There’s a sequel to Bladerunner coming, so that’s a good prompt to post these interviews with legendary designer/futurist Syd Mead. This September also marks the release of a new Syd Mead art book, which you can pre-order here: https://www.amazon.com/Movie-Art-Syd-Mead-Futurist/dp/1785651188/
During my classes online, I’m asked by students over and over again, ‘show me how I can improve my paintings.’ Besides needing to get better at drawing, paint mixing and application, composition, and value control-- handling light is the most overlooked aspect of...
As folks that have met me in person (or seen my meat suit on instagram) know, I have a big upper-arm tattoo of an art nouveau piece. (Shoutout to Iris Compiet, I think this was from an Spectrum or IlluXcon convention before the pandemic) Many people comment on this...
This past month I have been posting on social media a collection of paintings, my Earth and Sea series. These works originally had been created for various projects from commercial book covers to gallery exhibitions to personal works which did not have initially any...
So, that motorcycle looks like a big brother to Kaneda's machine from Akira. What year did Syd put the acrylic to paper on that guy?
I thought the same thing, JV. And although I don't know when that particular piece was made, Syd has been designing bikes like that LONG before Akira. Literally by decades.
I just researched it. That is a recent piece, painted in 2004, commissioned by Honda.
However, Syd designed the motorcycles seen in Tron (which are quite similar) several years before Akira was published. His first book, Sentinel was also released in the 70s and was likely a influence on Otomo.
I look forward to see the movie and the book.