Customer Reviews

The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had been waiting rather impatiently since this book was first announced, 4 or 5 years ago. It has been promoted by the publishers as a " sumptuous, large-format" book featuring preparatory sketches and rejected drawings for the illustrated edition of " Lord of the Rings", in which Alan Lee's spectacular watercolors inspired Peter Jackson to hire him as conceptual artist for the film trilogy. His involvement with the films obviously held up work on putting the book together, and, in the meantime, the book took a turn in the direction of the film. The result is a mixture of sketches and drawings that were obviously meant as illustrations to the book, coupled with some designs for props, armor, etc from the film AND some drawings done on the New Zealand locations of a few of the actors in their rols ( MacKellan as Gandalf, Blanchett as Galadriel) and maybe even some drawn-from-life landscapes with additions to make them look like Middle-Earth scenery. An example of book illustration is the section devoted to Tom Bombadil and Goldberry; the pencil drawing of Tom's house is coupled with the watercolor developed from it for the book. But there are also drawings of Tom and two for Goldberry ! There are also some sketches for the unfilmed barrow-downs scene.
The big disappointment is the size. It's certainly not " large-format" at 8 x 10 inches, and it's hard for a book to be " sumptuous" when it's that puny ! Also, quite a few of the 20 " color plates" are merely black-and-white pencil drawings on tinted paper !
That said, the drawings ARE beautiful, and many of them have never been published. It certainly is a must for the Tolkien or Alan Lee fan.

There is a quote on the back of the book by Peter Jackson who says that Alan Lee's work is lyrical. And that it is. The work invokes the music, the beat, the poetry of Tolkien's storytelling.

Everything about this book exceeded my expectations. After reading the first review I was very pleasantly suprised by the size. The overall size is fine and the quality and number of drawings is immense. Even the small ones have amazing details and there is a joy of discovery and pleasure to be had on each and every page. Size is NOT an issue here.

What you fine on each page is text but also a number of drawings and or sketches. Each of which will take you back to the movies AND back to Tolkien. There are also many heretofor unseen sketches. In fact, in many ways after viewing and reading this book you will realize the movies where probably more visually Mr. Lee's doing than PJ's or anyone else's.

The color pics are WATERCOLORS, at least the ones I have seen. Mr. Lee uses somber colors for his watercolors. These colors are reproduced well. This book is an amazing work of art. It has been published and bound in Italy to exacting standards especially consdering the price. The cover is very cleverly done to invoke an aged sketchbook. Everything about this book is quality. And every page in the book is magic.

When an author creates a whole new world, as Tolkien did in the 'Rings' series, you can't help but get a vision of what world from his words. Tolkien's 'word pictures' have stayed with me for years - Hobbits live in holes in the ground, but not smelly, dank holes cherry and bright holes.

Mr. Lee was first commissioned to produce a set of drawings for the magnificant 'The Lord of the Rings Illustrated Edition' (Which is still available although it was published in 1991.) Just how he could take Tolkien's description and so perfectly the image that I had developed in my own mind has puzzled me for years.

In this book he shows how he developed what a hobbit really looks like in his cherry, bright hole in the ground. Indeed what does middle earth look like? He shows us. He shows us so well that when Peter Jackson was trying to see middle earth for his films he had Alan Lee to show him the way.

This book is a sketchbook. It shows how Mr. Lee approaches illustrating a book. Here is how he began thinking of hobbits, how he sketched out many, and as he puts it, [illustrating] is more of a process of editing out than attempting to delineate something that already exists as an image in my mind.'

This book is a marvelous description of a process that worked supurbly well.

Length:: 0:21 Mins

The description from the book jacket is rather accurate and I'll quote it here:

-- Start quote --
In The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook Alan Lee reveals in pictures and in words how he created the beautiful watercolour paintings for the special centenary edition of The Lord of the Rings. These images would prove so powerful and evocative that they would eventually define the look of Peter Jackson's movie trilogy and would earn him a coveted Academy Award.

The book is filled with over 150 of his sketches and early conceptual pieces to show how the project progressed from idea to finished art. It also contains a selection of colour paintings reproduced in full-page glory, together with numerous examples of previously unseen conceptual art produced for the films and many new works drawn specially for this book.

The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook provides a fascinating insight into the imagination of the ma who painted Tolkien's vision, firstly onto the page and then in three dimensions on the cinema screen. It will also be of interest to many of the 100,000 people who have bought the illustrated The Lord of the Rings as well as for budding artists interested in unlocking the secrets of book illustration.
-- end quote --

Full coloured paintings are few actually. But this book has an amazing collection of pencil sketches. The chapters are sorted by places that appear in the book, in chronological order.

With the author's comments, it makes this book sort of a "Making of" book together with it being an "Art of" book. So that's really a plus.

It should interest concept and fantasy artists. Oh, and also Lord of the Rings fans.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

One of the other reviewers took issue with the term "sumptuous" to describe this book because it was not "large format" (although at 8x10 inches it is larger than a standard hardcover book). Then how about "exquisite"? I have long thought Alan Lee the artist who most captured the real essence of what I imagined Middle Earth to be. And I suppose a good part of my positive reaction to the Peter Jackson film trilogy was due to the influence that Lee exercised over visual aspects of the movies. In this sketchbook, we are treated to hundreds of delicate pencil sketches of characters, landscapes, buldings, and artifacts, almost dreamlike in their impact, not so much overwhelming the viewer as permeating the mind. It is a wonderful volume through which to browse, filled with images that were later brought to vivid life on the screen or, in some cases (such as Tom Bombadil) remained only on paper. This book is simple exquisite.

Alan Lee has, til recently, been living much in the shadow of Brian Froud, his co-illustrator of Faeries. Lee's more "realistic" depictions of fantasy tend to have taken second fiddle to Froud's more "free form" and "metaphysical" musings. And, while Lee has been a substantial contributor to genre films for ages (Erik the Viking comes to mind), and has contributed to other books of his art (Castles, and the Mabinogion, come to mind), it's taken Tolkien's films to break him out of his shell. In this work, Lee basically takes us along through the filming in a sort of set diary, showing us the graphic evolution of the artwork that ultimately made it to celluloid. While some of the artwork can be found in his illustrations of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (a must have edition, in my opinion), there's a surprising amount of new material in here, and fans of the Ring (movie) trilogy will find his commentaries of high interest.

Alan Lee is a celebrated artist who has elected to limit his endeavors to the world of myths and fantasy (his illustrations for 'The Iliad' are state of the art). With the publication of this fine book his place in the pantheon of illustrator artists is secure.

In this well-conceived book Lee's beginnings at age 17 with his fascination for JRR Tolkien's books are discussed and his early sketches well reproduced. Then in an orderly but revealing fashion we are allowed to follow his successful illustrations for the centenary editions of 'Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit' through his assignment and subsequent designs for Peter Jackson's cinematic adaptation of the Ring Trilogy.

The book is rich in both black and white intricately involved sketches as well as watercolor renderings that lead to the magic of the Jackson films. The interaction between sketchpad to screen is a conversation we are invited to share. This is a must for those young readers who are exploring Tolkien for the first time, but it is also a splendid overview of the art of illustration, a volume that deserves a place in every art library. Grady Harp, April 06

Alan Lee is a wonderful man and a pencil genius.
What Alan achieved with his drawings is what Peter Jackson achieved with his movies.
I was extremely pleased with this book - although a little smaller than I thought but beautiful - the drawings are very well printed on the paper. The typesetting are gorgeous.
Marvellous forward by Sir Ian McKellen.
The intro pages with his drawing of Middle Eart are very beautiful. WONDERFUL WORK! If you are a Tolkien/Lee/Jackson fan or like very good drawings, I mean Very Good Drawings and Illustrations, please do not hesitate - This book is for you. Enjoy it as much as I do.

I really wish I could meet Alan one day...

I'd recommend this book for anyone who likes arts, or at least The Lord of the Rings. The pencil artworks are fantastic, mostly very detailed; there are also a few paints in the book, you can see their pencil sketches, too, each of these painted pictures cover a full page.
The book itself covers the most of the Lord of the Rings's places, it even contains pictures of Tom Bombadil's house, him and his wife.
Easily 5 stars from 5...

After going through every page of sketches in this book, it occurred to me that Peter Jackson essentially took Alan Lee's vision and made it into the great epic that Lord of the Rings turned out to be. Alan Lee's imagination is unbelievable. The details of his pencil sketches are amazing, highly complex and rich. If you buy this book make sure you spend some time looking at Alan's depiction of the town Bree on page 35...the detail is unbelievable. Great book for learning how to pencil sketch or just have on your coffee table to show to friends.