John Howe's art for The Lord Of The Rings

Part four of four. Overall, I don't know what prompted me to post four sequential galleries on John Howe. It might be because this month always makes me want to curl up with a good fantasy novel under a blanket. Or possibly it's because growing up, there was always this tradition of seeing a new fantasy film right before Christmas (mostly, Lord Of The Rings when I was in high school, then continued with substandard films trapped in it's colossus shadow). Either way, this is my way of expressing what gets me pumped when snow starts to fall and I'm stuck indoors due to weather as opposed to exploring some abandon dams in the woods somewhere during the warmer months. Or something like that, but I digress.

Looking at these, I realize that his work for Lord Of The Rings is pretty dark. If only the Uruk-hai in the films were more like the ones pictured. I feel like they are more menacing, but that's just me. I'm also going to point out that The Witch King is more imposing and terrifying in these paintings. AND that the Balrog looks demonic and nightmarish. The movie one was good, but John Howe's comes off as some creature from hell, stuck in a foreign landscape, which I feel makes it more effective than a skull headed ash being with crinkle-cut ram horns. The Film version one is scary, but I'd prefer something that could be more of a variation on satanic imagery- possibly with bits of ancient war armor, but that's just my personal taste. Enjoy!

Frank Frazetta does Middle-Earth

Frank Frazetta is my favorite fantasy artist. No, seriously. When I see any kind of art related to fantasy spectrum of things (card games, book covers, rpg, etc) I rate it next to a Frazetta. As far as I'm concerned, he invented modern fantasy art, thus sets the standard. I'm not going to ramble about him this time, this post is only to display some Pen & Ink art I found of his based on characters and scenarios from Lord of The Rings. Even in his clean line drafts, his inertia is still there, showing the constant energy of toned organic bodies amongst hard steel. You know exactly what is going on in the minds of all of characters in every piece of art he's ever done.

There is still a sense of rawness in these, which keeps it from being too clean and "safe". Yes, safe. His art is NOT safe. All of his work is raw and has a threatening texture to it. It's gritty and violent, but it is portrayed exquisitely. But now I'm ranting. I'll save that for a future post. Anyways, check out these drawings. The bottom drawing of Gandalf The Grey is thee best image of the character. Step aside, John Howe. (FYI- I have high respect for John Howe, and enjoy his work Immensely, but Frank Frazetta is King)











Simply Brilliant