Syd Mead, the “visual futurist” and concept artist known for his design contributions to sci-fi films such as Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Aliens and Blade Runner, passed away on December 30, as announced by Autoline’s John McElroy on Facebook. He was 86.

McElroy wrote, “He was one of the greatest designers and futurists of of our times. Syd Mead passed away this morning. His work and influence will outlive him forever.”

Mead was set to receive the Art Directors Guild’s William Cameron Menzies Award during the Guild’s 24th Annual Awards on February 1, 2020 in Downtown Los Angeles. He survived by his partner Roger Servick and the Mead family. A cause of death was not immediately given, but last year he had traveled to City Of Hope, a cancer treatment center in Duarte, California.

No, not the master. Rest in peace Syd Mead.

His art and design mind influenced us all, not only other artists but the entertainment industry artistic essence; He changed practices and quality bar forever for better.

Thanks for inspiring us all. R.I.P. king futurist. pic.twitter.com/Peqf9y4Jlj — Davison Carvalho (@colorblindmess) December 30, 2019

“Syd Mead has played a pivotal role in shaping cinema with his unique ability to visualize the future. His visions and illustrations of future technological worlds remain as a testament to his vast imagination. Mead is one of the most influential concept artists and industrial designers of our time,” said ADG president Nelson Coates to THR.

While Mead said in an interview he started drawing when he was around 2 years old, and before heading to art school, he served in the army. Mead spent nearly three years in Okinawa during the Korean War, after which he started working for Ford Motor Company, before starting his own design company in Detroit in 1970.

Here’s what you need to know about Syd Mead:

1. Mead’s Career Started In Designing Cars

Syd Mead – Visual FuturistExclusive interview with one of the most influential designers of the last 50 years 2016-03-15T12:46:21.000Z

Born on July 18, 1933, in St. Paul Minnesota, after studying at the ArtCenter College of Design, which is now located in Pasadena, California, Mead started out his career as designer for the Ford Motor Company and after establishing his own firm, banked Philips Electronics as his first client. He earned the term as a “futurist” after helping companies such as Sony, Chrysler, and Playboy design new technology and products.

In an interview with Car Design News in 2016, he shared his ideas on the future of automotive vehicles. “I was trying to think ok a mobility idea that was a one person footprint,” Mead said, which is how he came up with wheel pants, which he illustrated in his rendering of the 200th Kentucky Derby.

“Vehicles for movies, you’re helping the director illustrate the story, which has a social and a technological setting. You have to be aware of that, because you don’t want to jar the story. It has to be consistent” Mead explained on why Blade Runner became so iconic. “It never violates its own technological format. You have to essentially illustrate the story as you do for real life.”

One car he’s happy to have had nothing to do with? The Pontiac Aztec. “It is an astonishingly awful vehicle,” Mead said.

2. Syd Mead Created V’ger for ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’ & the Leonov Spaceship for ‘2010: The Odyssey Continues’

#RIP Syd Mead, the concept artist & illustrator who played a pivotal role in designing the look of films like BLADE RUNNER, ALIENS, TRON, STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, TOMORROWLAND and SHORT CIRCUIT, has died at 86. He was to be honored by the Art Directors Guild next February. pic.twitter.com/JLYcAHsD4Y — cartoonbrew.com (@cartoonbrew) December 30, 2019

Mead’s work has left an indelible mark on numerous films, but one of his most notable creations was designing the “Leonov” spacecraft, along with all of its interiors and attendant craft, in 1984’s “2010: The Odyssey Continues.” He also created V’ger, a sentient version of the Voyager spacecraft, for “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” in 1979.

He’s also responsible for creating the “Spinner” police car in 1982’s Blade Runner, along with the drab city views, and Decker’s apartment. He was the visual futurist for 2017’s Blade Runner 2049, as well, and is credited for designing the future Las Vegas in the film.

In 1994’s Timecop, which starred Jean-Claude Van Damme, Mead designed the headquarters of the Temporal Police and Van Damme’s car.

3. Mead’s Father Was A Baptist Minister

Syd Mead Receives VES Visionary AwardSyd Mead is presented with the VES Visionary Award by Scott Ross at the 14th Annual VES Awards 2016-02-10T00:37:23.000Z

The designer credits his father to reading books like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers to him as a kid for what jumpstarted his interest in the sci-fi world.

He said, “My father was a baptist minister, and for some unknown reason he read [these books] to me before I learned to read. I have no idea why, I still don’t. By the time I was 6 or 7, maybe 10 years old, I could draw really quite well. And by the time I was in high school I could draw the human figure, I could draw animals, and I had a sense of shading to show shape. I was really quite accomplished at that point with brush technique and so-forth.

As for what pushed him toward drawing Mead explained, “I was sort of an insular child. I didn’t associate much with people my age until college. There was once a 60th anniversary of my graduating class from high school; I didn’t remember anybody in the class. Now, I was active in posters for athletic events, I was active in theatrics and all that, but I don’t remember any of my classmates.”

4. Mead Wrote The Book ‘The Movie Art of Syd Mead: Visual Futurist’

Credited for paving the way for how visual artist could think differently create with modern technology, Mead detailed his career as a concept artist in his book, which was published in 2017.

Filled with a plethora of images from his 40 decades of work, The Movie Art of Syd Mead: Visual Futurist contains hundreds of his sketches, never seen before prints, and the behind-the-scenes process of how images turned from ideas on paper to full crafted visuals on the big screen.

5. Tributes To The Iconic Visual Artist Poured In On Twitter

In honor of his upcoming Art Director’s Guild award, today’s #PreciousPhotos shows #SydMead wandering the world of #November2019 he helped create. As #BladeRunner’s visual futurist, his mesmerizing concept art was key in setting the tone and style for the film’s signature look. pic.twitter.com/VMloD55808 — Charles de Lauzirika (@Lauzirika) November 29, 2019

Mead, who was a consultant of the cult-classic Short Circuit, the vehicle designer in 2000’s Mission to Mars, and the visual futurist on 2015’s Tomorrowland, amassed a huge following over his numerous decades in the industry, and was regular on the Comic-Con circuits.

After news of his death spread online, thousands took to Twitter to share their condolences, and remember his massive contributions to the sci-fi film industry. Most users online refer to him as nothing short of “a legend” who’s “influence” will live on forever,” and even remembering some of his work projects that never came to fruition on screen.

One Twitter member wrote, “RIP Syd Mead. One of the greatest visionaries we’ve ever been blessed with. Whole parts of the present are the manifestations of things he was the first to see, untold vastness that he has gifted us remains there for the realization. Entire worlds.”

The Great Syd Mead passed away. Without him, the visual language of science fiction wouldn't have been the same. Here, his vision for the streets of Blade Runner. pic.twitter.com/sDENt67w8z — Tim Soret (@timsoret) December 30, 2019

A legend has left us today. His vision changed our culture, our collective perception of what is possible, and inspired so many of us today. With a heavy and saddened heart, I say, R.I.P Syd Mead. pic.twitter.com/MnDT8ZuFia — Karla Ortiz (@kortizart) December 30, 2019

Just learned Syd Mead passed away. I'm sad, so sad. He was so talentend, and inspired so many artists whose the works I share… I'm (really) sick, I'll pay tribute to him tomorrow. But here are some old publications below. Thank you for everything, Syd <3 pic.twitter.com/SPh87nB5wS — Spaceshipsporn (@spaceshipsporn) December 30, 2019

A toast to Syd Mead, legendary futurist and, as far as I can recall, only westerner to do official design work for Gundam. He was even tapped to design for the 1980s live-action film that never came to be. Rest in peace. You helped shape the look of the future for so many. pic.twitter.com/2eRhrnhKQs — Relena Warcraft (@miss_sazabi) December 30, 2019

raw imagination, sense of color / composition, storytelling ability, vision of future, amazing style, etc. etc. etc. i'd be pretty happy **IF** i could be like 1/4 as good as syd mead by the time i die. ??? pic.twitter.com/7X80CK4jWy — beeple (@beeple) December 30, 2019

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article said Syd Mead created the Leonov spacecraft for “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” He created the Leonov for “2010: The Odyssey Continues,” and created V’ger for “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.”

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