Customer Reviews

The Lord of the Rings: The Art of The Fellowship of the Ring

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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.

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!

This book is the best lord of the rings art book i've ever seen. It's got over 500 paintings and drawings of john howe and alan lee artwork, story boards, custume designs, sword designs, charater designs, sketches of all the creatures and orcs. But the best part of all is at the end of the book, 12 sketchs, sculptures AND photos of BALROG AHHHHHH Yesssssss it's so sinister looking I love it. Excellent book, great book layout and design. My highest recommendation for all. This book is about as good as the movie. This book shows how much work and dedication went into LOTR it should have won best picture, instead of that other movie A Beautiful Mind, 10 years from now who will remeber A Beautiful Mind anyway, and we will always remeber LOTR for the next 100 years to come.

This is unlike many books i've come across. No, the pages aren't all beautiful illustrations from the movie. Rather, this book shows you the creative process the designers went through in order come up with the final product. It is WONDERFUL to see how Sauron's costume evolved or how the idea of the balrog underwent numerous changes. Also in the book are sketches and ideas for all of the places in the book, which shows you just how much background thought and work was put into making this movie. Recommended for all who are even slightly interested in the lord of the rings.

When the highly anticipated film came out in theatres, I was immidiatley looking around to see what new interesting books that would accompany it. I was actually a bit disappointed - there were just simple books like "LOTR: Visual Companion" & stuff like that. They are fun (I own them too), but I was looking for something like "The Art of Star Wars". And finally, this summer, it came - The Art of Lord of The Rings!
And just in time for birthday - I was so happy I had tears in my eyes when I received it as a gift.
Well, let me get you to the point. "The Art of LOTR" is filled with hundreds of wonderfull pictures.
The book is divided into four chapters. I'll give you a quick summary of them one by one, to give you an idea of what`s inside the book.

1. Locations
This is by far the largest chapter, and one of my favourites. The digitalized landscape paintings of Rivendell and the great watchtower of Amon Sul, as well as the amazing interior sketches of Moria and Isengard are highly impressive and awe-inspiring.
The idyllic pictures of Shire and the mysterious paintings of Lothlorien also gives you a magical feeling.
This chapter is also the most varied ; it has everything, from the simplest interior sketches of Bag End to the impressive landscape views of The Misty Mountains and the frightening, burned-out shadow land of Mordor - especially a huge painting of Sauron and his army of orcs.

2.Costumes
If there is any chapter that disappointed me, it is this one.
For the first, the characters aren`t very well drawn. For the second, the images only shows the finished concepts - not a lot of unused stuff, like "The Art of Star Wars" does, for example.

3. Armoury
This chapter shows a wide array of interesting concepts for armour. There are multiple designs for axes, swords, and other weaponry. And the sketches of Sauron are absolutely marvellous ; he`s just so evil-looking and cool at the same time.
The pencil sketches of this chapter are perfect when you shall begin drawing swords, for example. They`re simple, yet complex.

4. Creatures
This is also a rather large chapter and what makes it very interesting to me is that there is a huge amount of unused concepts - like the orcs, for example. There are dozens of sketches which are very unlike the ones seen in the film, and there seem to be an endless array of concepts for them. They look like goblins, rats and god knows what!
"The Watcher in the water" is also given multiple desings, although it has less than a minute of screentime. Nearly all possible sea monster concepts seems to be mixed here - and I find it just awe-inspiring. But the real treat of the chapter is 14 pictures of the Balrog, both pencil sketches, paintings and maquettes, showing different sides of it - from reptilian to human-like, before finally evolving into the fire creature we see in the movie.

The book ends with a few credits, and a pair of preview pictures for "The Art of LOTR: The Two Towers" (coming 2003), which I can barely wait to have in my hands!
Over all, this book is a wonderfull blend of fantasy art and sketches, and definitley what all LOTR fans that want more than just the film have been waiting for. It`s like a dream coming true. So, there is just one more thing for me to say: GO BUY IT!

The art of the fellowship of the ring focuses primarily on background / environmental rough concepts and creature designs, with only brief sections covering costume and armory. Many of the most wonderful and unique artistic contributions to the film are bypassed completely; including any detailed drawings or photos of Jewelry, props, and furnishings (looking for an image of that nouveau chair at Rivendell, or the elven rings? You're out of luck)! The small format doesn't do the images any favors either; New Line and Mr. Russell would do well to look into the designs of the Disney "Art of" books for future volumes.

Bottom line; great book for a teenage boy whose tastes run towards "Dungeons and dragons" and comic books. But for older Tolkien fans and serious artists, this book falls far short of the mark.

I got the The Art of The Lord of the Rings, because I loved the look of the Movie and wanted to see how the designers created the costumes and set. I recommend this book for anyone who wants to know more about it.

"Art of Fellowship of the Ring" seems somehow to be a bad title for this book: It implies that this is about art, but it's actually concept art. To be precise, concept drawings and sketches of costumes, places, and bizarre inhuman creatures all through the stages of their creation.

We're given in-depth studies of places like Rivendell, Lothlorien, Bag End, Bree, and the various sketches of what worked and what didn't (such as a tree-dwelling in Lothlorien that looks like a hatrack with lanterns on it). The costumes: the simplicity of the little hobbit outfits, the Byzantine splendor of Boromir's garb, the ultra-elaborate Elven costumes of Arwen and Elrond, and the spiky armor of Sauron from the beginning of the film. There's a section on weaponry, on the various incarnations of Narsil, Sting, and Legolas's quiver. There are glimpses of the various orcs, how they evolved from almost ratlike creatures to steel-jawed monstrosities to the ugly things in the movie; of the evolving appearance of the Ringwraiths (one of whom looked eerily like Emperor Palpatine); of the Balrog and the tentacled Watcher (who is shown in his various states). And captioning nearly every photograph is an insightful comment from the appropriate person who worked on that, be it costuming, weapons, or CGI.

There are all sorts of goodies for people who liked the visual richness of "Fellowship of the Ring." Concept art is always great to look at, and seeing all sorts of subtle variations on stuff in the movie -- like the floorplan of Bag End -- is absolutely wonderful. Sometimes there are several, even dozens of concept sketches, like the various incarnations of the Watcher (a really gross squidlike thing that looks almost spiderlike at times), weapons, and even dozens of pipes!

Perhaps the main drawback of this book is that the costume part is a little (pardon the pun) sketchy. Each character (with the exception of Arwen and Galadriel) gets a page at best, half a page at worst. There are usually only a couple of sketches of clothing, and we never get to see how, for example, Aragorn's outfit evolved. But this is somewhat made up for by the glimpses of Sauron's various armor types.

"Art" is a fantastic book of concept sketches. Though it sags a little in that one area, it's enormous fun for the Lord of the Rings fans.

I found that the Art of the Fellowship of the Ring was extremely interesting. The sketches and composites were all very detailed and unique. Many of the drawings included, of course, never made it to the film, so it is brilliant to see some of the artists' original conceptions of Professor Tolkien's work.

As a fan of both architectural and fashion design I found the sections on 'Locations' and 'Costumes' particularly fascinating. For instance, I never realized that the basic outline for the Elven clothing was taken from the shape of leaves, nor the intricacy of the detail put into places as seemingly simple as Bag End.

Many of the sketches contained in this volume are of things that never made it to the film, not even to the extended version. In summary, The Art of the Fellowship of the Ring is an exhilerating insight to the LotR for both those interested in art...and I am sure for those who simply revere it, as well. ^^