Today there are two artists I want to introduce to you – because they are intrinsically tied together for their work at J.R.R. Tolkien and his epic novel ‘Lord of the Rings.

Artist Name: Alan Lee

Date of Birth: August 20, 1947

Where From: Middlesex, England

Short Bio:
Alan Lee is an Academy Award winning, English book illustrator and movie conceptual designer. He and John Howe are best known for illustrating the 1991 one-volume hardback edition of ‘The Lord of the Rings’. They also served as chief conceptual designers for Peter Jackson’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ movie trilogy.

List of Books:
– Von Elfen, Goblins, Spukgestalten
– Faeries
– Black ships before Troy
– The Wanderings of Odysseus
– Castles
– The Lord of the Rings (Illustrated Edition)
– The Hobbit (Illustrated Edition)
– The Mabinogion
– The Children of Hurin

Movies as Coneptual Designer:
– Legend (1985)
– Erik the Viking (1989)
– Merlin and the Dragons (1991)
– Merlin (1998)
– The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
– The Two Towers (2002)
– The Return of the King (2003)
– King Kong (2005)
– The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
– The Hobbit (2011)

Artist Name: John Howe

Date of Birth: August 21, 1957

Where From: Vancouver, British Columbia

Short Bio:
John Howe did the illustration for the ‘Lord of the Rings’ Boardgame (created by Reiner Knizia) and re-illustrated the maps of ‘The Lord of the Rings’, ‘The Hobbit’, and ‘The Silmarillion’ in 1996–2003, too. His work is however not limited to this, and includes images of myths such as the legend of ‘Beowulf’.

He also illustrated many other books, amongst which many belong to the fantasy genre. Howe also contributed to the film adaptation of ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’ by C. S. Lewis. In 2005 a limited edition of George R. R. Martin’s novel ‘A Clash of Kings’ was released complete with numerous illustrations by Howe.

List of Books:
– Fantasy Art Workshop
– Forging Dragons

Movies as Conceptual Designer
– The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
– The Two Towers (2002)
– The Return of the King (2003)
– King Kong (2005, Carpenter)
– The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
– The Hobbit (2011)
– The Hobbit 2 (2012)

Read more on Alan Lee and John Howe HERE.