3 ms·

Hipgnosis is probably the archetype for this style. I'm also quite partial to Roger Dean's work from the same period. Most people know him for working with Yes

Hipgnosis is probably the archetype for this style. I'm also quite partial to Roger Dean's work from the same period. Most people know him for working with Yes but he also did artwork for a few Budgie albums including "Never Turn Your Back On A Friend" [1] as well as other artists. I also remember thinking that Avatar (2009) had an aesthetic similar to his art for "Fragile" only to discover later that he sued the production [2] [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NeverTurnYourBackonaFriend.jpg https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NeverTurnYourBackonaFri... [2] http://copyright.nova.edu/avatar-lawsuit/ http://copyright.nova.edu/avatar-lawsuit/

emmelaich 3y ago
For a time it seemed that every album I bought was Roger Dean. Yes (esp Tales from Topographic Oceans), Budgie, and Osibisa. Oh and Uriah Heep!
ggm 3y ago
Didn't he also do the inner ring album art for virgin records? I'm sure he's credited on the six finger "V" compilation album.
- PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
  He did, indeed. At least until they replaced the "two virgins and a dragon" with the "more modern" V logo.
bryanrasmussen 3y ago
Roger Dean also has a few books of his work https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/roger-dean/357333/ https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/roger-dean/357333/ I have Views (used to have the other ones) and it also takes a nice look at his architectural work as well as album art https://www.rogerdean.com/architectural-designs https://www.rogerdean.com/architectural-designs
Applejinx 3y ago
I never realised how hardcore Avatar went, in ripping off every possible Roger Deanism. That's amazing. Worth thinking about in a world where I can tell Stable Diffusion to make Deanisms all day long. I've experimented by trying to make Deanisms but adding concepts like mechanical or robot or cyberspace. I've also generated stuff much more randomly, but combed over it with an eye for picking out Hipgnosis-like output. There's bound to be a borderline between making swoopy organic shapes and lines of motion and hallucinatory imagery, and ripping off specific layouts and executions of that general idea. I'm comfortable with the idea that Avatar straddles that line covering both sides of it, but less comfortable with the idea that anything I could ever do that's swoopy, organic, and imaginary-looking is the product of Roger Dean. I should be able to run with that and expand on it, but can Stable Diffusion? What if it hadn't been fed Dean's work, and still is coaxed into doing similar things? Not like Stable Diffusion really understands gravity… I put out a song the other day (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IID8BR4s5Xc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IID8BR4s5Xc) which uses an image from Stable Diffusion, expanded with Topaz AI, as the 'album cover' for the song. From the beginning I saw that image as potentially useful for something (much like how Hipgnosis worked with their images) and thought it perfectly matched that particular song and grabbed it, adding text in Clip Studio Paint to accentuate the image and underscore what it appeared to be. I don't remember whether 'storm thorgerson' was among the words in the prompt, but I know I've run prompts invoking Dean, Storm, Dali, Cezanne, Mondrian… these are murky waters. I feel that I can pretty easily get Hipgnosis-like imagery, or Dean-like imagery, out of Stable Diffusion. The question is whether you can get something distinctive and not a total ripoff, or whether you're stuck making bad ripoffs. For instance if you tell Stable Diffusion to do 'Giger' it immediately takes over the prompt and everything's a bad Giger ripoff. But, what about 'sunny meadow Giger'?
- epiccoleman 3y ago
  Because it's just too relevant, I'm forced to link to a blog post I did a while back where I did some Yes / Dean inspired play with Stable Diffusion. I really liked the results. A full "music video" for Close to the Edge is somewhere down the middle of my long list of project ideas. I ran the numbers at some point and figured I could generate all the video with Replicate for $100 or so, which is expensive... but I'm enough of a Yes fan that it might be worth it to me. https://epiccoleman.com/posts/2023-03-05-deforum-stable-diffusion.html https://epiccoleman.com/posts/2023-03-05-deforum-stable-diff...
dublinben 3y ago
As if the 'plot' of Avatar wasn't already entirely derivative of earlier films like Dances with Wolves and Fern Gully, it turns out they ripped off their visual aesthetic from Roger Dean as well. James Cameron should be ashamed of not giving credit to the earlier works who so heavily inspired his.

emmelaich 3y ago

For a time it seemed that every album I bought was Roger Dean. Yes (esp Tales from Topographic Oceans), Budgie, and Osibisa. Oh and Uriah Heep!

ggm 3y ago

Didn't he also do the inner ring album art for virgin records? I'm sure he's credited on the six finger "V" compilation album.

PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
He did, indeed. At least until they replaced the "two virgins and a dragon" with the "more modern" V logo.

bryanrasmussen 3y ago

Roger Dean also has a few books of his work https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/roger-dean/357333/ https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/roger-dean/357333/ I have Views (used to have the other ones) and it also takes a nice look at his architectural work as well as album art https://www.rogerdean.com/architectural-designs https://www.rogerdean.com/architectural-designs

Applejinx 3y ago

I never realised how hardcore Avatar went, in ripping off every possible Roger Deanism. That's amazing. Worth thinking about in a world where I can tell Stable Diffusion to make Deanisms all day long. I've experimented by trying to make Deanisms but adding concepts like mechanical or robot or cyberspace. I've also generated stuff much more randomly, but combed over it with an eye for picking out Hipgnosis-like output. There's bound to be a borderline between making swoopy organic shapes and lines of motion and hallucinatory imagery, and ripping off specific layouts and executions of that general idea. I'm comfortable with the idea that Avatar straddles that line covering both sides of it, but less comfortable with the idea that anything I could ever do that's swoopy, organic, and imaginary-looking is the product of Roger Dean. I should be able to run with that and expand on it, but can Stable Diffusion? What if it hadn't been fed Dean's work, and still is coaxed into doing similar things? Not like Stable Diffusion really understands gravity… I put out a song the other day (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IID8BR4s5Xc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IID8BR4s5Xc) which uses an image from Stable Diffusion, expanded with Topaz AI, as the 'album cover' for the song. From the beginning I saw that image as potentially useful for something (much like how Hipgnosis worked with their images) and thought it perfectly matched that particular song and grabbed it, adding text in Clip Studio Paint to accentuate the image and underscore what it appeared to be. I don't remember whether 'storm thorgerson' was among the words in the prompt, but I know I've run prompts invoking Dean, Storm, Dali, Cezanne, Mondrian… these are murky waters. I feel that I can pretty easily get Hipgnosis-like imagery, or Dean-like imagery, out of Stable Diffusion. The question is whether you can get something distinctive and not a total ripoff, or whether you're stuck making bad ripoffs. For instance if you tell Stable Diffusion to do 'Giger' it immediately takes over the prompt and everything's a bad Giger ripoff. But, what about 'sunny meadow Giger'?

epiccoleman 3y ago
Because it's just too relevant, I'm forced to link to a blog post I did a while back where I did some Yes / Dean inspired play with Stable Diffusion. I really liked the results. A full "music video" for Close to the Edge is somewhere down the middle of my long list of project ideas. I ran the numbers at some point and figured I could generate all the video with Replicate for $100 or so, which is expensive... but I'm enough of a Yes fan that it might be worth it to me. https://epiccoleman.com/posts/2023-03-05-deforum-stable-diffusion.html https://epiccoleman.com/posts/2023-03-05-deforum-stable-diff...

dublinben 3y ago

As if the 'plot' of Avatar wasn't already entirely derivative of earlier films like Dances with Wolves and Fern Gully, it turns out they ripped off their visual aesthetic from Roger Dean as well. James Cameron should be ashamed of not giving credit to the earlier works who so heavily inspired his.