Tolkien art
Feb. 24th, 2005 07:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altarielAt the request of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
merrymaia and aervir, a list of some of my favourite Tolkien art.
I’ve tried to pick artists whose work I admire in general – I’ve usually included a link to other examples of their art, so you can take a look at those. Be warned: the links for the pictures go directly to big image files.
There’s a lot of other artwork that I like which is in various books; e.g. I like the black and white drawings by Victor Ambrus in The Tolkien Bestiary, but that’s more of a liking for his illustrative style in general than a particular picture.
Ted Nasmith
Lúthien
In fact, I can often take or leave Ted Nasmith’s paintings, which are sometimes a bit too overwhelming for me in their use of colour, but I think that this painting of Lúthien is beautiful. There are a couple of other versions of this moment, when Beren sees her dancing, done by other artists, but I think that this is the best. It’s such an important image in both Tolkien’s life and his writing.
***
Anke Eiszmann
And so they stood on the walls
I had a collection of Anke Eiszmann’s paintings that I looked through while I was writing Death by Water, What the Thunder Said and The Fire Sermon. Her paintings are the images I have most in my mind of Faramir and Éowyn, and strongly influenced the writing. The one I’ve chosen is a newer one, which I didn’t have at the time I was writing the stories, but it is my favourite of hers: I love her control of the colour in it, and the composition is wonderful: everything around Éowyn is trying to carry her in one direction, and she is struggling against it. Also – look at his eyes *guh!* If you haven’t seen Anke Eiszmann’s illustrations for Beowulf, btw, do go and have a look at her site.
***
Cor Blok
Riddles in the Dark
It was so hard to pick one of Cor Blok’s; I think the style is inspired. I chose this one because it’s completely different from any other picture of Bilbo and Gollum. If you click on the first link you can also see my other favourites: the telescoped and teeming landscape of The Vision of Frodo on Amon Hen and the Rangers of Ithilien as, once again, you’ve never seen them before in The Mumak of Harad.
Alvaro Barros
The Siege of Gondor
This is so full of violence and drama and motion and terror. Like night really is falling. The artist also has a terrific drawing in a similar style of the Witch-king.
***
Kasiopea
Boromir, Faramir and Finduilas
All of Kasiopea’s pictures of the Brothers Mir (as boys or as grown men) are so full of character, but I love this one best. Boromir looks so fed-up, it must be raining outside. Faramir has his nose stuck in a book and probably hasn’t noticed. And Finduilas is very beautiful and very sad.
***
Mariet Theune
Houses of Healing
I think these drawings are done in felt-tip pen. And yet there’s just something so fresh about them. I love this drawing, I had it as a Live Journal icon.
***
S. Juchimow
The Pyre of Denethor
Several of this artist’s paintings are based on very well-known sources (e.g. the Ride of the Rohirrim done in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry). I wonder if this is a well-known piece of stained glass?
***
Alan Lee
The Ruins of Osgiliath
Impossible, really, not to have an Alan Lee picture. This one is my favourite: I love his Númenorean/Gondorian design, and the border on this one is particularly lovely.
***
Joan Wyatt
Sam Says Farewell
Joan Wyatt’s book of paintings is the first Tolkien artwork that I saw (when I was eight or nine), so I have always kept a soft spot for them. Looking at them again, having seen a lot more Tolkien art, I realize like some better than others, and some I don’t like much at all, but this one is still beautiful.
Some honourable mentions
I don’t know who drew this picture of Tom Bombadil, but isn’t it perfect?
This is a stunning image of the Gates of the Argonath from the film, and it was the most incredible moment seeing it on screen; like some kind of homecoming.
I like this painting of Vairë by Jereeza, because she’s not the Valar everyone thinks of first, and yet if I was going to get stuck with any of their jobs, I think I’d go for Vairë’s.
I also have a stunning picture of a dark and beautiful Melkor on my hard drive with no record of the artist: he is almost entirely in shadow, with the Silmarils burning bright, held in the crook of his arm. If anyone recognizes this and can tell me who the artist is, I’d probably make that my tenth picture.
And while we’re on the subject, here is a plug for the brand new website Tolkien Fan Art, launched just a few days ago.
merrymaia and aervir, a list of some of my favourite Tolkien art. I’ve tried to pick artists whose work I admire in general – I’ve usually included a link to other examples of their art, so you can take a look at those. Be warned: the links for the pictures go directly to big image files.
There’s a lot of other artwork that I like which is in various books; e.g. I like the black and white drawings by Victor Ambrus in The Tolkien Bestiary, but that’s more of a liking for his illustrative style in general than a particular picture.
Ted Nasmith
Lúthien
In fact, I can often take or leave Ted Nasmith’s paintings, which are sometimes a bit too overwhelming for me in their use of colour, but I think that this painting of Lúthien is beautiful. There are a couple of other versions of this moment, when Beren sees her dancing, done by other artists, but I think that this is the best. It’s such an important image in both Tolkien’s life and his writing.
***
Anke Eiszmann
And so they stood on the walls
I had a collection of Anke Eiszmann’s paintings that I looked through while I was writing Death by Water, What the Thunder Said and The Fire Sermon. Her paintings are the images I have most in my mind of Faramir and Éowyn, and strongly influenced the writing. The one I’ve chosen is a newer one, which I didn’t have at the time I was writing the stories, but it is my favourite of hers: I love her control of the colour in it, and the composition is wonderful: everything around Éowyn is trying to carry her in one direction, and she is struggling against it. Also – look at his eyes *guh!* If you haven’t seen Anke Eiszmann’s illustrations for Beowulf, btw, do go and have a look at her site.
***
Cor Blok
Riddles in the Dark
It was so hard to pick one of Cor Blok’s; I think the style is inspired. I chose this one because it’s completely different from any other picture of Bilbo and Gollum. If you click on the first link you can also see my other favourites: the telescoped and teeming landscape of The Vision of Frodo on Amon Hen and the Rangers of Ithilien as, once again, you’ve never seen them before in The Mumak of Harad.
Alvaro Barros
The Siege of Gondor
This is so full of violence and drama and motion and terror. Like night really is falling. The artist also has a terrific drawing in a similar style of the Witch-king.
***
Kasiopea
Boromir, Faramir and Finduilas
All of Kasiopea’s pictures of the Brothers Mir (as boys or as grown men) are so full of character, but I love this one best. Boromir looks so fed-up, it must be raining outside. Faramir has his nose stuck in a book and probably hasn’t noticed. And Finduilas is very beautiful and very sad.
***
Mariet Theune
Houses of Healing
I think these drawings are done in felt-tip pen. And yet there’s just something so fresh about them. I love this drawing, I had it as a Live Journal icon.
***
S. Juchimow
The Pyre of Denethor
Several of this artist’s paintings are based on very well-known sources (e.g. the Ride of the Rohirrim done in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry). I wonder if this is a well-known piece of stained glass?
***
Alan Lee
The Ruins of Osgiliath
Impossible, really, not to have an Alan Lee picture. This one is my favourite: I love his Númenorean/Gondorian design, and the border on this one is particularly lovely.
***
Joan Wyatt
Sam Says Farewell
Joan Wyatt’s book of paintings is the first Tolkien artwork that I saw (when I was eight or nine), so I have always kept a soft spot for them. Looking at them again, having seen a lot more Tolkien art, I realize like some better than others, and some I don’t like much at all, but this one is still beautiful.
Some honourable mentions
I don’t know who drew this picture of Tom Bombadil, but isn’t it perfect?
This is a stunning image of the Gates of the Argonath from the film, and it was the most incredible moment seeing it on screen; like some kind of homecoming.
I like this painting of Vairë by Jereeza, because she’s not the Valar everyone thinks of first, and yet if I was going to get stuck with any of their jobs, I think I’d go for Vairë’s.
I also have a stunning picture of a dark and beautiful Melkor on my hard drive with no record of the artist: he is almost entirely in shadow, with the Silmarils burning bright, held in the crook of his arm. If anyone recognizes this and can tell me who the artist is, I’d probably make that my tenth picture.
And while we’re on the subject, here is a plug for the brand new website Tolkien Fan Art, launched just a few days ago.
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no subject
Date: 2005-02-24 12:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-24 12:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-24 02:19 pm (UTC)Even at the risk of sounding as immature as I often feel : Pretty pictures!!! Squeeeeeee!!!!!!
Your post has given me the opportunity of revisiting some of my own favourite Tolkien illustrations which are slumbering among the 128 MB of the image folder on my hard drive (the ones by Anke Eissmann, Kasiopea, and Alan Lee) as well as discovering a few artists I had never come across before.
The Siege of Gondor, the Pyre of Denethor and your honourable mention of Vairë are really impressive and charming. I'm particularly fond of the last one, as I had never seen a decent picture of that Valie before, and since I belong to the Vairë sub-forum on a Tolkien website I frequently visit, I've become somewhat of a fan of her -- she does have a great job after all. :)
So thanks again for that post.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-25 01:45 am (UTC)I belong to the Vairë sub-forum on a Tolkien website I frequently visit
How interesting! Can you say more...?
no subject
Date: 2005-03-05 04:22 pm (UTC)The website I was talking about is http://www.councilofelrond.com (), an originally movie-based fansite (which might explain why their forums tend to be overrun by teenage Orli fangirls with a disturbing fondness of netspeak) that has, however, some great features (e.g. its encyclopaedia (http://www.councilofelrond.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Encyclopedia&file=index) and its book club (http://www.councilofelrond.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=XForum&file=forumdisplay&fid=36)).
As the forums have quite a lot of members, they feature fourteen additional sub-forums named after the Valar, which offer an opportunity of getting a bit more in touch with other users. After taking some half-serious psycho test, I was put in Vaire where I then happened to meet some of my closest online friends. It has gone rather quiet there lately, but we did manage to come up with a newsletter (http://www.councilofelrond.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Newsletter&file=index&action=ViewNewsletter&vid=24) for our website last year. Perhaps the article called "The Ineluctable Wave" by
But enough with the pimpage already! :)
no subject
Date: 2005-03-07 10:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-24 02:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-25 01:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-22 12:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-25 12:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-24 06:17 pm (UTC)I'd add Michael Hague, who's touch and go -- does terrible Elves, but when he's good, he's good (http://img-fan.theonering.net/rolozo/images/hague/eagles.jpg).
no subject
Date: 2005-02-25 01:43 am (UTC)I think I have an edition of The Hobbit with those illustrations in...
no subject
Date: 2005-02-24 07:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-25 01:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-24 08:44 pm (UTC)Oh, yes! Thanks for that; I've downloaded it. I saw it as a still on the One Ring site before the first film came out and was just stunned. I possess the statuettes too; it's one of my favourite images. Another (of so many) is the Gates of Mordor. I think I know what you mean--it was as if Peter Jackson took the images from my head and made them concrete, which I suppose is a testament to his genius, and to Tolkien's for enabling us all to see the same thing.
I have The Tolkien Bestiary too, bought years ago in a clearance sale.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-25 01:46 am (UTC)That's exactly it! :-D I was blown away by that whole sequence - as the camera comes round and shows the birds nesting in the statues, and then swings past to show the lake beyond. Just astonishing.
I love leafing through The Tolkien Bestiary; there are some good colour paintings in there.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-25 03:10 am (UTC)Whoa, it's the first time I come across this artist! And what a beautiful picture!
Her Snape pics are gorgeous too!
no subject
Date: 2005-03-01 09:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-25 08:03 am (UTC)Tolkien Fan Art fills a huge void in the fandom; until now, I don't think a specifically Tolkien-focused art site existed. Here's hoping it does well!
no subject
Date: 2005-03-01 09:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-01 05:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-05 03:51 am (UTC)The Cor Blok one you linked to (Riddles in the Dark) is haunting me. It's such an unusual take on the scene.
But all of them are worth looking at again and again.
It was lovely to have these to look at during lunchtimes this week at work, since being at work was so very pants this week.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-05 05:01 am (UTC)*hugs* for crappy week.