Syd Mead is one of those visionaries that has created many distinct visions of the future over the course of his career. While there are a number of artists that try and illustrate what the future may look like, only Mead has been able to string together superb draftsmanship, plausibility, artistry, and an engineering prowess to create such comprehensive and enthralling conceptions of the worlds of tomorrow. Mead’s iconic visions have transformed movies like Blade Runner and Tron into cult classics, and has inspired several generations of artists and engineers to be ambitious when it comes to dreaming.


He has been called extraordinary in his visual interpretations of a future that is just out of reach for most of us. His illustrations have been the inspiration for quite a few of us, trying to realize Mead’s vision of the future into reality. Many of the images you see in the gallery below are provocative, yet stunningly beautiful at the same time.

When you have the time, take a look at Syd Mead’s body of work. There is a rather in-depth interview over at Futureclaw, which is a really great place to start your own immersion into the mind of Mead. Scrubbles has a great collection of Illustrations from Mead’s book, Sentinel, that was first published in 1979. Fastcodesign has link to a wonderful short video in which Mead discusses his work on Blade Runner (with more than a few of his paintings used as props in the background). And of course, you can always go to Syd Mead’s own website here.

The question is this: Were you ever inspired by the work of Syd Mead, or were you ever aware of this iconic visual futurist? I’m sure you all have a story to tell…..
Image Sources: Miscellaneous-Pics Blogspot, Miscellaneous-Pics Blogspot, Miscellaneous-Pics Blogspot, Miscellaneous-Pics Blogspot, Miscellaneous-Pics Blogspot, sydmead.com, sydmead.com, Scribbles.net.