Alan Lee, the beloved illustrator of many of Houghton Mifflin’s Tolkien editions, and a talented team of other artists, including the renowned Tolkien illustrator John Howe, have spent more than three years creating the sets, props, creatures, and locations that truly bring Tolkien’s Middle-earth to life. Hobbiton, Rivendell, and Minas Tirith are no longer designations on the map. Literally hundreds of designers and craftspeople have been painstakingly adding authentic cultural details to each of more than 48,000 separate objects shown in The Fellowship of the Ring, from armor to props to architecture. All this and more is shown in Gary Russell’s lavishly illustrated book. Russell spent time on the set in New Zealand, conducting interviews with director Peter Jackson, special effects guru Richard Taylor, art directors Paul Lasainne, Dan Hennah, and Chris Hennah, costumer Ngila Dickson, and Alan Lee and John Howe. Featuring everything from pencil sketches to the finished objects, his book gives detailed descriptions of why and how this groundbreaking film looks as exciting as it does. The millions of fans dazzled by the results will find here everything they want to know about the genesis and evolution of the movie’s incredible look.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
The third tie-in volume to Peter Jackson's smash film adaptation of the fantasy epic spotlights the hundreds of paintings, sketches, and models used to construct the film's sets, design costumes, build props, and more. Essentially, this is a catalog of roughly 500 striking images of the conceptual art juxtaposed with the finished item used on film, whether it be a house, a cloak, weaponry, or any of the assorted beasties. The book covers all facets of the physical creation of Tolkien's world on film. The illustrations are accompanied with captions written by British writer/editor Russell and based on interviews conducted with the numerous painters, sculptors, costume designers, prop makers, and others responsible for converting the story from page to screen. Because of the price, the film's legions of fans might not want to pop for the book themselves, but they will gladly borrow it, so it's worth the investment. Recommended. Michael Rogers, "Library Journal"
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"Inside knowledge will enhance your enjoyment of the film rather than lessen it." Fort Worth Star-Telegram
"It's worth the investment. Recommended" Library Journal
"Showcases hundreds of set, costume and character designs used in creating the acclaimed film." The Los Angeles Times
"The visual quality was stunning [The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]. This book captures the look and feel." Kansas City Star
"It's worth the investment. Recommended" Library Journal
"Showcases hundreds of set, costume and character designs used in creating the acclaimed film." The Los Angeles Times
"The visual quality was stunning [The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]. This book captures the look and feel." Kansas City Star
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A comprehensive and entertaining companion to the films!,
By Marcy Gomez (Kansas City, USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Art of The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings) (Hardcover)
What an incredible book! At 192 pages, this fantastic work by Gary Russell is chock-full of pictures, sketches, drawings and paintings from the wonderful film The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Rings. I have purchased all of the movie tie-in books available and this is by far my favorite. If you are into visuals (and I am), I couldnt recommend this book enough. The back of the book says contains 500 exclusive paintings and drawings from the spectacular film" and they weren't kidding!The book is divided into 4 chapters - Locations, Costumes, Armory and Creatures. The LOCATIONS chapter is by far the largest - with extensive coverage of Bag End and Hobbiton, Bree, Weathertop, Ford of Bruinen, Rivendell, Moria, Isengard, Lothlorien, the River Anduin, Mordor and Amon Hen. One of my favorites is the sketch of the Bag End floor plan (with its pantries and cellars that we dont get to see in the film). There are also sketches of the interior of the Green Dragon Inn (which we never saw on the film but which will hopefully make an appearance on the Special Extended Edition VHS/DVD to be released in November). The COSTUMES chapter shows the various design sketches by Ngila Dickson and Sylvana Sacco. All the main characters (from Frodo to Galadriel to Sauron - as well Gandalfs pipes!) are featured. Costume designer Ngila Dickson also gives snippets on the influences of the costumes as well as the reasons why certain design themes were chosen (e.g. Boromirs Gondorian costume is drawn from Byzantine influences and how Legolas costume was the most difficult to design). The ARMORY section shows all the various swords, daggers, insignias, shields, etc. carried by the characters. Included are Frodos mithril shirt and the various armor as worn by Elendil, Elrond and GilGalad in the Prologue. The final chapter, and not the least interesting, is the CREATURES section with its sketches, maquettes, paintings and screenshots of Orcs, Urukhai, the Cave Troll, the Ringwraiths, the Watcher of the Water and the spectacular Balrog. One of the most interesting are the various versions of the Balrog (from more human-like to reptilian to the final version with wings). Whats wonderful about this book is that it really gives you the essence of the monumental task of bringing the films to life. So many talented individuals collaborated to breath life into Professor Tolkiens Middle Earth. Mind you, this book isnt all visuals: each picture is accompanied by the description of the picture, the artist and background information on the picture (e.g. how it was used in the film, why it was rejected, Peter Jacksons ideas). For instance, on his sketch of the Balrog, John Howe describes why he chose to give the Balrog wings (and Peter Jacksons response to it). Alan Lee's beautiful paintings and drawings are also showcased in this book. If you are a fan of the books and/or the film, are interested in art, or enjoy books with lots (and I mean loads) of wonderful visuals, then I couldnt recommend this book highly enough. Im already looking forward to The Art of The Two Towers and cant wait to see what Gary Russell has in store for us in the next couple of years!
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
More Sketchbook Than Art,
By A Customer
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Art of The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings) (Hardcover)
Perhaps this book should have been called "Sketchbook of Fellowship of the Ring" because my one disappointment was that, while it does a lovely job of showing preliminary sketches and how ideas evolved, there is very little shown of the finished art; that is, the film itself. What it does, it does beautifully. However, I am still hungry for a museum-quality book that will show details of sets, props and costumes as they actually appeared, but in still form (as opposed to rushing by on screen) so that we can appreciate the details that even multiple viewings of the film can't completely capture. The film itself is Art; the book seems to limit art to sketches/paintings that, lovely or fascinating in themselves, do not do justice to the breadth of art found in the film. Apparently, we need more specific volumes devoted to cinematography and costuming. However, as a sketchbook, this is a lovingly compiled volume, and the cover and endpaper designs are particularly well-chosen.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely gorgeous book,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Art of The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings) (Hardcover)
This book is tremendous! Many of the movie-based books out on the market are very dumbed-down and repetitive. For example, The Fellowship and Two Towers Movie Companion books, the Two Towers Creatures book, etc, all show you about the same things. Sure, they may have a few treats but not worth your 10 bucks. But this -- this is worth every penny. It's long - about 200 pages I believe, hardback, and contains beautiful illustrations and interesting info on every page. It mostly deals with the artists of the movie describing how they made Tolkien's books into reality. Thankfully, the main focus is on the art. It's divided into 4 sections: 1. Places -- sketches and full color photos of Lothloien, Moria, and more. 2. Costumes -- detailed pictures of not only the costumes, but alternative designs, pictures of the actors wearing them, etc 3. Creatures -- stunning pics of orcs, trolls, etc 4. Weapons -- I'm not much into this, but it has VERY detailed info about swords and such. Not only is there drawings, but photos from the movie -- some I'd seen before, some were new. Overall, I'd say this one of the best movie-based LOTR books out there. BUY IT!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
