Lord of the Rings Sketchbook [Hardcover]

J R R Tolkien (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 6, 2004

A sumptuous large-format hardback containing sketches and paintings from the illustrated Lord of the Rings, together with brand new and previously unseen material. In this large-format hardback Alan Lee reveals in pictures and in words how he created the images in the authorised illustrated edition of The Lord of the Rings. These images would prove so powerful, matching perfectly with Tolkien's own vision, that they would eventually define the look of Peter Jackson's movie trilogy and earn Alan 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 20 colour paintings reproduced in full-page glory, together with numerous examples of his conceptual art produced for the films and brand new pieces drawn specially for this book. It also includes an exclusive foreword written by Sir Ian McKellen. The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook provides a fascinating insight into the imagination of the man 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 Lord of the Rings as well as for budding artists and illustrators interested in unlocking the secrets of book illustration.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Alan Lee's artwork has a beauty and lyricism about it. His art captured what I hoped to capture with the films.' Peter Jackson 'Among the greatest works of imaginative fiction of the 20th century.' Sunday Telegraph 'An extraordinarily imaginative work, part saga, part allegory, and wholly exciting.' The Times 'A grand piece of work in both conception and execution.' Daily Telegraph

About the Author

Alan Lee was born in Middlesex in 1947. His illustrated books include Faeries (with Brian Froud), Castles and Merlin Dreams, and has worked on such prestigious films as Erik the Viking (Terry Gilliam), Legend (Ridley Scott), and the acclaimed NBC miniseries Merlin. He is best known however for his work on the books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and now the film version.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins (September 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0261103830
• ISBN-13: 978-0261103832
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,439,335 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars beautiful drawings, but small format, October 21, 2005

By 

David O. Roberts (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook (Hardcover)

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.

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent---worth many times the price, November 11, 2005

By 

austin_Larry (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook (Hardcover)

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.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely marvelous book, December 8, 2005

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook (Hardcover)

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.