January: Beauty is in the Ai! of the Beholder

Post by **Alatar** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 1:28 pm

That's exactly right, Prim, but I apologise for osgiliating the thread. Please continue with the pics.

Hobby, I'll PM you.

Post by **Mrs. Frodo Baggins** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 6:55 pm

OK, here are my favorite pictures that I drew inspired from Tolkien's work. I think most of you may have seen these, but there may be one or two that hasn't.

I haven't drawn much Tolkien lately...I'll have to remedy that.

I'll show them in story order.

Gandalf and Frodo discussing the Ring at Bag End:

Goldberry as Frodo first sees her:

Frodo claiming the Ring at Mount Doom:

Arwen giving Frodo the Evenstar:

Hmmm...I wonder who my favorite character is?

Those are probably bad enough to qualify for bad Tolkien art, although I do try to stay within the spirit of the book with my drawings (except for the momentary forgetfulness of what Frodo was wearing at Mount Doom).

~Sid Baggins

Post by **Jnyusa** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 9:52 pm

Cool, Sid!!!

I adore that picture of Goldberry!

Jn

Sun Jan 15, 2006 11:56 pm

Sid, your drawings are so far from being bad Tolkien art. I've always loved the one of Goldberry and the one of Arwen and Frodo. You've got a unique style, but unique in a good way, unlike, say, Ezpeleta (sp?).

Did someone mention the brothers Hildebrandt earlier?

This one always seemed like a sort of Robin Hood/Middle Earth crossover.

Frodo and Sam get lost and stray into Sherwood Forest, where they meet Robin Hood and his Merry Men. They join together to depose the evil Sherrif of Mordor.

Post by **vison** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 1:09 am

Bros. Hildebrand:

I have a 1981 calendar that says, "To honor the silver anniversary". (Honour is spelled honor on this calendar.) "Twelve masterfully rendered illustrations from Ralph Bakshi's Fantasy Film production...etc."

While I loathe the Hobbits a la Bakshi, the other pictures aren't really bad. Not really bad. Just semi-bad, I guess.

I should offer this thing on E-Bay and get rich, eh?

Post by **truehobbit** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 2:11 am

I saw the Bakshi version a few months ago for the first time.

I thought it wasn't half bad!

It's really hard to say what I liked - most of the drawings were ghastly! But the whole composition, the choice of scenes, the atmosphere - much of it wasn't bad, I thought, especially for an animated movie.

Nice work, Sid!

Brothers Hildebrandt - they are nice drawings, if they were illustrations of a fairy tale book or so, they just are too naive for LOTR!

Frodo and Sam get lost and stray into Sherwood Forest, where they meet Robin Hood and his Merry Men. They join together to depose the evil Sherrif of Mordor.

Good caption!

Post by **Rowanberry** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 12:29 pm

"Campy" would be the word to describe the Hildebrandts' works for me...

They're not actually bad paintings, just too fairytale-like to do justice to Tolkien's stories.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 4:29 pm

I always want Tolkien illustrations to show the dignity of the characters, and some sense of the age and wisdom of Elves. I rarely get my wish with respect to the hobbits, so often drawn as stocky little boys or garden gnomes (even though Tolkien makes it clear that they're proportioned like Men). It's a little better with Elves, though not when the pointy ear thing is carried to extremes.

And Rowanberry is right: "Fairy-tale" is exactly the wrong mood for a Tolkien illustration. They should look like history.