I read LOTR in 1983.

For the longest time, I had real difficulty in imagining Tolkien's characters. The landscapes of Middle-earth I could see in my minds' eye clear as day.

But the Elves and Hobbits ... for some odd reason I just drew a blank. How could you do the beautiful and majestic Elves justice and how could you portray Hobbits without making them look like cute garden gnomes? Which could not possibly have been Tolkien's intention.

I liked Tolkien's own beautiful - very Art Deco - illustrations.

But satisfactory portrayals of Elves and hobbits continued to elude me.

Ralph Bakshi certainly didn't help.

Then there were the Hildebrandt brothers ...

Then, in 1992, I discovered Alan Lee. HarperCollins published that year the gorgeous hardback edition of LOTR illustrated by Lee. Oh, how I wanted it! But it was too expensive.

Finally, in 2001, I purchased my own copy ... *looks shifty* ... half price, from the HarperCollins staff bookshop. Sneaky, precious. And oh, we loves it.

Now, Lee doesn't always get hobbits right. But sometimes he does. His Elves and Humans are uniformly excellent ... and his misty, rain-washed, oh-so-European landscapes are EXACTLY how I imagine Middle-earth.

Then I discovered Anke Eissmann. Whose exquisite watercolour paintings I adore. Here is an artist who truly portrays the spirit of Tolkien.

Who are your favourites?

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"Frodo undertook his quest out of love - to save the world he knew from disaster at his own expense, if he could ... "
Letter no. 246, The Collected Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
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I posted this once somewhere, forget where. Nobody else seemed to like it but I do so to everybody:

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I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists

I like it.

But that's not Treebeard.

Still, absent of any requirement that I assign this to a particular scene in a certain story, I like this painting.

(That's how I imagined Treebeard for a long while. ))

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I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists

I first read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in 1973, I believe, probably after Tolkien passed. Each year at Christmas during the mid-70s I received the calendars by the Brothers Hildebrandt. I liked them and still do...very much. I guess I'm a product of the '70s.

Now I won't say I like all of their character depictions, but I do like many of them. In our bedroom my wife and I have 20" x 30" canvas print of "The Wedding of the King":




In our living room above the fireplace mantle we have the same size and type of print of "Goldberry":



These images do not do them justice. They are so much more vivid in person.


Alan Lee, in my opinion, is a genius. Twice I've had the honor of attending presentations he gave at booksignings and meeting him afterwards. Of course my [former] avataris Alan's sketch of Tom Bombadil. I'd very much like to have a print of his painting, "The House of Tom Bombadil". I would display it in the entryway of my home. This is a slightly cropped version of it:

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I like John Howe, Alan Lee, Anke, and Jenny Dolfin, but my favorite is probably Ted Nasmith.

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In gratitude forever … .

Di, I love Alan Lee. His paintings sometimes don't match my mental images but the colours and textures are so perfect. Ditto for Anke Eisseman. Her work is really beautiful -- it just doesn't always match my images.

Old Tom, the Hildebrantes have never particularly caught my fancy (again, don't match mental image), but I have always liked that painting of Goldberry. It's so friendly and welcoming. It has the right atmosphere.

Jenny Dolfen's work is really nice, what little I've seen, especially her Elves.

One of my favourites is Catherine Karina Chmiel. Her drawing of Éowyn and Faramir remains one of my all time favourite pieces of fan art and defintiely favourite of the two of them.

I also really like Peter Xavier Price's paintings. They come closest to my mental images, I think. His colours are really beautiful. They just feel very fitting. Two of my particular favourites are Éowyn, for the way he painted her eyes and her hair, and Eärendil because the waves are so beautiful.

And of course, Tolkien's own work. I love his paintings -- the colours he uses and the style. A friend gave me a calendar of his illustrations for the Hobbit and they're all so unique and richly detailed.

Good topic! Being exposed to new Tolkien artists is always nice.

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And it is said by the Eldar that in the water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur more than in any substance else that is in this Earth; and many of the Children of Ilúvatar hearken still unsated to the voices of the sea, and yet know not what for what they listen.

I try to have a different approach to art whether it is Tolkien-inspired or not. When I view a piece of art I try to put myself in the shoes of the artist, that is, to see it from their point of view. I’ve found that knowing about the artist’s concept and the history behind a particular piece greatly improves my appreciation of it. Of course it's difficult to impossible to completely discard bias and personal taste.


Nasmith's landscapes and structures are excellent but I do not feel he does characters, especially faces, very well. His hobbits are particularly ugly.

A dominant feature of Nasmith's work is his faithfulness to Tolkien's words. This is an excellent quality if you value authenticity, but I think there are times he's so literal to the text that it impairs his creativity. Another weakness of Nasmith's work is that some of the character's poses and posture seem stilted and unnatural.

My favorite Nasmith work is probably Court of the Fountain. It has the beautiful snow-capped Mindolluin behind the magnificent Tower of Ecthelion. The figures are comparatively tiny so Nasmith's weakness in drawing characters is not a factor.

Tolkien himself had the same strengths and weaknesses as an artist, I think. Wonderful landscapes but the characters were not very good.


I have Tolkien's Hobbit calendar in my cubicle at work. I'm enjoying it very much. The pieces are much more finished then his LOTR sketches that were on the calendar I had last year.

If you like Tolkien's art, I strongly suggest purchasing J.R.R. Tolkien - Artist and Illustrator. One thing that struck me as I read through the text was the realization I had of just how thoroughly creative a person Professor Tolkien was. He must’ve had a very active mind.


Anke Eißmann is still very young—she was born in 1977—so I think she’ll continue to improve as she matures. I think already we’ve seen large improvements from some of her earlier works, like the one featuring Tom Bombadil, Goldberry, and the hobbits at the supper table (In the House of Tom Bombadil) to some of her more recent works.

My primary criticisms are that most of her character’s faces look the same: there is really very little differentiation between them. The jawlines seem overly angular to me, too. I very much like her painting of Tom Bombadil wading through the rushes, an excerpt which [formerly] appear[ed] in my signature block, very much. Since Bombadil has a beard there isn’t the problem with the angular jawline.

I find Jenny Dolfen, who's only a few years older than Anke, to be a bit more accomplished than her countrywoman. Both woman are obviously very skilled in the difficult medium of watercolor. (Alan Lee is the master!)

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I'm a huge fan of both Howe and Lee. Possibly my favourite depiction of Orcs is Howes image of the Orcs from the 1987 calendar. Here it is

Also, Howes depiction of the Ford of Bruinen is magnificent:
At the Ford

I also adore his depiction of Smaug:
Death of Smaug

All of these were pre-PJ but I love the work he did on the films also. His work on Robin Hobbs cover art was also wonderful.

Lee has a different style and skill. His pencil sketch of Gollum was the definitive Gollum for me for many years, and indeed still is:
Gollum seeks the Precious

As others have said, I dislike Nasmiths people, but his landscapes are wonderful. When I gave away the Wedgewood plates, I kept only one for myself, the one with this image:
Minas Tirith at Dawn

Other artists, such as the Hildebrants and Roger Garland were far too cutesy for my taste.

So there you have it. PJ picked my favourite two artists to work on his movie. Is it any wonder I love them?

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The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End

Looking at Howe's depiction of the Ford demonstrates the big difference between him (and artists like him) with Ted Nasmith. Howe's portrayal of this scene is full of action and drama. Nasmith's depiction of this scene is relatively sterile and drama-less. However, Nasmith does a beautiful job of portraying a scene where there's less action like Gollum leading Frodo and Sam through the Dead Marshes.


It is interesting to note that Nasmith was invited to work on the Jackson films with Lee and Howe but turned the job down because he did not wish to be away from home for such an extended period. Being a bit of a homebody myself I can't say I entirely blame Nasmith, but that was an opportunity of a lifetime. That should have been evident even before the huge success of the films.


Lee's style definitely is different from Howe's. It is interesting to note that when the film work was divided between them Lee designed most of the stuff for the West while Howe designed most of the stuff for Mordor and Isengard.

A notable exception is Bag End, which Howe so wonderfully designed. Howe's concept for Gandalf's hat was another, which was taken from this painting of Gandalf hiking through the rain that Jackson liked very much. (I use this painting for the wallpaper on my PC at work.)

I liked Howe's response to the Balrogs with-or-without-wings controversy. He said he drew Balrogs with wings because "they looked cool". I call Howe's depiction of Glorfindel's encounter with a Balrogfrom a scene in The Silmarillion "The Bullrog". Look at those horns!

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Lee and Howe.

Signing them up to work on the film project was absolutely inspired.

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Evil Queen of Gondor

Oooh, art! Let's see.... I first read LotR in Dec. '92 (Yes, I'm young )

When I was in high school, my friends gave me some trading cards of the Brothers Hildebrandt's illustrations. I was mesmerized by them, and poured over them for hours. I didn't think they were the best ever, but I thought it was so neat that they had painted pictures of scenes that meant so much to me.

Let's see, what did I like best of theirs....
The Mirror of Galadriel
Gandalf visits Bilbo at Bag End
Éowyn and the Nazgûl
Coronation of Aragorn (hehe, with Greg and Tim as extras )
I also liked their Goldberry.
I liked their attention to details, such as the runes on the clock in this picture of Bag End (and a sketch of the same), or the shields in this meeting with Ghân-buri-Ghân
But my favorite painting of theirs was STAR WARS

Basically, these illustrations were the first I had seen beyond my own idea of what the standards of Rohan and Gondor were, or the Argonath, or what Éowyn or Galadriel (or their clothes!) looked like. I didn't like everything about their depictions (especially the random faces in the rocks or Old Man Willow), but I did find a lot to like. I was glad to have something to criticize .


The next year, my art teacher (who was also a Tolkien fan) showed me a calendar that had an illustration by Tolkien on it. [I think he found out I liked the books because I was reading them after school....I never talked about Tolkien then, even though I liked him a great deal. The give away was that I went around writing in runes and chanting "A Elbereth Gilthoniel" ] Anyway, I remember being enchanted by the drawing of Smaug, but also a bit aware of how....amateur it was. I think I liked it, but then he showed me another picture (by someone else) and I immediately recognized the other artist as "better." But...I can't remember who the other artist was, and I still remember JRRT's Smaug .

You have to admit, this is a very good dragon Though the one on the calendar was the Death of Smaug. This is probably the time for me to confess being quite familiar with the Rankin/Bass films....and therefore accostomed to this Smaug...who's not half bad, I might add. <ducks>

Skipping ahead a few years, I eventually got the brilliant idea to search "Tolkien" on the internet, and found the Rolozo Tolkien gallery. Actually, funny thing, I got too many sites when searching "Tolkien" so I decided that "Tengwar" was a better search term, so that (and "rolozo") were what all my Tolkien-searches were for the next few years. I loved seeing all the pictures there, and I imagine that by now I knew of Lee and Howe. I owned Nasmith's Silmarillion , and poured over those pictures the same way I had over the Hildebrandt's cards.

Hmmm, let's see, in particular I liked:
Finrod meets Bëor
Lúthien dances at night
And of course the cover (Maglor throws a Silmaril into the Sea) and the backcover (Lúthien and Beren fly over Gondolin), and the cover of the paperback Silmarillion I have now (the Elves awaken at Cuivenen).

Some LotR artwork by him that I like:
The Green Hill Country
The Glittering Caves
Fifth Day after Weathertop
The Grey Havens
Aha! And here is one I had not seen before! Last sight of Hobbiton
And finally, Bathing at Crickhollow is just fun!

Smith and the Queen of Faery, which I first saw on TORc (when the image gallery worked...)

I must admit to never being a huge fan of Lee. I understand that he is good, but few of his images moved me. I don't know why...I guess the colors seem washed out. The exception is the House of Tom Bombadil. That I liked! I do like John Howe, though. The only one that leaps to mind is the picture of Gandalf in the Shire. I have this map of his, which my boyfriend gave me for Valentine's Day my first year in college (so now I am jumping back a bit, because I did not discover TORc until that fall). Anyway, I also spent many hours staring at that....

Then, later, I discovered Anke Eissmann. My guess is that someone on TORc linked to her, but I think I remember stumbling across her on Rolozo. I like her stuff very, very much! And there is so much of it *swoooons*. It doesn't hurt that she obviously likes Faramir almost as much as I do . I agree with the angular jaw thing, but I can live with it.

I know it was Rowanberry's sigs that introduced me to Jenny Dolfen and Catherine Karina Chmiel. At least, I'm pretty sure! The Death of Fingon was featured on TORc's home page for quite some time, and I may have seen it there first. Either way, I love those pictures qreatly. I saw Dolfen's work first, but I like them both.

Hmmm, highlights....for Chmiel...
Idril
Faramir Kisses Éowyn
Maedhros brrrrr! But oh how I like it.... (really, all her pics of Maedros are great...)
Gandalf and Pippin
Night Chat
...and, her Comic Strips of young Boromir and Faramir (that are suspiciously like Calvin and Hobbs )

A recent one by Jenny Dolfen: Ringbearers
and her very freaky Maedhros: Kinslayer
And the light-hearted: Family Portrait
Oh, and her Fingolfin rocks: Fingolfin


I was just recently (as in, this week ) introduced to a new artist: Ivanneth
And cute fluff by her: Seven Little Feanoreans

I don't really know why but I love John Howe's painting of Gandalf. Unlike most of you (probably all of you) I actually saw Peter Jackson's The Fellowship before I had ever heard of The Lord of the Rings. Now because of this I never had an oportunity to visualize most of the characters myself, I almost always see them as depicted in the movie. But when I saw John Howe's work I really liked them (I know he worked on the movie) because to me they were so sharp so real. Even though I don't love all of his paintings I like his portrayal of The Fellowship because I see it at what I would have most likely imagined them myself.

Superwizard, that Gandalf pic is one of Howe's finest. Beautiful effects of light and shadow. I agree with Alatar on his Ford of Bruinen as well.

Oooh, so much here that I really, really like!

I absolutely love Nasmith's illustrations for The Silmarillion. I am not half so keen on his LOTR illustrations ... although I do adore his Rivendell (Primmy's current sig pic).

Many thanks to Mithluin and Mossy for introducing me to the art of Jenny Dolfen and Catherine Karina Chmiel, whose sites I have now bookmarked. I think their work is tremendous. Not just for their style, which is beautiful, but because they so obviously GET Tolkien.

Love love LOVE Chmiel's Faramir/Éowyn kiss.

Jenny Dolfen's Fingolfin!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man, what a HUNK! I've always adored Fingolfin - adore him adore him adore him - and what a beautiful, magnificent Elf he is here.

I also love her Ringbearers: Galadriel is so, so right. So is Elrond. Boy, Jenny Dolfen knows how to depict drop-dead gorgeous Elves.

Her Fëanor is

Mithluin, I am VERY taken by Ivanneth. What strong personalities come across in her portrayals of the Elves. Really beautiful, interesting faces. I particularly love her Nerdanel. But the others are also very, very fine.

I met Anke Eissmann at Oxonmoot 2001. She posts at B77 as Khorazir and ... it would be very cool if she came here.

Alan Lee ... I love his landscapes. I love his Treebeard, his House of Bombadil, his Lórien, his Minas Tirith, his Rivendell ... I'm a big fan of watercolour, which is why I also like Anke's work so much. Such a difficult medium!

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"Frodo undertook his quest out of love - to save the world he knew from disaster at his own expense, if he could ... "
Letter no. 246, The Collected Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
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I personally like this picture of John Howe:

I like the picture mainly because I love the difference between Legolas and Gimli. I think it shows the majesty of the elves and the rock hard power of the dwarves.

Yes, that's lovely.

That's a great Gimli.

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"Frodo undertook his quest out of love - to save the world he knew from disaster at his own expense, if he could ... "
Letter no. 246, The Collected Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Avatar by goldlighticons on Live Journal

I especially like the the drastic differences between the armour of Gimli and Legolas. I think it shows the great differences between The Dwarves and The Elves.

Leggie's armour is wonderful and I really like the coppery light on it!

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"Frodo undertook his quest out of love - to save the world he knew from disaster at his own expense, if he could ... "
Letter no. 246, The Collected Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Avatar by goldlighticons on Live Journal

Pearly Di, I agree, Nerdanel is my favorite of Ivanneth's work, too. It seems you and I have similar tastes! It's so cool you've met Anke Eissmann. And yes, she posted on TORc as well.

Fingolfin faces Morgoth

Also, if you have not seen this picture from Blind Guardian's Nightfall in Middle Earth, it's worth a look, just because it's so different:
Lúthien Dances for Morgoth

Roger Garland is a good artist, but I don't like his take on Tolkien at all.

One of my favorite one-shots is The Eagles are Coming by Michael Whelan. I don't know what else he's done.

Almost every Tolkien artist that I've seen gets something right.

Anke Eissmann has always been good with hobbits; she really portrays them as miniature humans with hairy feet, not as some freaky midgets. I have some problems with her humans and elves, but lately, she has evolved a lot in that respect as well.

I simply swoon for the elves by Catherine Chmiel and Jenny Dolfen; Chmiel's portrayals of Boromir, Faramir, and Denethor also come very close to my own mental image of these characters.

Nasmith is great with landscapes, buildings, and large scale events, but his characters could be better - in many cases, they're unnaturally stiff, and a bit hatchet.

Both Lee and Howe capture the essence of Middle-earth and action scenes well; mostly, their characters are also fine, but not always.

A couple of one-shots that I especially like are Tuor by Luca Michelucci, and Thranduil by Maria Filatova. Also, Filatova's Aegnor and Andreth is simply heartbreaking.

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See the world as your self.
Have faith in the way things are.
Love the world as your self;
then you can care for all things.
~ Lao Tzu