Tolkien Art
‘The Door of Night’ - John Howe (Eärendil’s ship from ‘The Silmarillion’)
Anyone who’s read or seen images of JRR Tolkien’s Middle-earth will be familiar with the artwork of Alan Lee, John Howe, and Ted Nasmith… the image above is one of my favourites by John Howe.
Obviously, they’re top of my list of favourite Tolkien artists.
Also on that list are other talented artists I’ve discovered.
Instead of sharing all of them – the list keeps growing – I’ve chosen 4.
I’ll start with Jenny Dolfen.
I can’t remember where I first came across her Tolkien artwork, but her style appealed to me straightaway.
Sadly, she’s developed an eye condition that makes it difficult for her to work, so she hasn’t produced any new Tolkien art for some time.
‘The Drawing of the Sword’ (Fëanor draws his sword against Fingolfin -from ‘The Silmarillion’)
‘And Morgoth came’ (from ‘The Silmarillion’)
Donato Giancola started his career illustrating science fiction novels and went on to interpret Tolkien’s written words into images.
The next 2 are artists that feature their work on Deviantart.
Of the many I’ve discovered on that site, I’ve chosen ‘alystraeaArt’ who started drawing and painting in 2015; she has no art training and is mainly self-taught, apart from a beginner’s figure drawing course she took in 2017.
It’s fascinating to see how her art has evolved, comparing her earlier works to the more recent ones.
She’s even illustrated covers for a musician, Turelinda, who has a couple of Silmarillion-themed albums.
‘Elf meets Men’ (Finrod, the first elf to meet Men, here talking to Bëor of the First House of Men - from ‘The Silmarillion)
‘Ainulindale’ (The Music of the Ainur from ‘The Silmarillion)
The last on my list for this post is Elena Kukanova.
I find her art realistic and ethereal at the same time, and particularly like her ‘Silmarillion’ art.
‘Celegorm and Curufin find Luthien’ (Fëanor’s sons with the elf-maiden, Lúthien, and Huan the Hound - from ‘The Silmarillion)
‘Elwing’ (Elrond’s mother - from ‘The Silmarillion’)
If you’ve never heard of these artists before, I hope you’ll visit their sites as they’ve each got loads more than what I’ve shared here, and they also have non-Tolkien related art.