but that's another no-go.

Russ

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As I recall he also designed several of the dresses in Starwars. Actually his name is on most of the design sheets of the monsters including the chessboard aliens. Cobb is a big man if one is into it but for the average movie fans he might not be that recognized. Most fans only connect to the cast for obvious reasons (other is behind the camera or production desk so most don't even know what they look like).

//Jonsey

I find that even among those in the industry he's not quite as big a name as he should be. I think it's because he's not as prolific as some of the other designers, and he tends to shy away a bit from making-ofs and other kinds of publicity. He's a pretty humble guy. Anyone who's ever worked with him holds him on a pedestal though, that's for sure.
And for a guy without much formal education, he's really a genius. All of the little insignias and design details he does just make visual and ergonomic sense. Someone I know sat and listened to Ron talk at length about what a nuclear explosion would actually look like in space. Ron is definitely a guy who sweats the details.

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Yes hes definitly one of my inspirations for my own art.

Check this he did: http://www.theredset.com/wp-content/upl ... 09b671.jpg

Wouldnt that make a great USCM scout car?

Did you know he came up with the DeLorian/Time machine design from Back to the future movies: http://bp3.blogger.com/_i8e3mL4Z79E/R07 ... 8b261c.jpg

Heres his Star Wars 'Hammerhead creature design: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uVWMQ5nZvd8/S ... +alien.JPG

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The guy's a genius... I am a huge admirer of his work. I wish there was a more recent book detailing his work throughout his career... I have his book Colorvision, but it only goes up to his time on Conan.