Flying Taxis

When I first saw the headline of this recent article about flying taxis, the illustration above instantly came to mind, although I doubt the reality will match my expectations. A few days later, I happened to run across another article which says flying water taxis are coming to Paris this summer. (Those water taxis remind me of something out of a Syd Mead illustration – see 'Artist Spotlight' section below, for more.)

Years ago, while wandering through a bookstore in Portland, I stumbled upon a book called The Singularity is Near by futurist Ray Kurzweil. I found his predictions for the future fascinating, and many seem to be coming true today. He's now the director of engineering at Google. Here are 4 crazy predictions Ray Kurzwei l has made about the future of art.

By the way, while you're waiting for the future to get here, check out this app that lets you turn any photo into a masterpiece by your favorite famous artist. (It also works on drawings and paintings. Here's my flying taxi pictured above, via the original neural art algorithm…

Hmmm. Sorta cool, but I think I'll stick to my watercolors.

Not to get too heavy here, but Elon Musk (among others) is convinced artificial intelligence will likely cause the downfall of humanity. This Vanity Fair article about his billion-dollar crusade to stop the 'A.I. apocalypse' is an interesting read.

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“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
― Søren Kierkegaard

1. I've always felt somewhat insulated from the threat of a robot taking over my job as an artist, but now I'm not so sure. Meet JOTO: The robotic whiteboard. Order one on Kickstarter.

2. How to turn paint chips and color samples into works of art.

3. Kulitta is a computer program capapble of creating entirely original pieces of music. Listen to one of Kulitta's compositions for yourself. (I like it!) According to this article, people are confusing computer-generated music with the works of J.S. Bach.

4. This study suggests parenthood is linked to longer life.

5. In the 1960s, Dutch artist Constant Nieuwenhuys imagined an ever-changing city that feels a lot like today.

"I call science fiction 'reality ahead of schedule.'"
― Syd Mead

When I was an industrial design student at the University of Kansas in the 80's, I wanted to learn to draw like futurist Syd Mead.

I remember studying in great detail his interior drawings of a spaceship (see below, and here) from the film 2010.

His talent is legendary, and his work history includes stints as production designer on films including 2010, Star Trek, TRON, Blade Runner, and his work on many other projects. (Here's an interesting video about his work on Blade Runner.)

Mead's preferred medium is Gouache, an opaque watercolor.

Here's a nice short film showing the master at work. Here's another, and one of Syd Mead giving a drawing lesson.

As Richard Taylor, the effects supervisor for the movie TRON has said, Mead's illustration and design "reminds you of something you've never seen before."

For more on Syd Mead, visit the artist's website.

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About Me

Hi. I’m D.E.Uhlig. I’m an artist, author, husband and father.

For as long as I can remember, I have loved to draw. Years ago I gave my wife a hand-drawn card for our anniversary, and she loved it so much she made me promise to ALWAYS hand-draw her cards. Then our three kids made me promise to do the same with their birthday cards. And when I posted some of my drawings online, people began asking how they could purchase my work—so I created this newsletter. I believe in something I like to call “The Happiness of Art” and I hope it makes you smile.

Official Bio

D.E.Uhlig is an award-winning illustrator whose work has appeared in numerous publications including the Kansas City Star, Christian Science Monitor, University Daily Kansan, Editorial Humor Magazine, and World Policy Journal. Commercial illustration and design clients over the years have included Samsung, Sprint, and the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, among others—and his Starbucks RedCup illustrations have been featured on the company's Pinterest and Facebook pages. In 1989, Mr. Uhlig co-founded Uhlig LLC, a leading provider of cross-media publishing and communication services in industries ranging from residential housing to book publishing to cancer care. Mr. Uhlig is married with three children and resides in Kansas City. He is currently working on children’s books, ebooks and apps.

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