The Art of The Lord of the Rings [Paperback]

Gary Russell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2004

A dual-edition full-color book for the millions of fans who have taken The Lord of the Rings to heart through the celebrated film trilogy. Many of the images included in this volume, depicting pivotal scenes and characters, were previously embargoed and have never appeared in book form. The work of Alan Lee and John Howe — the two artists most closely associated with Tolkien’s world — is featured, along with that of many other talented artists and designers. The artists’ own descriptions of the design process used in creating the look of the films both enlighten and enliven this essential book.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

GARY RUSSELL traveled to film production sites in New Zealand to conduct hundreds of exclusive interviews with the principal artists whose work is detailed in this book. The author of The Lord of the Rings: The Art of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Art of the Return of the King, Russell has worked widely in media as a magazine editor, novelist, columnist, and audio drama producer.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (November 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618510834
• ISBN-13: 978-0618510832
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #434,213 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Artful, April 6, 2005

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Art of The Lord of the Rings (Hardcover)

In the foreword of "The Art of The Lord of the Rings," Gary Russell reveals that he always intended to create a "best of" book, after doing the previous books for the hit movie trilogy. Now that all the extended versions are out, and everybody knows the ending, this Best Of collection proves itself to be just as useful as Russell's previous books.

As the previous books have had, Russell takes a look at all sorts of concept art for the films: There are storyboards, intricate pencil drawings, paintings, and action shots. Some of it was previously unreleased, like a picture of Gandalf the Grey looking over an army. Quite a few of the pictures are almost identical to the film, especially the digital shots, which are 100% realistic. And there is even a gallery of maquette models, including trolls, Shelob, mumakil, Treebeard, the king of the dead and the intricate Easterling armor.

The difference between this and Russell's prior books? Here, Russell divides the artwork by artist, rather than by subject. As a result, readers can get a better idea on what the assorted artists specialized at, and their different concepts about what "Lord of the Rings" should look like.

First and foremost are the legendary Alan Lee and John Howe. Lee's artwork is very vivid and action-based, and his color pictures are almost like photos. Howe's are mostly black and white, extremely detailed, and are more delicate than Lee's more muscular style. Without a doubt, these guys were the bedrock for all the concept art.

But there are quite a few other artists included, and each has their own style and focus. Christian Rivers and Ben Wootten seemed to specialize in armor, beasties and menaces, while Warren Mahy tended to focus on the grotesque and gruesome, such as the orcs, the dead men, and uruk-hai. And Daniel Falconer did a little of everything, including ship designs, radically different designs for the ent Treebeard, and lots and lots of armor (both past and present).

Russell ends it with small shots of the ending credits of ROTK, which was made of delicate pictures of each actor in costume, as "we would wish to remember them." It's a bit saddening, but as he reminds us in the foreword, there's always "The Hobbit" someday.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BREATHTAKING ART, June 30, 2005

By 

Tim Janson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Art of The Lord of the Rings (Hardcover)

Owning all of the Boxed sets of the LOTR's trilogy I found myself utterly fascinated with the various documentaries on the discs about the making of the film. Especially with the art designs..the paintings, storyboards, miniatures...Here are men who are supremely talented artists whose paintings and drawings would never been seen by most people were it not for the DVDs and books like this. This is high art...Gorgeous and breathtaking and on a par if not surpassing the works of people like the Hildebrandt Brothers who have been long known for their paintings of Middle Earth. Next to people like Alan Lee, the Hildebrandts work seems child-like in its intent.

The painting of the Nazgul looking down like a vulture over the town of Bree, just waiting is marvelous. The Nazgul, their wriath images revealed to a startled Frodo when he puts the ring on atop Weathertop, Treebeard, Shelob...the fantastic pencil drawings. These films created literally thousands of masterpieces of fantasy art. Just a fantastic book and at over 200 pages it's not some fluff marketing item, but a book for serious fans and collectors.

19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars .....................................................All Art, December 23, 2004

By 

Antonio Cunha Silva (Stb, Portugal) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Art of The Lord of the Rings (Hardcover)

This volume is so Beauty Full - although not as good as "The Art Of The Return Of The King", nor "The Lord Of The Rings, Weapons And Warfare" - and have so many New pictures and final concepts of the movies that were NOT in the other three The Art Of...

I recommend for people who really are addicted to the movies like me! I have all the movie books of this marvellous trilogy! All of them have different pictures!

There are 17 LOTR movie books such as The Art Of (4 with this one) + Visual Companions (4) + Official Movie Guide + The Making Of The Movie Trilogy + Weapons And Warfare + Gollum, How We Made Movie Magic + Photo Guides (5 different ones including The Two Towers Creatures)!!!

For curious people I recommend also There And Back Again, An Actor's Tale by Sean Astin with Joe Layden and The Rough Guide To The Lord Of The Rings! Also The Songbooks (Piano/Vocal/Chords) of The Fellowship Of The Ring, The Two Towers and The Return Of The King! At last inside the DVD The Evolution Of Gollum there is another beautiful book - You can find it in The Two Towers SEE DVD Gift Box!

If you like these movies get all the movie books of The Lord Of The Rings before they run out! I don't think that all the editions are going to last forever!