TORn’s good friend and artist extraordinaire Donato Giancola, who was part of TORn’s art show in Los Angeles last February, has recently completed a new masterpiece: a commissioned painting showing a scene from The Silmarillion, when Huor and his brother Hurin are rescued by eagles. The work is huge – roughly 9 foot by 6 foot! – and perfectly showcases Giancola’s skill in capturing landscape and living beings alike. (The image of Donato himself sitting in front of the painting gives you an idea of the scale of the piece!) The majestic scenery is breathtaking, with beautiful play of light and shadow over the mountains and the valley floor. The patches of glimmering snow on the peaks in the foreground of the picture are mirrored in the white towers of Gondolin,which gleam ‘like … spike[s] of pearl and silver’.
You can read about Giancola’s inspiration for his work – from artists in the Hudson River School of landscape painters, for example – at his website, here. You can also see more of his incredible Tolkien paintings in his book, Middle-earth: Visions of a Modern Myth. Tolkien isn’t the only writer who inspires Giancola; readers who are fans of George R R Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire can look forward to a calendar in 2014, for which Giancola will create 12 new paintings inspired by that world.
Meanwhile, enjoy Huor and Hurin Approaching Gondolin.
Our good friends at Harper Collins – Tolkien publishers in the UK – are running a competition where they want to see YOUR version of Tolkien’s mighty dragon Smaug! They say:
‘Smaug is an incredible and mysterious character, his sleep and anger equally frightful. J.R.R. Tolkien described and illustrated the dragon with awe-inspiring words and artworks. Now it’s your turn to create your version of Smaug, as you imagined it when you first read J.R.R. Tolkien’s descriptions. Illustrators, designers, Hobbit fans of all ages – anyone can enter the competition and submit their Smaug’s artworks to win a fantastic grand prize!’
That prize is a copy of your own illustration, beautifully mounted on canvas! The winner will also get a collection of Harper Collins Hobbit books. Ten runners-up will win an exclusive, deluxe print of their artworks.
Get out those pens, pencils, inks, paint and whatever else takes your fancy, grab a copy of The Hobbit, reread Tolkien’s description of the fiery worm, and get illustrating! Full details of the contest, and where to submit your artwork, can be found here. The contest runs until December 13th, when (in many countries) we’ll finally be able to see Peter Jackson’s Smaug in all his glory on the big screen!
Harper Collins will be releasing various movie tie-in books for The Desolation of Smaug on November 7th. We’ll bring you details – and a chance to win copies! – nearer the time. Meanwhile you can find more information at Harper Collins’ website, here.
Yesterday saw not only the launch of the new The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug trailer, but also another exciting release for Tolkien fans – the publication of the latest edition of the book which started it all! You may remember TORn’s post about Jemima Catlin, the young illustrator behind the first new illustrated edition of The Hobbit since Alan Lee’s iconic version in 1997. (Catlin is also the featured illustrator for the 2014 Tolkien Calendar.)
This book is now available for purchase in the US! (It was released by HarperCollins in the UK in September.) It’s a beautiful edition. The hardcover, with cloth binding, is charmingly old fashioned, and the cover illustrations have gold accents, which shimmer with the promise of the magic contained within. Catlin’s images are a combination of pencil, ink and watercolour; there are many little pictures decorating the text, as well as more than ten full page, full colour pieces. The story is interpretated in lively, delightful drawings which show a new interpretation of old friends.
This is an edition to treasure, and would particularly be a wonderful introduction to The Hobbit for children. It’s a great reminder that, as spectacular as the movies are, the enchantment began in the pages of a fabulous book. If you’re thinking about holiday shopping already, add this to the list! I for one feel I can never have too many editions of The Hobbit; this beautiful new edition is certainly worth adding to your collection.
As promised in this post last week, TORn is delighted to bring you this exclusive Q&A with our favourite specialist in performance capture, Gollum himself, Mr Andy Serkis!
Serkis was giving the press Q&A specifically to talk about The Bone Season, the new book for which he and his team at The Imaginarium have obtained the film rights. This first novel in a new fantasy series is a real page turner, and has great potential for the big screen – and Serkis was clearly excited to tell us about it! He also talks about other upcoming projects, how working with Peter Jackson has influenced his career, and, in response to the questions put to him specifically by TORn, he leaves us with a tantalizing remark about Gollum and The Hobbit…
What a busy man Andy Serkis is! His new film studio, The Imaginarium, specializes in Performance Capture Technology, and they have all kinds of projects on the go. Recently, Serkis and his team at The Imaginarium bought the film rights to a new book called The Bone Season. On Monday, TheOneRing.net will be bringing you an exclusive interview with Serkis, where he tells us more about this book, his interest in bringing it to the big screen, what else he’s working on, and how Gollum remains a part of his life. He’ll even have something to say on the question of whether or not we might get another glimpse of our favourite performance capture character, before The Hobbit movies are over…
TORn staffer greendragon (’tis I!) had the good fortune to read a preview copy of The Bone Season this summer. It’s a real page turner. Author Samantha Shannon has created a detailed, complex world, which offers enough depth and richness that there will be plenty to explore in future books; this first novel is the beginning of a planned series. Even the minor flaws I found in the writing style didn’t stop it being impossible for me to put the book down – if the secret of a good story is keeping you wanting to know what happens next, then Shannon has certainly cracked that! Set on earth – but an earth of the future, run by a race quite different from humans – The Bone Season is a tale of action, fantasy, suspense, intrigue and yes, even romance. If you’re looking for the next series in which to lose yourself, this is definitely one to try; I suspect it will be the next big literary hit.
You can order a copy of The Bone Season by clicking here. Don’t forget to check back at TORn on Monday 30th, for our exclusive Q&A with Andy Serkis!
As you know, we’re currently conducting our pledge drive to raise funds and keep our servers running. We also have some very exciting auctions going on over at Ebay.
TORn’s good friend and artist extraordinaire Donato Giancola, who was part of TORn’s art show in Los Angeles last February, has recently completed a new masterpiece: a commissioned painting showing a scene from The Silmarillion, when Huor and his brother Hurin are rescued by eagles. The work is huge – roughly 9 foot by 6 foot! – and perfectly showcases Giancola’s skill in capturing landscape and living beings alike. (The image of Donato himself sitting in front of the painting gives you an idea of the scale of the piece!) The majestic scenery is breathtaking, with beautiful play of light and shadow over the mountains and the valley floor. The patches of glimmering snow on the peaks in the foreground of the picture are mirrored in the white towers of Gondolin,which gleam ‘like … spike[s] of pearl and silver’.
