The Fellowship in Hollin Oil Painting on Panel 65” x 34” ( 165cm x 87cm)
Many of our readers will be familiar with the superb work of artist Donato Giancola, whose stunning paintings have graced the covers of many books, including editions of both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. He’s a good friend of TORn’s, and some of you may have met him at one of our ‘Ringers Take Manhattan’ parties.
This weekend, Giancola will be appearing as Artist Guest of Honour at GenCon in Indianapolis. He’ll also be appearing at New York ComicCon in October. He has recently completed a fabulous new work set in Middle-earth: The Fellowship in Hollin. Here’s what Donato had to say about creating this landscape:
Whether you love Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit movie trilogy, or love to hate it, it includes some iconic moments from J.R.R. Tolkien’s stories that are truly exceptional. So says movie writer Max Farrow in this article we found at moviepilot.com:
“As we all know, Peter Jackson’s lauded adaptation of The Lord of the Rings trilogy went on to win many Oscars, yet his efforts with The Hobbit were met with a comparatively mixed response.
Yet even if you despise The Hobbit trilogy as much as orcs hate elves, you can’t deny that in the series’ seven hour run-time, there are some precious moments of movie magic. Glittering brightly like the jewels of Erebor, some scenes in this series really are a cut above the rest.”
As it turns out, many of Max’s 15 favorite scenes are among my own, including Gandalf’s first encounter with Bilbo at Bag End, to Bilbo naming his sword Sting, and the amazing depiction of Smaug. How about you? What are your favorite moments from The Hobbit movies? Do you agree with Max’s list? Let us know!
Last night we got two new jaw dropping pre-orders from our friends at Weta Workshop. The first is a piece we originally saw during Comic-Con 2016, the War Troll. This amazing large beast is one of the best creature pieces by Weta Workshop. He’s a massive 20″ tall and comes in at over 20lbs. Fans that are interested in ordering this one will want to get their orders in fast, as it has an edition size of only 400 pieces.
The second piece is stunning and one of the most wanted versions of this character. Thorin in his regal armor is a piece I have constantly been asked if I thought was coming since doing Collecting The Precious. I am happy to say fans can now add King Thorin as he is sits on the reclaimed Dwarven Throne inside Erebor. As I said this thing is stunning to look at and will be a must have piece for any collector. If you have the King Thror on Throne then this will give you a fantastic bookend of where the Dwarves were at in Erebor during The Hobbit. King Thorin is limited to 750 pieces worldwide and comes in with a price tag of $449. Both pieces are listed as shipping in October/December of this year.
One of the best things about our friends at Weta Workshop is that they listen to fans to get an idea of the pieces we would like to see. At the Weta Collector’s forum, Flame of Udun, a list of the previous top vote earners has been assembled into a poll to see what might be the most desired pieces. The poll will be open for two weeks so we can get as many votes as possible to send some good data to Weta on what we’d like to see. I know it’s going to be very tough but please vote for a maximum of two (2) only and remember to only vote for items you would definitely purchase. So if you’ve wanted to be able to help give Weta a hint at something you’d buy this is a perfect chance.
It’s that time of year again, when the Brisbane Tolkien Fellowship hosts it’s wonderful “Evening in Middle-earth”.
This year there is a special treat for everyone, with an extra day, so fans can enjoy Two Evenings in Middle-earth. Along with the extra day, there is an extra special treat in store for the fans.
We’re just out of Comic-Con and Weta keeps on delivering new and amazing pieces for us fans to add to our collections. One of the things we’d not seen so far from The Hobbit Trilogy line is one of the many soldiers who aide Sauron, Azog, and Bolg. This has been taken care of with the latest release announcement of the Dol Guldur Orc Soldier. This Orc is brutal, with the blood on his armour, as well as the severed Dwarf heads on the pikes on his back. Fans will want to act quickly to grab this Orc as he’s limited to only 500 pieces with a price tag of $449.
The other new pre-order continues the Dol Guldur 1:30 Scale Collection. Fans can now add the North Courtyard allowing them to continue to build this scene and giving them more scope to recreate this scene in whatever way they want. In-line with the South Courtyard this piece will be limited to 500 pieces and comes in at $149.
As you will recall, Weta has been doing questions in intervals and the winner will receive an autographed set of the 1:30 Dol Guldur set. The fifth and final question has just been released – which means the clock is ticking. Get your entries in before August 31 to go in the draw! Enter the Dol Guldur 1:30 Set Contest.
