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Morwen
Rohan
Apr 27 2007, 1:28am
Post #1 of 3
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John Howe: Creatures, Animals and Ents
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I decided this topic required two posts, one for Creatures and animals, and one for Ents. The pictures are linked through urls because the whole thumbnail process was seriously taxing my brain. I didn't include much commentary because I don't consider myself particularly knowledgeable about art and would rather hear what others have to say. I did include one or two Howe quotes which are in blue.
Birds, from Eagles on down:
Thorondor
Gwaihir Windlord
He looks a lot like Thorondor. They must be related :)
Roac
The dwarves in this one appear rather skeptical, but Roac doesn't look too concerned.
Roac, Son of Carc
in black and white
Crebain
Spiders:
Melkor Calls Forth Ungoliantė
Shelob
Spiders of Mirkwood
Oliphaunts:
The Mūmak of Harad
I recommend you click on the image to see the big version of this.
Mūmak Closeup
Wargs and Wolves:
Warg
Does this look like the Wargs of your imagination?
Wargs
Wolves
Horses, good and evil:
Bill the Pony
Shadowfax
Nazgul Steed
Dragons:
Smaug the Golden
This was my very first commission for an actual book cover for one of Tolkien's books. I initially did a terribly bad sketch of Bilbo and the dwarves in the dark forest that the editor rightly refused. Smaug seemed a logical second choice. Making his chin rest on his feet, like some enormous dog curled up before a fireplace took some cautious bending of his long long neck.
I picked this particular Smaug because I like the light shining through the tent-like wings.
Balrog:
Balrog
Less fiery than some of Howe's Balrogs
Fell Beast:
Nazgul
I had to include one fell beast.
And even,
Morgul Rats
I wish you could have been there
When she opened up the door
And looked me in the face
Like she never did before
I felt about as welcome
As a Wal-Mart Superstore--John Prine
(This post was edited by Morwen on Apr 27 2007, 1:30am)
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Daughter of Nienna
Grey Havens
Apr 27 2007, 6:18am
Post #2 of 3
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shows change from student days
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Thorondor
This pencil drawing has a simple elegance and clarity to it. I enjoy the line and texture of Thorondor's feather's and his serious & regal expression. Then I have a bias toward pencil drawings.
The composition works in a simplistically stated way. One thing about Howe's work, I notice, is that he is superb at composition. Hs cards are no testimony to that, obviously, but the format doesn't call for it. However, in every one of his published paintings (the ones intended for calendars, books, etc.; not games), your eye is perfectly directed to where it is supposed to go
to the most important part of the image
In the Thorondor image, no matter where you eye enters the picture, it is directed exactly on the face of this majestic & noble eagle.
Gwaihir Windlord.
It's almost a composition-free zone when it come to the cards. This image does not have a lot to say for itself other than "Hi, I am a card for a game"; it certainly works as such. And considering the amount of cards and images he has done, and how many of those are superb
I think it OK to not put full energy into every single image. His energy would become too disperse and the potency of his finer work would suffer. I do like the tonal blues and blue-violets . . . and the bird's eye.
Roac, Son of Carc 1979
Watercolour on illustration board
Howe Quote: I did a series of five illustrations from The Hobbit to participate in a contest at the Bologna Children's Book Fair. This was midway through art school, and participation in the contest and attendance at the annual Bologna Fiera del Libro per Ragazzi was practically mandatory.
Needless to say, my illustrations got turned down. (I think out of half a dozen attempts, I was accepted once.) Looking at them now, I'm hardly surprised. Dwarves with cucumbers for noses, tank-top chain mail, grim landscapes and midgets with oversized feet must not have seemed appropriate to a jury. At that time, almost nobody in my class had even heard of Tolkien anyway... (Tolkien? was he the guy who made that awful cartoon film?") One of a series of five illustrations.
I included the quote because It's worth a note that he was just a student when he did this image and four other Hobbit images for a contest. He certainly showed some up and coming talent. It also suggests that is was not yet that deeply entrenched in Tolkien lore, though obviously displaying a passion for it. I am guessing it is also before he knew about armor.
I love tones and grays, so right away, this image appeals to that preference. What I appreciate about this image is that Bilbo is consistent with the Bilbo in the other images in this series.
Though I am not crazy about the dwarves, at least they are not goofy or cartoon-ish. Oh, and I do like Roac, Son of Carc, and the rocks. He got better and better at rocks.
Roac, Son of Carc
(pencil drawing), Meditations on Middle-Earth November 2001
You can tell Howe has come on in his understanding of dwarves and knowledge of armor since his student days.
Melkor Calls Forth Ungoliantė
Originally done for the poseter of the first Tolkien exhibition in Saint-Herblain, near Nantes, in November 1995
Oh my! When I opened this image
I gnarled my stomach and genuine fear tightened my throat. I think having the monster-spider creeping through the rocks in that manor adds to the creepy scar factor. This one is good! My only slight quibble: Ungoliantė seems to dwarf Melkor and make him seem potent.
Shelob
What I love most about this image is the rocks, the unusual viewpoint and the colors. Few spider will match PJ's spider for me.
You were right to suggest clicking on the image to see the big version. There is so much detail that gets missed unless you do: Hobbits in trees, Rangers on right (the detail of them), etc. I enjoy the misty, surreal, yet real atmosphere of the image. And the greens and contrast and implied texture. I hope everyone reads the quote under the image.
http://www.john-howe.com/...22/FF-Mumak-port.jpg
Mūmak Closeup
Vignette for the Fantasy Flight Lord of the Rings Boardgame
The horns and armor are wonderful
Wargs and Wolves:
Does this look like the Wargs of your imagination?
http://www.john-howe.com/...ils.php?image_id=516
http://www.john-howe.com/...ls.php?image_id=1086
Howe's Wargs certainly do look closer to my imagination than most images of Wargs and certainly closer than in the films. The pencil image is better in quality that the card image. Yet the card image has an imaginative skeletal quality and adds to the scary element of them and makes them seem really evil and servants of the enemy.
Bill the Pony
http://www.john-howe.com/...a031f44ad0fea21b059a
AT last, someone drew Bill! I am still waiting for Bill to show up for real in a serious painting. Alan Lee has him in two images
but he is small and far away and minute.
Shadowfax
just thought I'd post the other Shadowfax as well.
Smaug the Golden
I like this Smaug too, I already wrote about it in Drogo's post on Hobbit picts.
Smaug Asleep November 2001
Meditations on Middle-Earth
Edited by Karen Haber
Saint Martin's Press, New York
http://www.john-howe.com/...ls.php?image_id=3402
Fell Beast /Nazgul:
I really like this fell beast
all spikey and ferocious!
Art Gallery Revised, Aloha & Mahalo, Websites Directory
Nienna: those who hearken to her learn pity, and endurance in hope . . . All those who wait in Mandos cry to her, for she brings strength to the spirit and turns sorrow to wisdom." Valaquenta
(This post was edited by Daughter of Nienna on Apr 27 2007, 6:27am)
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Beren IV
Gondor
Apr 29 2007, 2:46am
Post #3 of 3
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I'm starting to think that Howe is my favorite Tolkien artist
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Howe's style has changed significantly over the years, and there are a few things that some of the other artists do better, however, I like realism, and I like realistic body proportions of plants and animals, the latter including both people and fantastical monsters. His painted topography is also more realistic than that of all too many other Tolkien artists, although the Orodruin image that I posted previously is not Howe's, and yet is my favorite painting of the entire LotR cycle.
Once a paleontologist, now a botanist, will be a paleobotanist
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