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Nicholas
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  		   Posted 4/20/2008 1:49 AM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.

I have the book J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator. He had an especially keen eye for design. His lettering--runes, hieroglyphs, elvish script--feels authentic and his stylized landscapes are quite charming. I am a huge fan of The Father Christmas Letters, both for the wonderful characters and the illustrations.

He is not known for being an artist just as he is not known for being a poet; however, both his art and his poetry had that "folk" authenticity that complemented his stories.

And his covers for LOTR--both the stylized designs on the original hardcovers and the watercolor landscapes on an early edition of the Ballantine paperbacks--are still the best. 


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Nick Logan
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  		   Posted 4/16/2008 8:58 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.

Tolkien's Father Christmas illustrations are also very good: a series of illustrated 'postcards' he made for his children, delivered every Xmas, and purportedly from Father Christmas himself. 

As to the folk art aspect, I agree: the Middle-Earth/LotR illustrations seem like exactly the type of drawings you might find 'scribbled' by the author in the margins or on loose leaves in the actual Red Book of Westmarch, if it existed.  Something like the drawings in the Lewis & Clark journals.

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Gustavo
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  		   Posted 4/15/2008 6:59 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Also, his maps were a critical part of the creation of the lost tales and, eventually, the Silmarrillion. Not exactly art in the traditional sense, but important.

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Rob Mancebo
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  		   Posted 4/15/2008 11:55 AM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
DAWaverly said...
I just finished reading "The Letters of JRR Tolkien" and it is clear that he considered his art to be inferior. I personally like it, but then again I am a big fan of what is considered "folk art".
-  Yep, that's what I would consider it.  Nicely done too.  Lots of Celtic/Norse influance in his construction. 
 
-  Imagine the cover he did for the Hobbit painted on the lid of a child's wooden toy chest.  It would be perfect. 

Adventure-History-Fantasy-Folklore

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RHFay
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  		   Posted 4/10/2008 11:24 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
DAWaverly said...
I just finished reading "The Letters of JRR Tolkien" and it is clear that he considered his art to be inferior. I personally like it, but then again I am a big fan of what is considered "folk art".

I consider my own art inferior.  Others disagree.
 
I guess it's something I share with Tolkien. 

"I'm going to do what the warriors of old did. I'm going to recite poetry!" 
 
Richard H. Fay - Azure Lion Productions 
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DAWaverly
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  		   Posted 4/10/2008 7:19 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
I just finished reading "The Letters of JRR Tolkien" and it is clear that he considered his art to be inferior. I personally like it, but then again I am a big fan of what is considered "folk art".

- Deven
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RHFay
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  		   Posted 4/10/2008 12:44 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
How many of you knew Tolkien was an artist as well as a writer, poet, and scholar?  He actually composed illustration, including the cover art, for the first editions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
 
Even though I often list medieval woodcuts, nineteenth century illustrators, and the illustrators of Dungeons & Dragons as inspiration for my own art, Tolklien has also had an influence on me artistically.  Some of the images he created helped draw me into his works.  I remember that the cover illustration of the particular edition of The Hobbit that started me reading Tolkien had a certain "fairy-tale" feel to it that perfectly matched the feel of the text. 
 
Now, Tolkien's art may be simplistic at times, and might not appeal to everyone (just like his books, apparently), but I find that they are suitable images for his stories.  They evoke in me a wondrous charm, a feeling of a different time and place, images of a mythic land of long ago.
 
Here are links to some of Tolkien's artwork found on-line:
 
Thubmnails for the Aumania site's section on Tolkien:
 
The image of "Bilbo Comes to the Huts of the Raft-Elves" that adorned the cover of the edition of The Hobbit that got me reading Tolkien in the first place:
 
Tolkien's depiction of "The Hill: Hobbiton-Across-the-Water" that is such a pleasant image of Hobbtiton:
 
"Rivendell":
 
One of Tolkien's forests that is very "Rachkam-ish":
 
And Tolkien's original design for the cover-art for The Hobbit:
 
 
 
 
 
  

"I'm going to do what the warriors of old did. I'm going to recite poetry!" 
 
Richard H. Fay - Azure Lion Productions 
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