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The Staff of SOH
Syd Mead in Phoenix! woo hoooo!
- Thread starter Lionheart
- Start date
Just saw it last night. Amazing....
'THE' Syd Mead....
This was to be a one hour lecture, and extended to almost 1 1/2 hours. The audience was captivated and magnetized.
For those that are into Syd Mead, he gave a few pointers and insights towards how he comes about creating his paintings.
* Stories.. He loves little story things going on in his art. He will have groups of people doing things, and incredibly, some of the things they are doing is outrageously funny.
* He has his own set of versions of Perspective drawing, where he has 6 (not 3) perspective points. He created his own systems which help to show 'more' of objects then required. For instance, some of his clients are huge architectural firms. Syds systems for perspective allow him to bend things so that you can see 'most' aspects of say an interior layout in a building rather thing just a couple of the aspects.
* He works in small sketches. Freaked me out that some of my favorite work of his is only 7" square. How can that be? The people in them are so precise! But it is that it is.. He could build watches if he can paint that small and detailed.
* One of his favorite writers is Gibson. I'll have to check that out.
* In his work, instead of going for 'realism', he goes for pure fantasy. I guess that is truly how he can detach his amazing works from this reality with such distance and originality. For instance, he was talking about some of his own work and critiquing it, and it was hilarious, but it was of things I would have never thought of. For instance, he designed this wild tall, liquid flowing looking house cabin thing in the future that is tall like a tree. He kept joking about how it couldnt be done, etc, etc, but that it was 'fantasy'.
Amazingly, 'his' version of fantasy looks quite real.
* A thing he really likes is 'flora' (plants, trees, etc). He explained that plants are amazing in their structures. They are based on geometrics and fractals, (its a whole other story based on creation/sciences of how things reproduce similar yet different, like snow flakes, etc). The Flora bring things to life and work well in his reflections of his world famous shiny metals and chrome.
He had one photo of a small small moon (round asteroid) that was being mined. The mining equipment was INGENIOUS! It was slowly carving up this sphere for valuable ore. Mind you, this was an asteroid, not a beautiful planet, so no worries there. (Imagine the iron and various rare metals we could find on those things). The fourth photo down is that picture. Note 2 versions of mining going on. One is a hub structure with 4 rotating pit digging machines. They literally 'machine' the craters into the moons surface and all ore is channeled into the central structure. The second set of mining equipment 'things' was a rover that cuts a crater, and made a perfect ring or trek or path around the moon. Almost made the moon look like some sort of machined part or something like George Lucas' Death Star.
He talked about Blade Runner and the original Spinner. The original was very short and rounded, extremely wide. He showed a 3D animation of the shape that they had created for it. Way radical....
He talked about his days at Ford, (precisely 26 months until he miraculously was lifted out, as he explained). He talked of his many clients, from Japan to New York, to all over the world. And man was that guy funny, lololol.. He had us laughing continuously.
Then after that, he signed autographs...
I thank the Lord I lived to see that day and hear that guy's lecture. Awesome...
EDIT: Oh.. He uses a 17" MacBookPro UniBody. :d
Bill
'THE' Syd Mead....
This was to be a one hour lecture, and extended to almost 1 1/2 hours. The audience was captivated and magnetized.
For those that are into Syd Mead, he gave a few pointers and insights towards how he comes about creating his paintings.
* Stories.. He loves little story things going on in his art. He will have groups of people doing things, and incredibly, some of the things they are doing is outrageously funny.
* He has his own set of versions of Perspective drawing, where he has 6 (not 3) perspective points. He created his own systems which help to show 'more' of objects then required. For instance, some of his clients are huge architectural firms. Syds systems for perspective allow him to bend things so that you can see 'most' aspects of say an interior layout in a building rather thing just a couple of the aspects.
* He works in small sketches. Freaked me out that some of my favorite work of his is only 7" square. How can that be? The people in them are so precise! But it is that it is.. He could build watches if he can paint that small and detailed.
* One of his favorite writers is Gibson. I'll have to check that out.
* In his work, instead of going for 'realism', he goes for pure fantasy. I guess that is truly how he can detach his amazing works from this reality with such distance and originality. For instance, he was talking about some of his own work and critiquing it, and it was hilarious, but it was of things I would have never thought of. For instance, he designed this wild tall, liquid flowing looking house cabin thing in the future that is tall like a tree. He kept joking about how it couldnt be done, etc, etc, but that it was 'fantasy'.
Amazingly, 'his' version of fantasy looks quite real.
* A thing he really likes is 'flora' (plants, trees, etc). He explained that plants are amazing in their structures. They are based on geometrics and fractals, (its a whole other story based on creation/sciences of how things reproduce similar yet different, like snow flakes, etc). The Flora bring things to life and work well in his reflections of his world famous shiny metals and chrome.
He had one photo of a small small moon (round asteroid) that was being mined. The mining equipment was INGENIOUS! It was slowly carving up this sphere for valuable ore. Mind you, this was an asteroid, not a beautiful planet, so no worries there. (Imagine the iron and various rare metals we could find on those things). The fourth photo down is that picture. Note 2 versions of mining going on. One is a hub structure with 4 rotating pit digging machines. They literally 'machine' the craters into the moons surface and all ore is channeled into the central structure. The second set of mining equipment 'things' was a rover that cuts a crater, and made a perfect ring or trek or path around the moon. Almost made the moon look like some sort of machined part or something like George Lucas' Death Star.
He talked about Blade Runner and the original Spinner. The original was very short and rounded, extremely wide. He showed a 3D animation of the shape that they had created for it. Way radical....
He talked about his days at Ford, (precisely 26 months until he miraculously was lifted out, as he explained). He talked of his many clients, from Japan to New York, to all over the world. And man was that guy funny, lololol.. He had us laughing continuously.
Then after that, he signed autographs...
I thank the Lord I lived to see that day and hear that guy's lecture. Awesome...
EDIT: Oh.. He uses a 17" MacBookPro UniBody. :d
Bill
That guy is a true visionaryWow...
I am still browsing his website, his work is so amazing, I wonder where he gets all these ideas!
Just looking and reading on his site, dazzles me, much more when you see him face to face, I will be fascinated! Impressive... really impressive!
Awesome!! Just awesome.... simply awesome!
I am still browsing his website, his work is so amazing, I wonder where he gets all these ideas!
Just looking and reading on his site, dazzles me, much more when you see him face to face, I will be fascinated! Impressive... really impressive!
Awesome!! Just awesome.... simply awesome!
my hero of all time!
and he's a great guy too. A few years ago, i emailed him cuz i couldn't find some of his books anymore to buy. He told me to just come over to his house in Pasadena and he'll give me some! So my wife and i hopped over and he was the coolest guy ever. Got a bunch of signed books and a great story to tell.
-feng
and he's a great guy too. A few years ago, i emailed him cuz i couldn't find some of his books anymore to buy. He told me to just come over to his house in Pasadena and he'll give me some! So my wife and i hopped over and he was the coolest guy ever. Got a bunch of signed books and a great story to tell.
-feng
this is SO TRUE. Starting w/ Star Wars and on...every Sci-Fi movie has a bit of Syd influence...there's no question. He defined the way sci-fi looks:
- the messy future with Chinese fonts
- the alien corridors that every sci-fi movie uses
- big, blue glowing engines
- industrial looking stuff in space
- hover ships
- and on and on and on....
-feng
Thats pretty cool Feng about the books. They are super extremely rare now. The Oblagon set (I think) now goes for $1,000.00 used, but in fair condition. Just cannot find them. (This is the one that has CD's).
The head of design at ASU in an email told me he was taking his old Sentinel book with him for Syd to autograph, so I took mine. I ended up not standing in the long line, but so many people were coming up to me going 'Wow, where did you get that!!!?' I could have sold 100 copies that night.
Presently, he mostly only sells DVD's now, which they had there, a total of 5 different sets.
Some of us were talking when I was in the line waiting before I left, was that why not republish them? We were thinking they could sell tons. Even make them as school books, like required for courses.
Yep. I knew that for years now. None of my business. His mate was there as well as some of his close friends, a mix of mature looking retired (possibly) people, looking like former executives and artists with their wives.
I see Syd as being a modern day Leonardo DaVinci. His concepts and theories and works 'so' remind me of looking through the huge DaVinci sketch books. You get so captivated that suddenly you realise you have been in this book for an hour or two and its like 2 min's have passed by.
I never knew he had such a sense of humour, lol... That was really cool.
Bill
The head of design at ASU in an email told me he was taking his old Sentinel book with him for Syd to autograph, so I took mine. I ended up not standing in the long line, but so many people were coming up to me going 'Wow, where did you get that!!!?' I could have sold 100 copies that night.
Presently, he mostly only sells DVD's now, which they had there, a total of 5 different sets.
Some of us were talking when I was in the line waiting before I left, was that why not republish them? We were thinking they could sell tons. Even make them as school books, like required for courses.
Yep. I knew that for years now. None of my business. His mate was there as well as some of his close friends, a mix of mature looking retired (possibly) people, looking like former executives and artists with their wives.
I see Syd as being a modern day Leonardo DaVinci. His concepts and theories and works 'so' remind me of looking through the huge DaVinci sketch books. You get so captivated that suddenly you realise you have been in this book for an hour or two and its like 2 min's have passed by.
I never knew he had such a sense of humour, lol... That was really cool.
Bill
Some other cool things were how he would 'start' on a project, how he would consider a reality of the onset of a fantasy vehicle or scenery.
For instance, he called the Spinner from Blade Runner a 'helicopter like thing', hence the wheels being outriggers so the pilot could see the ground below, like on a Hughes helo. I hadnt considered that it is indeed a mix between a Hughes 400 and a Lamborghini.
Another was a giant motorcycle with twin wheels at front and rear. Its 'carbon footprint' was the mass of 4 full size Hummers. It was an experiment in a giant motorcycle, fully enclosed, and nearly the size of a Semi trailer of about 44 feet, but not as long, almost as wide. I guess that thing would hold about 4 or 6 people, lol...
You know he has done huge super yachts and ocean liners, right? His ship lines are incredible...
Bill
For instance, he called the Spinner from Blade Runner a 'helicopter like thing', hence the wheels being outriggers so the pilot could see the ground below, like on a Hughes helo. I hadnt considered that it is indeed a mix between a Hughes 400 and a Lamborghini.
Another was a giant motorcycle with twin wheels at front and rear. Its 'carbon footprint' was the mass of 4 full size Hummers. It was an experiment in a giant motorcycle, fully enclosed, and nearly the size of a Semi trailer of about 44 feet, but not as long, almost as wide. I guess that thing would hold about 4 or 6 people, lol...
You know he has done huge super yachts and ocean liners, right? His ship lines are incredible...
Bill