One year ago Syd Mead passed away. He left behind a legacy that shall continue to be remembered. A visual futurist and industrial designer, he contributed much to film, anime, and other media. He was the primary mechanical designer for Turn A Gundam. Director Yoshiyuki Tomino had immense respect for Mead’s craft and sought his services in order to bridge gaps between cultures and mediums.
So naturally that brings us to “Mead Gundam”: a 321-page book featuring design drawings, concept sketches, and notes & annotations by the late Syd Mead pertaining to his work on Turn A Gundam. The book also contains an introduction (TL), a forward by Yoshiyuki Tomino (TL), and closing comments by Syd Mead himself (TL).
Where to obtain?
The book was originally published in 2000 and later received a reprint in 2013, so it is admittedly difficult to order online at a reasonable price. Your best bets for buying the book are Amazon listings (U.S., JP), eBay listings, or other such stores or auctions.
Download link to scans?
Lucky for you, I recently scanned my copy of the book. It is one of the few Turn A artbooks that hasn’t been scanned over the years, so I figured I’d do it myself. This was a long and arduous process of unbinding my book, scanning each individual page, and then cleaning and editing for presentation. I have newfound respect for people who generously provide anime artbook scans.
MEGA
Below is a link to a Twitter thread in which I briefly examined the book and provided commentary based on my knowledge and research. Please have a look if you’re interested in learning more.
