Laketown

This piece was fun and a little tough all at the same time. I have been wanting to try a Laketown concept from The Hobbit for a while now and was at first a bit stymied on how to pull off the look I wanted (as is my style) for a town that was literally built on stilts. All those straight building and piers and decks. Well, once I had the drawing where I wanted it which eliminated all that ... WooHoo!! ... let the colors begin. My joy and enthusiasm was short lived when the darker colors I tried on the first incarnation made for a muddy mess. Too dark. No contrast or vibrancy. Live and learn. The second time around I stuck with bold colors and shading. I like the results much better. Here, then, is ...


Laketown

Bagshot Row

This piece turned out to be far more fun than I anticipated and I think the results are just about smack on where I wanted them to be. For the most part, Bilbo's Shire always seems to me to be a place of fair weather and green hills ... and of course, Hobbits. What could be more 'hobbity' than Bagshot Row with it's line of round doors nestled on the hillside. There is a saying that comfort is everything. It that is true then I imagine the Shire and Bagshot Row to be at the top of the comfort list. Here is my ...

Bagshot Row

Beorn's Hall

I have wanted to do this piece for a long time but I couldn't get the concept just right. The other artist renderings of the inside of Beorn's Hall that I have seen have either been way too detailed and all that wood planking looked like match sticks or the colors are all muddied up. The coloring is a challenge because Tolkien describes it as made entirely of timbers with a central fire and platforms at the side. So, I think my stylized version helps a lot to simplify the vision and control all those woody timbers and muddy browns. Here then is my version of ...

Beorn's Hall

Goblin-gate

This is one of those instances (and there are many for me in Tolkien's writings) where the simple act of Tolkien formulating the perfect word or phrase is enough to inspire a vivid image. So it is with his word, Goblin-gate. Placed in the story of The Hobbit where it is, it conjures up a scene that is crystal clear to me. Tolkien talks about it being 'high up' and there were landslides and steep valleys. Obviously (at least in my mind) there had to be a river running through it as well. Here then is my vision of ...

Goblin-gate

Lonely Mountain

I have been trying to get the right concept for a piece depicting the Lonely Mountain from The Hobbit. It is a little tough to do when you consider that Tolkien had his Lonely Mountain sort of sitting out in the wild by itself (hence the name). The characters in the story knew the treasure and the dragon lay within, and there was always imminent danger although it lay smoldering. Here I try to depict the beauty and the danger within ... if you could take a slice out of the mountain to reveal it's secrets.

Lonely Mountain

Tolkien Society

Sent the latest three pieces to the Tolkien Society for consideration in the next edition of their Mallorn. I figure I will have reached the big time if anything I create ever makes the cover. They seemed to like the latest three ... so am hopeful that they will appear in the next issue somewhere.