The Art of The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings) [Hardcover]

Gary Russell (Author), Peter Jackson (Afterword)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 2004

With Peter Jackson's Acadamy Award-winning epic motion picture trilogy drawing to a spectacular and triumphant close, Gary Russell's detailed research takes us back into the world of Middle-earth, to relive all the visual drama and excitement of The Return of the King.

The Art of The Return of the King illustrates the creative development of the film from sketch to special effect and features 600 images, most appearing nowhere else. This fully authorized book includes pencil sketches by Alan Lee and John Howe, costume designes by Ngila Dickson, magnificent full-color paintings by Jeremy Bennett, and prop designs, concepts, sculptures and digital artwork from Weta Workshop and Weta Digital. From Minas Tirith to Mount Doom, from the Army of the Dead to Shelob the monstrous spider, all the spectacular landscapes, characters and creatures are covered in stunning detail, including concepts that did not make it into the final film.

To accompany this wealth of imagery, detailed and informative commentaries appear by all the featured artists and designers, together with a special afterword by Peter Jackson. Their personal thoughts and explanations offer unique and fascinating insight into how The Return of the King was brought to life. An artistic journey begun in 1997 reaches its glorious conclusion within these pages, giving the reader a unique chance to witness the creative process that led to one of the most spectacular movies of all time.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Compelling peeks at the creative process"





U.S. News & World Report

"This beautiful, comprehensive volume would be in danger of demystifying the movie were [Peter] Jackson and company's achievements not so incredible that, even explained, they still seem downright otherworldly." Maxim Movies

"Fans of the cinematic version will not want to miss it, while artists and fans of Tolkien's work will treasure it as well." Deseret News

"A book that deserves to be on the shelf of any avid fan of the trilogy, as well as anyone who has an appreciation for art and color." Long Beach Union

"A detailed and fascinating look at the creative development of the film . . . This is one special book for fantasy lovers." 15MinutesMagazine.com

"This book is truly a fascinating peek into the fabulous world of movie making." Lebanon Daily Record

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

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (January 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618430296
• ISBN-13: 978-0618430291
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 9.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #501,571 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Adds Depth and Appreciation to LOTR: ROTK, December 30, 2003

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A.Trendl HungarianBookstore.com "What should ... (Glen Ellyn, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Art of The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings) (Hardcover)

Impressed by astounding cinematography of LOTR? I am. "The Art of The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings)" by Gary Russell shows the amazing art behind the movie is more than pretty pictures.

From "The Siege of Gondor" to "Shelob's Lair," Russell walks us through the stages of design that created a real and surreal world of Middle Earth.

With Shelob, for different artist's reasons for the balance of spider- and crab-like characteristics. Part of the problem was in trying to stay as close to Tolkien's own version while bringing plausible life to Shelob that would work in a movie.

Some of the pictures are pencils. Others are full-color, finely detailed views. Various angles are provided as in the many scenes of Mordor. There are photos of early models, both colored and plain, giving a 3D perspective of what the artists were thinking.

The insight here will intrigue nonartists like myself who are amazed at how complex the making of LOTR was, and serve as a primer for character and building studies. There are elements of technical discussion, but I felt I learned about the relationships of style and message.

I fully recommend "The Art of The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings). It is a beautiful book, with interesting text. Having recently watched the movie, I appreciated both Tolkien and the makers of the movie so much more.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New insights into "Return of the King", May 10, 2004

By 

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

Any sweeping epic is going to have tons of concept art, and "The Lord of the Rings" is no exceptional. In the third collection of movie art, Gary Russell introduces us to the images and models that helped Middle-Earth come alive, and the excellent people behind them.

"Return of the King" introduces us to new civilizations, new monsters, and lots of new enemies and allies -- even more than "Two Towers" did. So the concept art ranges from armor and clothing (Faramir's regal armor, the Haradrim, Eowyn's masculine disguise, the archaic "Dead" armor), the perfect pirate ships, different kinds of Mumakil (prehistoric elephants), weaponry (different sketches of the Grond battering ram), and monsters like the hideous spider Shelob, whose sketches take up a full six pages.

On a more sweeping scale, there are full-fledged paintings, mattes, models and special effects shots. Among the artists are the excellent Alan Lee and John Howe, who both paint and sketch their usual beautiful material. Jeremy Bennett also does a good job, although his stuff is substantially rougher. As for models? Try the ghoulish head of the dead king, different Fell Beast models, the Mumakil, and much more.

It's nice to see the concept art in all its stages. For example, one Witch-King sketch from 1996 shows (Ben Wootten apologetically says) D&D-influenced armor. At the same time, an early sketch of Gandalf confronting one of the Black Riders is shown in nearly identical form in the finished movie. Okay, Pippin isn't there -- but the pose and setting are similar.

The comments from the many artists also give a greater insight into how the various things in the film evolved. Some things (like battering ram Grond) were pretty thoroughly described in the original novel. With other things, like the Fell Beast, the concept artists had to be a little more creative. So it's intriguing to see how their designs shifted and changed, ranging from the grotesque to the silly to the final designs used in the movie.

"The Art of Return of the King" is a good insight into the making of the epic film, and the concept art behind everything from spiders to siege towers. Well worth having.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Okay But Could've Been Better, July 7, 2004

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Hengky Tanoyo "Art Devourer" (Surabaya, Indonesia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Art of The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings) (Hardcover)

I always thought that an ideal Art of book should include powerful imageries that capture the movie's best scenes in initial stages. Yet this book leaves out many of those elements in favor of blurred panoramic art pieces that I found rather wasteful to the content of the book.Don't get me wrong, I like this book. Most of the artworks are astounding, it's just that I found many of the splash pages should've been devoted to more breathtaking images such as the Fell Beasts attacking Minas Tirith or Sam fighting off Shelob.