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The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook
£14.30£19.00 (-25%)
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.
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Additional information
| Publisher | HarperCollins (5 Sept. 2005) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Hardcover | 192 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0261103830 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0261103832 |
| Dimensions | 19.5 x 1.9 x 25.2 cm |
by Rick Jones
Alan Lee is a master so this book is a wonderful collection of his LotR sketches. Alan’s work is so great that I went out and bought pencils and a sketchbook………and I can’t even draw.
A very inspirational book.
by TeresaPrime
A very well-illustrated collection of LOTR drawings and sketches by Alan Lee, including a small number of works in colour; perhaps Lee works to a small scale, but this is described as a large-format book; sorry, but at 19.5 cm x 25.2 cm this is a compact volume by art-book standards.
Nevertheless, the 150 or so drawings it contains are a pleasure to look through; Lee`s work is very detailed and often very delicate in tone, so one would have appreciated a larger scale in order to facilitate better reproduction of some of the more understated drawings.
Lee is a favourite illustrator of mine and although it`s not perfect, I value the contents of this book – do use the “look inside” feature above if it is still active.
by Rearda
It is a nice book, turned up fast but had 0 bubble wrap or protective packaging on it so the cover on the book was bent and damaged. Am able to flatten it out but would hope for a nice book like this it would’ve been sent in a more protective way.
by Mrs.Danvers
Alan Lee, along with John Howe and Ted Nasmith is a very talented artist and depicts Middle-Earth brilliantly and with ease. This book is littered with astoundingly masterful sketches and a few incredible watercolours taken from the edition of the Lord of the Rings which he illistrated about fourteen years ago. The book deals with how he illistrated the book and, with the help of Howe and other talented artists, designed the Lord of the Rings films. The sketches are massively inspirational, and demonstrate just how good an artist he is. They are sensitive and detailed, some are highly refined some are very sketchy but all are beatiful. His detailed drawings of the realms and peoples and of course creatures of Middle-Earth are great to look at.
Alan Lee also writes an interesting text to accompany his excellent artwork, which is informative and insightful.
The only thing I would say is that it would have been nice if he would have focused more on telling the reader about illistrating the book, rather his work on the film. I say this because we can find out about that on the extended edition DVD’s and in neumorous other books (such as Gary Russles equally brilliant ‘Art of lord of the rings books’)
Also the format of the book is rather on the small size and it should have been bigger.
However, this is an unmissable book by a extreamly talented artist whom without not only would we be without a fully illistrated Lord of the Rings, but also the films wouldnt be so visually impressive.
P.S sorry for any spelling mistakes.
by Rearda
Alan Lee’s sketches are magical! He gives grandeur and perspective to the world that Tolkien outlined (JRRT went into much less detail than many authors, crafting his words in a way that allows interpretation around his framework which is why LOTR is three books and not ten). This is where Alan Lee comes in; his imagination is as rich as his talent. This book, holding outlines, pencil sketches and more finished images, shows the bones of his work before it is fleshed out; outlines, pencil strokes, perspective guidelines etc. If anyone wants to improve their sketching or just see how a master works, this book is a great buy.
by Paul Macdonald
Mostly B&W pencil sketches illustrating the novel. Some complete colour plates with development detail. Good quality paper and printing.
by J. McDonald ????????????????????????????
Just as I expected full of amazingly detailed pencil drawings – a great reference tool for drawing people and trees
by Jess
When you watch a film like any of the LOTR trilogy, it’s staggering how the societies and even regions each have such solid visual consistency. When you read this book and look at the initial art, you start to realise it was almost all born in the sketches of John Howe and Allan Lee.
I’ve had a fondness for Alan Lee’s art ever since his Mabinogion illustrations, so I was excited to get this.
It doesn’t disappoint, it’s a quality book from content to layout to image/text ratio.
The illustrations and Alan’s slightly self-depreciating when describing them seem to go together really nicely and even the placement of text makes for a surprisingly immersive read (I expected this to be a ‘looking at’ book).
Can’t fault it.