Works Inspired By J. R. R. Tolkien - Art and Illustration

Art and Illustration

The earliest illustrations of Tolkien's works were drawn by the author himself. In 1937, The Hobbit was first illustrated by professional draughtsmen for the American edition. Tolkien was very critical of these, and in 1946 he rejected illustrations by Horus Engels for the German edition of the Hobbit as "too Disnified."

Milein Cosman illustrated Farmer Giles of Ham in 1948, and Tolkien was not happy with this work, either. In 1949, Cosman was replaced by Pauline Baynes, who became Tolkien's favourite illustrator and who created drawings for The Adventures of Tom Bombadil as well as for Farmer Giles of Ham. Crown Princess Margrethe (now Queen Margrethe II) of Denmark, an accomplished and critically acclaimed painter, was inspired to illustrations to The Lord of the Rings in the early 1970s. She sent them to Tolkien, who was struck by the similarity to the style of his own drawings. In 1977, Queen Margrethe's drawings were published in the Danish translation of the book, which was reissued in 2002, redrawn by the British artist Eric Fraser.

Tim and Greg Hildebrandt were also well-known Tolkien illustrators during the first decades after the publication of The Lord of the Rings.

In the 1970s, British artist Jimmy Cauty created a best-selling poster of the Hobbit for the retailer Athena.

Probably the widest-known Tolkien illustrators of the 1990s and 2000s are John Howe, Alan Lee, and Ted Nasmith — Alan Lee for illustrated editions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Ted Nasmith for illustrated editions of The Silmarillion, and John Howe for the cover artwork to several Tolkien publications. Howe and Lee were also involved in the creation of Peter Jackson's movie trilogy as concept artists — Nasmith was also invited to take part in the films, but was forced to reluctantly decline due to a personal crisis at the time. In 2004, Lee won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction for his work on the third film in the trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Other artists who have found inspiration in Tolkien's works include Catherine Karina Chmiel, Inger Edelfeldt, Anke Eißmann, Roger Garland, Michael Hague, Tove Jansson (of Moomin fame, illustrator of Swedish and Finnish translations of The Hobbit), Paul Raymond Gregory, Tim Kirk, Angus McBride, Jef Murray, Kay Miner, Billy Mosig, Colleen Doran, Jenny Dolfen and Matěj Čadil.