Ringer Maya sends us this report from today’s signing at the Weta Cave.
The queues were especially long this afternoon at Weta Cave. The cave is usually rather busy and packed with tourists, movie fans, Tolkien fans and other enthusiastic visitors, but today was exception even in busy times’ standards. Like many others, I too arrived at the cave today, my own wee elfling in tow, willing to brave the long queue especially to meet illustrator Alan Lee and to have him sign our copy of The Hobbit 2013 Official Calendar.
It was such a delight to find out that John Howe, the other major illustrator on the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies was there as well! (more…)
The 2013 Tolkien calendar naturally features ‘The Hobbit’ this year including the work of Alan Lee and John Howe. To celebrate, the Weta Cave in Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand will host Lee this Sunday to sign this and others of his works.
Lee and Howe have been working on concept art for Peter Jackson’s three-part ‘Hobbit’ movie, headed for a mid-December release but found time to produce some new work for this calendar.
The calendar features 14 paintings, including some created exclusively for this calendar by Alan Lee and John Howe, the two artists whose work has defined the look of Middle-earth over the last 25 years.
This is their first-ever collaboration since the official Tolkien Calendar began publishing 40 years ago.
Each month depicts one of the most famous scenes from The Hobbit, including Bilbo outside Bag End, Smaug the Dragon, the Great Goblin and Bilbo’s Front Hall. As well as classic illustrations from bo
th artists’ celebrated portfolios, the 2013 calendar includes brand new paintings, created by John Howe and Alan Lee exclusively for this calendar.
A range of Alan’s other titles including The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook will also be available in store. For more details including a map, click here.
You’ve probably already seen the that fabulous picture of Thorin holding Thrain’s key — the one that they need to get into Erebor.
Now Herr-der-Ringe has a spy image of the artwork.
The keys is exactly the same, but the runes on them seem to be slightly different? Was the artwork an earlier iteration that was subsequently simplified? Maybe it’s the equivalent of text greeking? Any runes experts out there able to help? Potential spoiler warning
For JRR Tolkien, languages evolved at least in part in reaction to the history of their speakers. Looking at recent photos and screenshots of the cities of Dale and Esgaroth, I was struck by the thought that for Peter Jackson’s design team, Middle-earth history could exert a similar effect on architecture.
Curious how the architectural set design choices for the Hobbit might reflect the history of these two cities, I asked Barliman’s chat regular and archaeologist Jenniearcheo to provide a few professional insights on some of the set images that have found their way onto the internet.
This brief essay is the result. We hope you enjoy it.
Remember The Hobbit production vlog #2 that came out back in July 2011?
Well, we’ve watched it again (and recommend you do too), especially the bit between 2:05 and 2:25, where it isn’t hard to spot Peter Jackson and his crew wearing a “200 Days To Go” sweatshirt. What is hard to spot though is the logo on the front of that sweatshirt… until now.
Our Dwarves at TORn who spend their time mining the interwebs for gems of information came across an image of the hoodie that reveals the logo is none other than Smaug the Golden.
Our staffers then got down to discussing it, and some said Yes, and some said No. Some said it couldn’t be the real design for Smaug, and some said it only offered clues to what the real Smaug will look like. One staffer called Greendragon was (aptly!) drawn to this image more than the others and said it looked very much like “a John Howe Smaug“. Finally, the end of it was to put the image out for your consideration and see what you thought of it.
So, what do you think? Real or not? Mildly interesting or surprisingly faithful? Sound off on our message boards.
The long-awaited revised edition of the award-winning board game, based on J.R.R.Tolkien’s novel will be released on December 15th.
The epic board game inspired by Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” is back! Publisher Ares Games announces the release of War of the Ring Second Edition, featuring several changes from the previous edition, principally a new graphic design, larger Tarot-size cards and revised rules. The English edition is now shipping to distributors and will reach the stores in North America in mid December.
The first edition was published in September 2004 by Nexus Editrice and the game has been acclaimed as one of the best thematic games of all times, winning several awards. In August 2011, Ares Games announced the acquisition of publishing rights from Sophisticated Games, as well as the upcoming revised edition.
Created by the Italian game designers Roberto Di Meglio, Francesco Nepitello and Marco Maggi, the strategy board game “War of the Ring” allows players to immerse themselves in J.R.R.Tolkien’s classic story, leading the Fellowship in its quest and the armies of the Free Peoples against the assault of the dreadful minions and armies of the Dark Lord, Sauron. The original illustrations were created by John Howe, one of the world’s foremost Tolkien illustrators. (more…)
uruloki.org recently interviewed artist John Howe. In the interview John talks his influences, childhood and technique. A very cool read for fans of this wonderful artist. More..
From the LOTR Trilogy Facebook Page: Ever wonder how the design & effects came together in The Lord of the Rings trilogy? Well, now you can ask the experts. Alan Lee & John Howe Illustrators & Conceptual Artists for The Lord of the Rings trilogy as well as Richard Taylor, Design and Effects Supervisor for The Lord of the Rings trilogy will be answering YOUR Facebook fan questions! Submit questions below & be sure to let us know who it’s for. More..
Or the Statistics of Art, Parentheses Parity and Pencil Parings
Two years ago today, I stepped off a plane in Wellington and said to myself “Well, I’m back.” It had been a while, clearly, and in all honesty, I thought at the time that now, two years along, I’d be repeating myself, but back on the other side of the globe…
As it turns out, things have gone rather differently, but parentheses are undependable entities; you open them, and you’re never quite sure when you will be able to close them again. As it is, a few weeks into shooting, it’s already been quite a journey, albeit an essentially immobile voyage, from Bag End to Wilderland in spirit, though the only real traveling is done by pencil. More..
ComingSoon.net has an exclusive interview with Elijah Wood who’s going to be reprising his character of Frodo Baggins in The Hobbit films.
Here follows an excerpt from the interview (but make sure to head over to ComingSoon.net to read it in its entirety):
CS: What are you most excited about to have the opportunity to be a part of the prequels? Since it wasn’t necessarily built into the original novel that you guys from the “Rings” films would be there.
Wood: Yeah, not at all. Look, I’m just looking forward to going back to New Zealand and spending a bit of time there. There will be plenty of old friends that will be a part of it. Largely I would imagine the entire crew would be relatively the same. So in some ways I think it’s going to be a very surreal journey. It will feel like traveling back in time a little.
But I’m excited. There’s a lot of new elements to this. They’re shooting on the Red [camera]. They’re shooting in 3D, so that should be interesting.
On this episode of Hobbit in 5 John Howe reports that Smaug the Golden and Eowyn & the Nazgul are available again, Orlando Bloom considers being in the Hobbit, we have another fabulous contest to announce.
John Howe writes: Several months after being officially released, Smaug the Golden and Eowyn & the Nazgul are available again. The real thing (in real bronze with a hardwood base) is back as well: Smaug the Golden & Eowyn and the Nazgul.
Originally, we had hoped to offer one-piece hardwood bases with all the statues, but this proved impossible, so wood bases with a wood veneer seemed the next best thing. Unfortunately, the veneer peeled and bubbled, and Weta honorably stepped in, warned those who had pre-ordered, offered to refund or otherwise compensate, and has now re-issued the statues with individualized polystone bases. More..
Ringer Maya sends us this report from today’s signing at the Weta Cave.
You’ve probably already seen the 
For JRR Tolkien, languages evolved at least in part in reaction to the history of their speakers. Looking at recent photos and screenshots of the cities of Dale and Esgaroth, I was struck by the thought that for Peter Jackson’s design team, Middle-earth history could exert a similar effect on architecture.
