This is an excellent beginning! I was especially impressed by the way you incorporated the images into your discussion. As you note, you need to add some illustrations from the films and you definitely need a conclusion.
As this paper stands, it is a just a discussion of a series of papers. You need to incorporate the sources you listed in your preliminary bibliography, to let us know what other scholars have had to say on the subject.
You also have a fair number of typos, misspellings and punctuation errors. Please get someone who is really good to proofread this for you or show it to one of the tutors.
I am really looking forward to the finished paper! Lydia Fish November 25, 2008, at 06:00 PM
I can not wait for you to post pictures! It must have been hard for you to write this without posting them. Everything else seems to be great. Just be sure to profread when your done. Donald Turner November 13, 2008, at 05:23 PM
You chose a very difficult topic, I am glad to see you pulling your ideas together. I am glad you found a way to include some images to help us understand better. I think it would have been interesting to include your interpretations as well, on Tolkien, Howe and Lee. Eligh Hanning
Your topic and paper are interesting and captivating. You have developed the topic very well for I had considered it to be a very hard one to pursue. Great job and I am looking forward to reading your final draft. Steven Wilser? November 13, 2008, at 04:38 PM
Oh Brittany, you’re so artsy. I like how you’re incorporating the artwork into your paper, although I couldn’t think of it being done any other way. You need to cite your sources properly, and maybe develop your own thoughts a bit more instead of relying solely on Tolkien’s imagery and artists’ statements. Brian Nacov November 13, 2008, at 03:12 PM
This is an interesting topic to write about. I really liked the pictures that you chose to use. Personally, I only like art if it is realistic (not abstract) and is done very well, which is how I feel about these pictures. I’d really like to see how it all comes together in the end in your final. You should have a great paper. Sarah Chudyk? November 13, 2008, at 10:02 AM
Artwork is a difficult subject. But I can tell by reading that you like it; you’re doing a great job. Especially your descriptions of various things. You’re so detailed I can almost see what you’re talking about in my head. Joseph Bella? November 13, 2008, at 12:25 AM
You took on a major challenge and I am really looking forward to seeing the final draft of your paper with all your pictures incorporated with their explanations. I am not a very artistic person which may be one of the reasons I find your paper and topic in general so fascinating. I think you are off to a great start and look forward to seeing how you develop you ideas. Carly Lopez? November 12, 2008, at 11:32 PM
This topic is so different than everyone else’s that it’s hard to make a comparison. It’s always great to see how people can create incredible scenes from the written word. In your introduction, the use of the word ‘description’ twice makes it a bit repetitive. I like seeing the histories of the artists to see just who these people are. It’s rough so far, but I know you’ll make this a really interesting presentation! Devon Cozad? November 12, 2008, at 08:45 PM
Your topic is very interesting. I would like to see more descriptions of the artists works and what the significance of it is. Great Job so far! I can’t wait read your final! Elizabeth Delano? November 12, 2008, at 06:37 PM
Good job with the rough draft. When you start a new paragraph, re-state who ‘them’ is so that we clearly know which people you are talking about. I think that when you are able to piece this paper together and work out the kinks you will have a wonderful piece of work. I love that you have a strong appreciation for art. Good job and I can’t wait to see the final! (Could choices on the artwork…it is beautiful!) Keilah Bradley November 12, 2008, at 04:38 PM
You are on the right track. Please, also compare and contrast the elements in the paintings of the two artist in order to be able to expalain why they are opposed. Any one looking at the painting can see the contrast between the two but what are your interpretation of them that makes them different.Trudy Antwi November 11, 2008, at 11:33 PM
It was very interesting being able to see the art work accompanied by the quotes from the text. Because I read the books after seeing the movies I didn’t really look into where those images originally came from. If these artists had created something totally different, those interpretations would be what I would have thought Tolkien’s world to looked like. It is fascinating how art so strongly determines our perspectives. Great start so far! Sarah McNutt November 11, 2008, at 07:38 PM
It’s hard to give you specific criticism about your paper because it is a very rough draft. You clearly have alot of imagery through quotes and similar paintings and drawings. The one idea that you had noted was a comparison between the imagery of Mirkwood and Rivendell (You could even add in Lothlorien!) I think using this concept throughout your paper might help out alot. What other things can you compare? Architecture? Good job so far! Lauren Brych? November 11, 2008, at 02:43 PM
I really like your topic, especially your incorporation of the pictures. I think it will help a lot for the reader when you have more pictures up for the final draft. I think you should definitely go more into your own interpretations of some of the scenes, as I am sure you were planning on doing, as well as with Tolkien’s descriptions that you already have. Good job! Kelsey Till November 09, 2008, at 04:32 PM
I look forward to seeing your final draft with the pictures and descriptions of them side-by-side, and especially look forward to your presentation. I commend you for taking on this topic, as it would prove to be more difficult for those of us who are less artistically minded. Make sure to italicize “The Lord of the Rings” and you need to edit your citations; the citations need to be in parenthesis and you need to cite the books like Shippey does in Author of the Century. Emily Marvin? November 09, 2008, at 04:12 PM
I think you’ll have a really interesting paper once you finish putting all the different pieces together. You have a good start with the pictures and the different passages you want to use. I’m interested to read the conclusions you make. Annika Laughlin? November 11, 2008, at 08:54 PM
This rough draft is certainly in its beginning stages, I have recently finished watching all of the documentaries relevant to my paper and have many images to pull from them. I plan on inserting and doing more analysis on the artwork. I think the photographs will be detrimental to fully illustrate the comparisons that are made and it will be easier to go into further detail for the reader. Most of Alan Lee’s artwork is in the film as opposed to John Howe who does have a website. The links posted are some of the pictures I am planning to use.
Art of the Lord of the Rings
Throughout the years, the Lord of the Rings trilogy has inspired countless works of art from the beautiful and lyrical descriptions given by Tolkien. His fluid and detailed descriptions give very specific images that artists bring to life visually with their pencils and paint. Two of the most well known Tolkien artists are John Howe and Alan Lee. Both of them have been depicting scenes from the trilogy for decades.
Peter Jackson asked them onboard for the movies. The movies in themselves produced countless numbers of artwork. Both John Howe and Alan Lee were chief conceptual artists on the project. They rendered countless number of sketches and artwork for the films, producing what is possibly their best artwork.
It is interesting to take a look on how close the artwork depicts the scenes so masterfully described by Tolkien. Some descriptions are incredibly specific while others leave room for interpretation. Both of the artists as well as Peter Jackson are stanch Tolkien fans and their goal was to be as true to the book as possible. They aimed to create a world that looked like it had been there for centuries; since the beginning of time. They wanted a world seeped in culture and ancient history; something that depicts that there is so much more. Tolkien wrote his novels as if the history of Middle Earth was known; a history that goes back to the beginning of its creation.
John Howe attended college in Strasbourg, France, and the following year in the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs. “His love and respect for Tolkien’s world is apparent through the imaginative power of his illustrations and the integrity he brings to all aspects of his design work. Large tracts of Middle-earth are brooded over by John’s awe-inspiring structures. His Barad-dűr, glimpsed through clouds of swirling vapour, will be an enduring image in many minds, as will his Gandalf striding purposefully through the Shire.” Alan Lee Alan Lee Alan Lee was born in London, and attended the Ealing School of Art. During his years there concentrated on the depiction of Celtic and Norse myths. At the advice of a friend, he read The Lord of the Rings when he was 17, and it greatly influenced his professional work.
The Shire and Bag End are very similar to the English country side. John Howe, having never been to Britain tends to draw a very ideal and idyllic depiction when drawing the Shire. Alan Lee is very much familiar with the landscape and thus focuses on such where as Howe, who is known for his illustrations of the Hobbit holes, particularly Bag End.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21936719@N07/3034516497/”the shire Alan Lee”
http://www.john-howe.com/portfolio/gallery/details.php?image_id=1&template=big
http://www.john-howe.com/portfolio/gallery/details.php?image_id=2934
Rivendell
(The Art of Alan Lee)
http://www.john-howe.com/portfolio/gallery/details.php?image_id=1052
Lothlorian artwork is common in the drawings and paintings of Alan Lee. He did the majority of the concepts in the film. His depictions have a fluidity and urethral quality that Tolkien describes. However the actual imagery is exceptionally brief giving Lee quite an amount of artistic freedom.
“They had gone little more than a mile into the forest when they came upon another stream flowing down swiftly from the tree-clad slopes that climbed back westward towards to mountains. They heard it splashing over a fall away among the shadows on their right. Its dark hurrying waters ran across the path before them, and joined the Silverlode in a swirl of dim pools among the roots of trees.” Pg. 379
Lee creates the flowing and shadowy woods of Mirkwood well. There is an eerie and heavenly feeling in the colors and fogginess of the drawings. The trees are drawn with great strength as the reach far into the sky. The wood is very different than the ents domain as well as Rivendell. Tolkien gave each of the woods a unique feeling and look which is successfully done in the illustrations and paintings of Alan Lee.
The Dead Marshes is described from a wide view with Mordor looming in the background. The illustrations created for the film have the evil mountains rising from the end of the fields. Tolien’s descrption describes a swamp dangerous to navigate and full of dead brush.
“On either side and in front wide fens and mires now lay, stretching away southward and eastward into the dim half-light. Mists curled and smoked from dark and noisome pools. The reek of them hung stifling in the still air. Far away, now almost due south, the mountain-walls of Mordor loomed, like a black bar of rugged clouds floating above a dangerous fog-bound sea.” Pg 258
“The fens grew more wet, opening into wide stagnant meres, among places where feet could tread without sinking into gurgling mud.” Pg. 260
Rohan and its Golden Hall was beautifully depicted by Tolkien. This race of men was near to his heart and depicted them as a race of Anglo-Saxons masters in the rearing and riding of horses. There was plenty of details and images for both artists to work with, particularly Alan Lee. His sketches illustrate the Golden Hall on top a hill with its thatched roof glowing in the sunlight.
“A dike and mighty wall and thorny fence encircle it. Within there rise the roofs of houses; and in the mist, set upon a green terrace, there stands aloft a great hall of Men. And it seems to my eyes that it is thatched with gold. The light of it shines far over the land. Golden, too, are the posts of its doors.” Pg. 117
Though Tolkien did not specifically say that it was a roof of hay, Alan Lee drew from the history and ways of the Anglo-Saxons whom this race was said to depict.
“The guards now lifted the heavy bars of the doors and swung them slowly inwards grumbling on their great hinges. The travelers entered. Inside it seemed dark and warm after the clear air upon the hill. The hall was long and wide and filled with shadows and half lights; mighty pillars upheld its lofty roof. But here and there bright sunbeams fell in glimmering shafts from the eastern windows, high under the deep eaves. Through the louver in the roof, above the thin wisps of issuing smoke, the sky showed pale and blue. As their eyes changed, the travelers perceived that the floor was paved with stones of many hues; branching runes and strange devices intertwined beneath their feet. They saw now that the pillars were richly carved, gleaming dully with gold and half-seen colours. Many woven cloths were hung upon the walls, and over their wide spaces marched figures of ancient legend, some dim with years, some darkling in the shade. But upon one form the sunlight fell; a young man upon a white horse. He was blowing a great horn, and his yellow hair was flying in the wind. The horse’s head was lifted, and its nostrils were wide and red as it neighed, smelling battle afar. Foaming water, green and white, rushed and curled about its knees.” Pg. 123
The colors, the lines were beautifully drawn by Lee for the films. In the films the hall is dark; the floor made of different color stones; the pillars richly carved with its leaf of soft gold and muted but rich colors; the tapestries on the wall are rich of scenes from their past.
Helm’s Deep
http://www.john-howe.com/portfolio/gallery/details.php?image_id=73&template=big
http://www.john-howe.com/portfolio/gallery/details.php?image_id=3496
“Men of that land called it Helm’s Deep, after a hero of old wars who had made his refuge there. Ever steeper and narrower it wound inward from the north under the shadow of the Thrihyrne, till the crowhaunted cliffs rose like mighty towers on either side, shutting out the light.”
“At Helm’s Gate, before the mouth of the Deep, there was a heel of rock thrust outward by the northern cliff. There upon its spur stood high walls of ancient stone, and within them was a lofty tower. Men said that in the far-off days of the glory of Gondor the sea-kings had built here this fastness with the hands of giants. The Hornburg it was called, for a trumpet sounded upon the tower echoed in the Deep behind, as if armies long-forgotten were issuing to war from caves beneath the hills. A wall, too, the men of old had made from the Hornburg to the southern cliff, barring the entrance to the gorge. Beneath it by a wide culvert the Deeping-stream passed out.” Pg. 143
Minas Tirith
http://www.john-howe.com/portfolio/gallery/details.php?image_id=104
One illustration by John Howe of Minas Tirith is very different from the description in the book. He admits this fact and did not know why he didn’t consult the book.
“And there where the White Mountains of Ered Mimrais came to their end he saw, as Gandalf had promised, the dark mass of Mount Mindolluim, the deep purple shadows of its high glens, and its tall face whitening in the rising day. And upon its out-thrust knee was the Guarded City, with its seven walls of stone so strong and old that it seemed to have been not built but carven by giants out of the bones of the earth.” Pg. 7–8
“For the fashions of Minas Tirith was such that it was built on seven levels, each delved into the hill, and about each was set a wall, and in each wall was a gate. But the gates were not set in a line….” Pg. 8
“For partly in the primeval shaping of the hill, partly by the mighty craft and labour of old, there stood up from the rear of the wide court behind the Gate a towering bastion of stone, its edge sharp as a ship-keel facing the east. Up it rose, even to the level of the topmost circle, and there was crowned by the battlement; so that those in the Citadel might, like mariners in a mountainous ship, look from its peak sheer down upon the Gate seven hundred feet below. The entrance to the Citadel also looked eastward, but was delved in the heart of the rock; thence a long lamp-lit slope ran up to the seventh gate.” Pg. 9
