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Thread: Share your thoughts on conceptual artist John Howe.


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Hi second thread posted, no responses last time so maybe they're a bit boring but I really hope people share my views on John Howe and his great work. I just wanted to disscuss the work that John Howe has produced and thoughts on how good a conceptual artist he will be if he is involved in the Hobbit. Please post links to your favourite pieces of his and share your views on the methods he uses and the excellent effects he creates. My favourite has to be [i:2jr7nekk]Gandalf Returns to Hobbiton[/i:2jr7nekk] Great artist please share your views...

http://www.john-howe.com/portfolio/gall ... ode=search
I really like "Flight to the Ford" and "The Grey Havens." Both reflect absolute faithfulness to the vision and spirit of Tolkien. Of course, I love "Gandalf Returns" too.
Very interesting indeed. I probably would have responded on that first topic you posted if I was actually here at the moment :oops: . But anyways, yes, just as Beren says it gives a great Old-Middle-Earthen theme to it, how it should be. And also, the colors and textures used gives it almost a feeling as how the art would have been back then... it gives everything a sort of rustic and classical feature. Great find <img src='/images/smileys/wink.gif' border='0' alt='Wink Smilie' /> .
John Howe is one of my favorite Tolkien artists - both as someone working on the film and as an artist in his own right. I don't always see his images when I read LOTR and The Hobbit, but I like looking at his work. In particular I like his style of art: I'm not sure how to classify it since I don't know a whole lot about art, but it seems more realistic and character-focused rather than style-focused than some art I've seen.

I hope that his images are used as inspiration for the news films, even if he is not directly involved.
Thanks for responding guys, it's great to hear other poeples views on him, Allen Lee is also a briiliant artist, you should check out the illustrations in a book I have read composed of all the other smaller tales of Tolkiens, called [i:okl88pzg]Tales from a perilous Realm[/i:okl88pzg], you probs know the one I'm talking about, the one with the [i:okl88pzg]Adventures of Tom Bombadil [/i:okl88pzg], released quite recently as a compilation of books. The illustrations are by Allan Lee and they are also really amazing in terms of a quality and time spent producing them.

You guys might have heard of Chris Riddell? He has been involved with comment and debate in the Guardian/The Observer Magazine, he produces artwork of different style but it his stuff is also of amazing quality. He has co-written the Edge Chronicles book series for children and the illustrations in the books are truelly brilliant. You should check his stuff out on the Guardian/Observer website.

http://browse.guardian.co.uk/search?sea ... ian=Search
Alan Lee is another one of my favorites (there are three). I got [i:1tpdt61h]Tales From the Perilous Realm[/i:1tpdt61h] from the library a few weeks ago and was pretty impressed with his artwork, as usual. I really want to get the three-volume edition of [i:1tpdt61h]The Lord of the Rings[/i:1tpdt61h] that he illustrated for the centenary of Tolkien's birthday, but I don't think I can afford it, and I'm also saving up for the 50th Anniversary (Collector's) Edition. So many books, so little money. :lol:

I have heard of Chris Riddell. I wasn't too impressed by the Edge Chronicles (though I didn't read much of them), but his visual artwork looks fairly good.
I love the Lee and Howe pictures I've seen over the years. But I hadn't seen all the ones posted in the link B'arelyn, thanks <img src='/images/smileys/bigsmile.gif' border='0' alt='Big Smile Smilie' /> . I've always been a fan of the Hildebrandt Bros paintings myself. And Frank Frazetta has done a few fantastic Tolkien inspired paintings over the years too.

[b:otdhgd84]GB[/b:otdhgd84]
Hi and yeah they are very good illustrations! I'm glad everyone feels strongly about them. I think it would be a great idea if every person on the forum each submitted a sort of response to Howe's work in the suggestions thread, the subject of which could be the Hobbit and everyone could choose their own style of doing it, whether it be Computer based or styles similar to the ones that Howe uses. It could be alot like the competition that the British Tv channel E4 hold, in which anyone can submit an E-sting.
You can submit picture files on this forum can't you?


Oh BTW Eldorian, expand on you views on the childrens book series The Edge Chronicals.
[quote="B'arelyn Dwarf":1vrh8pp3]Oh BTW Eldorian, expand on you views on the childrens book series The Edge Chronicals.[/quote:1vrh8pp3]

It just wasn't my thing. <img src='/images/smileys/wink.gif' border='0' alt='Wink Smilie' /> But like I said I didn't read much of them so I can't give any in-depth thoughts.
B'arelyn, I have posted some links to my artwork on the Fantasy Art thread. There are a few other forum artists who have posted there. But not much yet...knock yourself out.

[b:z2reg8xs]GB[/b:z2reg8xs]
Thanks GB and sorry for not noticing the thread earliar and for not exploring the forum myself. Your work is Brilliant and very proffessional if I may say so! I did notice your avatar before but I didn't know of any way to enlarge the image. I really like the style of which you produce the artwork, do you work in any other medias? I really enjoy drawing and illustration myself (although the standard in which you draw is of a higher leauge <img src='/images/smileys/bigsmile.gif' border='0' alt='Big Smile Smilie' /> ) and have focussed alot on illustration at school, your work is similar to that of the illustrations that you might find in story books, they would really work beside and help to explain the words written. Oh and Btw Although its off topic, and in a rather different style to the artwork you produce or Howe or Lee you must check out this artist if you havn't heard of him before. His work takes on a slightly more physical nature but I think it ties in in some ways to illustration and concept art, check himn out on this link. I did a study of his work at school, his work often looks impossible to accomplish. Its a bit on the rubbish side but I'll post the response I did to his work, nowhere as good as his though. You must check out his A4 papercuts first btw.

http://www.petercallesen.com/index/index2.html
Thanks B'arelyn <img src='/images/smileys/smile.gif' border='0' alt='Smile Smilie' /> . Peter's work is...erm...unusual. It looks like he does paper sculptures (among other things), is that right? I quite liked several of his pieces, including the castles. Very Unique.

[b:2pnmfd7q]GB[/b:2pnmfd7q]
Yes he's pretty good, looks incredibly hard to do, doesn't it?