John Howe (illustrator) - Biography

Biography

In his early years John Howe would draw with help from his mother for his "more ambitious renderings". Around primary school age John found his mother's ability no longer living up to his expectations, and even got frustrated once at both his mother and himself at not being able to draw a cow to his expectations. John's school years were complicated by moves which took place with a timing that left the art classes full, and left John in classes like power mechanics. He did find his ability as a draughtsman to be profitable in biology class though, where he and a friend would produce renderings of microscopic organisms for classmates at fifty cents each. As a child, he collected the covers of paperbacks. His collection included items from Frank Frazetta, Barry Smith, and Bernie Wrightson. In his adolescence, John Howe read The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien. He said he got "a real spark" from the Hildebrandt calendars, which showed him that the books could be illustrated. John made drawings of his own versions of the scenes depicted in the calendar. These drawings, according to Howe, may not have survived.

A year after his high school graduation, John found himself in Strasbourg, France attending college. The following year, John enrolled into the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs. John cites his experience of this period as follows:

"The first year was spent not understanding much, the second at odds with what I did manage to understand, and the third eager to get out, although in retrospect I certainly owe whatever clarity of thought I possess to the patience of the professor of Illustration."

Throughout his first years in Europe, Howe was taking in as much as he could in the way of art, architecture and everything that was "simultaneously ancient and novel." He says the only piece of his art work that survived from this period is his "The Lieutenant of the Black Tower of Barad-dûr", a piece inspired by Tolkien's, The Lord of the Rings. He says if this is not his first published piece, it must certainly be the earliest. Howe's earliest commissions included political cartoons, magazine illustrations, comics, animated films, advertising, of which he says were nightmares. He said that he would end up redoing sketches so many time that there was nothing left of "his" in them. This frustrated him, and he wondered how he would ever make it in the profession.

Since the earlier days of his career, John has managed to find his place in the profession of art. Working on such well-known projects as: The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien's Books and Merchandise, Beowulf, Robin Hobb's books, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Cards for Magic: The Gathering, The Hobbit, Pan's Labyrinth. John has also written and illustrated children's books.