Alan Lee (illustrator)

Last updated

Alan Lee
Alan Lee.jpg
Lee in 2016
Born (1947-08-20) 20 August 1947 (age 76)
Middlesex, England
Education Ealing School of Art
Known forIllustration, painting, conceptual design
Awards Chesley Award
1989, 1998
Kate Greenaway Medal
1993
World Fantasy Award
1998
Academy Award
2004
Signature
Alan Lee Signature.jpg

Alan Lee (born 20 August 1947) is an English book illustrator and film conceptual designer. He is best known for his artwork inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novels, and for his work on the concept design of Peter Jackson's film adaptations of Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film series.

Contents

Early life and education

Alan Lee was born in Middlesex, England, and studied at the Ealing School of Art. [1]

Career

Illustration

Tolkien

Lee has illustrated dozens of fantasy books, including some non-fiction, and many more book covers. [2] Among the numerous works by J. R. R. Tolkien that he has illustrated are the 1992 centenary edition of The Lord of the Rings , a 1999 edition of The Hobbit , the 2007 The Children of Húrin , the 2017 Beren and Lúthien , the 2018 The Fall of Gondolin , and the 2022 The Fall of Númenor . [2]

Other illustrations

Non-Tolkien books he has illustrated include Faeries (with Brian Froud), Lavondyss by Robert Holdstock, The Mabinogion (two versions), Castles by David Day, The Mirrorstone by Michael Palin, The Moon's Revenge by Joan Aiken, and Merlin Dreams by Peter Dickinson. [2]

He has illustrated retellings of classics for young people. Two were Rosemary Sutcliff's versions of the Iliad and the Odyssey —namely, Black Ships Before Troy (Oxford, 1993) and The Wanderings of Odysseus (Frances Lincoln, 1995). Another was Adrian Mitchell's version of Ovid's Metamorphoses —namely, Shapeshifters (Frances Lincoln, 2009). [3]

Lee made cover paintings for the 1983 Penguin edition of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy. [2] He also did the artwork for Alive! , a 2007 CD by the Dutch band Omnia, released during the Castlefest festival. Watercolour painting and pencil sketches are among the media that Lee commonly uses.

Film

Tolkien

Lee's concept art illustration of Orthanc was closely followed by the set designers of Peter Jackson's The Two Towers to create a "bigature" of the tower for filming. Orthanc by Alan Lee.jpg
Lee's concept art illustration of Orthanc was closely followed by the set designers of Peter Jackson's The Two Towers to create a "bigature" of the tower for filming.

Lee and John Howe were the lead concept artists of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films between 2000 and 2003. [5] They were recruited by director Guillermo del Toro in 2008 for continuity of design in the subsequent The Hobbit films, [5] [6] before joining Jackson when he took over the Hobbit films project. Jackson has explained [7] how he originally recruited the reclusive Lee. By courier to Lee's home in the south of England, he sent two of his previous films, Forgotten Silver and Heavenly Creatures , with a note from himself and Fran Walsh that piqued Lee's interest enough for him to become involved. Lee went on to illustrate and even to help construct many of the scenarios for the movies, including objects and weapons for the actors. For example his illustration of the tower of Orthanc was closely followed by the set designers of The Two Towers to create a "bigature" at 1:35 scale for close-up filming. [4] He made two cameo appearances: in the opening sequence of The Fellowship as one of the nine kings of men who became the Nazgûl; and in The Two Towers as a Rohan soldier in the armoury (over the shoulder of Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn who is talking to Legolas in Elvish). [8]

Two years after completing The Lord of the Rings film series, Lee released a 192-page collection of his concept artwork for the project, The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook (HarperCollins, 2005). Peter Jackson said, "His art captured what I hoped to capture with the films." [9]

Other films

Lee worked as a concept designer on the films Legend , Erik the Viking , King Kong and the television mini-series Merlin. [5] The art book Faeries, produced in collaboration with Brian Froud, was the basis of a 1981 animated feature of the same name. [10]

Books illustrated

Awards

For his 1978 book with Brian Froud, Faeries, Lee was runner-up for the fantasy Locus Award, year's best art or illustrated book. [12]

For illustrating Merlin Dreams by Peter Dickinson (1988), he won the annual Chesley Award for Best Interior Illustration [12] and he was a highly commended runner-up for the Greenaway Medal. [13] [lower-alpha 1] He also won the BSFA Award for Best Artwork, for that year's best single new image. [12] Five years later, he won the Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject. The book was Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff, a version of the Trojan War story. [14] For the 60th anniversary edition of The Hobbit, Tolkien's 1937 classic, Lee won his second Chesley Award for Interior Illustration (he is a finalist eight times through 2011). [15] For that year's work he won the annual World Fantasy Award, Best Artist, at the 1998 World Fantasy Convention. [16] In 2000, he won the competitive, juried Spectrum Award for fantastic art in the grandmaster category. [17] Lee, Grant Major and Dan Hennah earned the 2004 Academy Award for Best Art Direction for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King , third in the film trilogy. [18] In 2016 he was awarded the 'Schwäbischen Lindwurm' of the Dragon Days Crossmedia Fantastikfestival Stuttgart.

Notes

  1. There are usually eight books on the Greenaway Medal shortlist. According to CCSU, some runners-up through 2002 were Commended (from 1959) or Highly Commended (from 1974). There were 31 high commendations in 29 years including Lee and two others in 1988.

Related Research Articles

<i>The Lord of the Rings</i> 1954–1955 fantasy novel by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel by the English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book The Hobbit, but eventually developed into a much larger work. Written in stages between 1937 and 1949, The Lord of the Rings is one of the best-selling books ever written, with over 150 million copies sold.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Tolkien</span> British book editor, son of J. R. R. Tolkien

Christopher John Reuel Tolkien was an English and naturalised French academic editor. The son of author and academic J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien edited much of his father's posthumously published work, including The Silmarillion and the 12-volume series The History of Middle-Earth. Tolkien also drew the original maps for his father's The Lord of the Rings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Froud</span> English fantasy illustrator

Brian Froud is an English fantasy illustrator and conceptual designer. He is most widely known for his 1978 book Faeries with Alan Lee, and as the conceptual designer of the Jim Henson films The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986). According to Wired, Froud is "one of the most pre-emiminent visualizers of the world of faerie and folktale".

Gil-galad is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, the last high king of the Noldor, one of the main divisions of Elves. He is mentioned in The Lord of the Rings, where the hobbit Sam Gamgee recites a fragment of a poem about him, and The Silmarillion. In the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, Gil-galad and Elendil laid siege to the Dark Lord Sauron's fortress of Barad-dûr, and fought him hand-to-hand for the One Ring. Both Gil-galad and Elendil were killed, and Elendil's son Isildur took the Ring for himself. Gil-galad briefly appears at the opening of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, and features in several video games based on Tolkien's Middle-earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosemary Sutcliff</span> English novelist (1920–1992)

Rosemary Sutcliff was an English novelist best known for children's books, especially historical fiction and retellings of myths and legends. Although she was primarily a children's author, some of her novels were specifically written for adults. In a 1986 interview she said, "I would claim that my books are for children of all ages, from nine to ninety."

<i>Unfinished Tales</i> 1980 collection of unfinished writings by J. R. R. Tolkien

Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth is a collection of stories and essays by J. R. R. Tolkien that were never completed during his lifetime, but were edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published in 1980. Many of the tales within are retold in The Silmarillion, albeit in modified forms; the work also contains a summary of the events of The Lord of the Rings told from a less personal perspective.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Howe (illustrator)</span> Canadian illustrator, best known for his artwork of J. R. R. Tolkiens Middle-earth

John Howe is a Canadian book illustrator and conceptual designer, best-known for his artwork of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. One year after graduating from high school, he studied in a college in Strasbourg, France, then at the École des arts décoratifs in the same town.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the real-world history and notable fictional elements of J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy universe. It covers materials created by Tolkien; the works on his unpublished manuscripts, by his son Christopher Tolkien; and films, games and other media created by other people.

The works of J. R. R. Tolkien have served as the inspiration to painters, musicians, film-makers and writers, to such an extent that he is sometimes seen as the "father" of the entire genre of high fantasy.

Do not laugh! But once upon a time I had a mind to make a body of more or less connected legend, ranging from the large and cosmogonic to the level of romantic fairy-story... The cycles should be linked to a majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands, wielding paint and music and drama. Absurd.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Nasmith</span> Canadian artist

Ted Nasmith is a Canadian artist, illustrator and architectural renderer. He is best known as an illustrator of J. R. R. Tolkien's works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. Tolkien praised and commented on his early work, something that encouraged him in his career.

Greg and Tim Hildebrandt, known as the Brothers Hildebrandt, are American twin brothers who worked collaboratively as fantasy and science fiction artists for many years. They produced illustrations for comic books, movie posters, children's books, posters, novels, calendars, advertisements, and trading cards. Tim Hildebrandt died on June 11, 2006.

Isildur is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, the elder son of Elendil, descended from Elros, the founder of the island Kingdom of Númenor. He fled with his father when the island was drowned, becoming in his turn King of Arnor and Gondor. He cut the Ring from Sauron's hand, but instead of destroying it, was corrupted by its power and claimed it for his own. He was killed by orcs, and the Ring was lost in the River Anduin. This set the stage for the Ring to pass to Gollum and then to Bilbo, as told in The Hobbit; that in turn provided the central theme, the quest to destroy the Ring, for The Lord of the Rings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sauron</span> Primary antagonist in Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings

Sauron is the title character and the primary antagonist, through the forging of the One Ring, of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, where he rules the land of Mordor and has the ambition of ruling the whole of Middle-earth. In the same work, he is identified as the "Necromancer" of Tolkien's earlier novel The Hobbit. The Silmarillion describes him as the chief lieutenant of the first Dark Lord, Morgoth. Tolkien noted that the Ainur, the "angelic" powers of his constructed myth, "were capable of many degrees of error and failing", but by far the worst was "the absolute Satanic rebellion and evil of Morgoth and his satellite Sauron". Sauron appears most often as "the Eye", as if disembodied.

<i>The Silmarillion</i> Collection of J. R. R. Tolkiens mythopoeic works

The Silmarillion is a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, assisted by the fantasy author Guy Gavriel Kay. It tells of Eä, a fictional universe that includes the Blessed Realm of Valinor, the once-great region of Beleriand, the sunken island of Númenor, and the continent of Middle-earth, where Tolkien's most popular works—The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings—are set. After the success of The Hobbit, Tolkien's publisher, Stanley Unwin, requested a sequel, and Tolkien offered a draft of the writings that would later become The Silmarillion. Unwin rejected this proposal, calling the draft obscure and "too Celtic", so Tolkien began working on a new story that eventually became The Lord of the Rings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tolkien's artwork</span> Artwork by J. R. R. Tolkien

Tolkien's artwork was a key element of his creativity from the time when he began to write fiction. The philologist and author J. R. R. Tolkien prepared a wide variety of materials to support his fiction, including illustrations for his Middle-earth fantasy books, facsimile artefacts, more or less "picturesque" maps, calligraphy, and sketches and paintings from life. Some of his artworks combined several of these elements.

<i>Faeries</i> (book) 1978 book by Brian Froud and Alan Lee

Faeries is a book written and illustrated by English artists Brian Froud and Alan Lee. An illustrated compendium of faerie mythology, legends and folklore, the book explores the history, customs and habitat of faeries in the manner of a field guide, complete with hand annotations.

J. R. R. Tolkien used frame stories throughout his Middle-earth writings, especially his legendarium, to make the works resemble a genuine mythology written and edited by many hands over a long period of time. He described in detail how his fictional characters wrote their books and transmitted them to others, and showed how later in-universe editors annotated the material.

The architecture in Middle-earth, J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world, is as varied as the Hobbit-holes of the Shire, the tree-houses of Lothlórien, the wooden halls of Rohan, and the stone dwellings and fortifications of Minas Tirith, capital of Gondor. Tolkien uses the architecture in each place, including its interior design, to provide clues to each people's character. The Hobbit Bilbo Baggins's cosy home, Bag End, described in his 1937 children's book The Hobbit, establishes the character of Hobbits as averse to travelling outside the Shire. In his fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings, Lothlórien demonstrates the close integration of the Elves with their natural environment. The King of Rohan's hall, Meduseld, indicates the Rohirrim's affinity with Anglo-Saxon culture, while Gondor's tall and beautiful stone architecture was described by Tolkien as "Byzantine". In contrast, the Dark Lord Sauron and the fallen Wizard Saruman's realms are damaged lands around tall dark towers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illustrating Tolkien</span> Depicting Tolkiens fictional world

Since the publication of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit in 1937, artists including Tolkien himself have sought to capture aspects of Middle-earth fantasy novels in paintings and drawings. He was followed in his lifetime by artists whose work he liked, such as Pauline Baynes, Mary Fairburn, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and Ted Nasmith, and by some whose work he rejected, such as Horus Engels for the German edition of The Hobbit. Tolkien had strong views on illustration of fantasy, especially in the case of his own works. His recorded opinions range from his rejection of the use of images in his 1936 essay On Fairy-Stories, to agreeing the case for decorative images for certain purposes, and his actual creation of images to accompany the text in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Commentators including Ruth Lacon and Pieter Collier have described his views on illustration as contradictory, and his requirements as being as fastidious as his editing of his novels.

Tolkien Calendars, displaying artworks interpreting J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, have appeared annually since 1976. Some of the early calendars were illustrated with Tolkien's own artwork. Artists including the Brothers Hildebrandt and Ted Nasmith produced popular work on themes from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit; later calendars also illustrated scenes from The Silmarillion. Some calendars have been named "Hobbit Calendar" or "Lord of the Rings Calendar", but "Tolkien Calendar" has remained the most popular choice of name.

References

  1. Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. "Alan Lee Biography".
  2. 1 2 3 4 Alan Lee at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  3. "Shapeshifters: tales from Ovid's Metamorphoses". WorldCat. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  4. 1 2 Svitil, Torene (2007). So You Want to Work in Animation & Special Effects?. Enslow Publishing. pp. 75–76. ISBN   978-0-7660-2737-4.
  5. 1 2 3 Alan Lee at IMDb
  6. "Guillermo del Toro Chats with TORN About The Hobbit Films!". TheOneRing.net. 25 April 2008. Retrieved 26 April 2008.
  7. In a documentary interview on the extended edition of The Fellowship of the Ring.
  8. "Cameos and Special Extras in The Lord of The Rings". Anonymous.
  9. "The lord of the rings sketchbook" (British edition). WorldCat. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  10. Froud, Brian; Lee, Alan (1979). Larkin, David (ed.). Faeries. Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing. ISBN   978-0553346343.
  11. Sutcliff, Rosemary (2010) Fantasy illustrator Alan Lee worked with Rosemary Sutcliff
  12. 1 2 3 Lee, Alan" Archived 2012-10-16 at the Wayback Machine . Index of Art Nominees. Locus Index to SF Awards. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  13. "Kate Greenaway Medal" Archived 2014-09-16 at the Wayback Machine . 2007(?). Curriculum Lab. Elihu Burritt Library. Central Connecticut State University. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  14. (Greenaway Winner 1993) Archived 2013-01-29 at the Wayback Machine . Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  15. "Chesley Nominees List". The Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards. Archived from the original on 4 November 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  16. "1998 World Fantasy Award Winners and Nominees". World Fantasy Convention. Archived from the original on 22 September 2008.
  17. 2000 Spectrum Awards. Archived 2012-10-19 at the Wayback Machine
  18. "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King". AllMovie.

See also