For Roger Dean, music and illustration belong together.
Roger is best known for his 70 different album cover illustrations, but he has also designed stage sets, posters, books, furniture, and has participated in theatrical construction.
(Which all resemble his style and are all equally just as cool as the next)
He studied industrial design at the Canterbury School of Art from 1961-1964, then moved to the Royal College of Art. His fascination was in furniture, specifically chairs, and never had the intention of moving past that. Eventually, though, landscape and design became his main focus.
He is (in my opinion) a perfect blend of science fiction and romanticism.
PROCESS
He deals mostly with shellac inks and watercolor backgrounds.
If you were to go into his home, you’d find it to be cluttered with the things he enjoys: books on the crusades, medieval history, science, science fiction, and natural history. His kitchen window sill is littered with cacti, his fireplace with coral.
“We (He and his brother, Martyn) always had a tendency to do far more research than was strictly necessary”
There was an incident where they sketched an image (in my book) of rocks floating against a cloudscape. He already had a file of pics taken from airplane windows on various trips. But to match their pathway sketch, roger and his brother made several flights, searching for that one perfect scene.
“I really enjoyed doing the islands in the sky. Everyone knows what it would feel like to float, to fly at will. Everyone had the hint of that, a memory of a dream. “
Space hymns Album Cover. (One of my favorites)
Nitro function album cover.
ARCHITECTURE
He began by studying caves, boats and tree houses–and what makes them attractive to be in. all in different ways promote comfort and security. He interview children, and studied their bedroom designs.
They shared similar ideas of what made them comfortable: clear view of the door from bed level, and being eye level with an adult when tucked in. Most felt uneasy with hidden spaces.
His “house” was to be round, and womb like. It could be arranged in clusters, and could grow to form houses, hotels, businesses, etc. It would be cost efficient, and made from gunnite (sprayed concrete) and fiberglass molds.
“A bonus of gunnite is that is has incredible insulation properties. In addition, the curved walls keep warm air ciculating because there are not top corners for it to become trapped in. As a result, the bedroom, say, can be kept at 68 degrees F with just two hundred watts, the equivalent of the body heat of two people. ”
Eventually his designs became popular (strictly for aesthetics) and 30 million copies were sold.
Later, it was made into a prototype hotel suite.
His world, though outstandingly beautiful has yet to be made into a theme-park, though it has been suggested, nor an entirely new living complex.
Overall, just an incredibly inspiring and gifted man.
Dean, Roger, and Martyn Dean. Magnetic Storm. New York, NY: Harmony, 1984. Print.