Plus of course, the long-term YES fans (Roger Dean did many of the band’s covers and designed their stage sets) have their say here and they are rather more unhappy about their favourite artist being ripped off.

There is also a mention on Roger Dean’s own site here.

The Artists UK Roger Dean section is here.

Well given the controversy over the new film AVATAR and the alleged wholesale ripping off of Roger Dean’s ideas I guess it is only appropriate to make Roger Dean’s ‘Floating Islands’ our Picture of the Month for December.  Here it is:

This image of it is from the Roger Dean Floating Islands poster published by Pomegranate

The thing to remember is that Roger Dean was painting fantasy landscapes before most of those watching the film AVATAR were even born!  If you are under 35 years old then while you were gurgling and attempting to spray the entire room with your latest meal he was out there making amazing art like this.  Roger Dean is thought of as one of the greatest fantasy artists but he thinks of himself much more as a landscape artist and designer.  As is often the case, the works that Roger Dean is so famous for are not necessarily what he considers to be the main areas of his interest or expertise.  Whatever, his influence is tremendous and his surreal floating islands along with his waterfalls under water have captured the imagination of many people including it would now seem a film director called Cameron.

Cinderella by Alexandra Dawe in initial stages

It isn’t often you get a chance to see how a piece of artwork looked before it was finished unless you are the artist or live with the artist.  This was how Alexandra Dawe’s pencil sketch of Cinderella looked on 17th November 2008.  It took some weeks to complete due to other projects and looking after her young daughter.

In her usual self-deprecatory manner, which is rather refreshing for such a talented artist, Alexandra Dawe said the following about the creation of Cinderella: -

“Cinderella took a few weeks, but I could only do half an hour or so a day as I’d not long had Megan. The pencils were 5B, 2B and 2H I think, regular lead pencils, from WH Smith I believe! I’ve had them forever. Some are very short now. I press down too hard to use mechanical pencils. I had to draw round a dinner plate to do the clock, which made me feel like I was doing a primary school project, I felt like such an amateur! No idea how “proper” grown-up artists do things like that! Doing the clockwork was fun, I might try and do clockwork on something again. I got about an inch into the floral border and then wished I hadn’t done it, that took the longest time! I loved doing the folds on her clothes, I get really into things like hair and drapery when I work in pencil. Faery tales are my favourite things to draw, I want to do many more faery tale paintings and drawings in the future. And British folk-lore, I love all the dark stories we have.

Here is what it looks like now:

Cinderella original sketch by Alexandra Dawe

I’m think you’ll agree it is a rather stunning and well-drawn piece of work.  The artist’s name has been watermarked into the image and does not, of course, appear on the original artwork.