Artist 12/20: John Howe

I think it would be unfair to cover one of these artists and exclude the other so I shall do my best at covering them both individualistically. Firsts I'll do one an entry about one and another later on. Together these men have created an iconic world and brought to visual life the mythology of J.R.R Tolkein. Because of them we can now artistically identify "Elven" arcitecture, "Dwarven" weaponry, and images of Minas Tirath, Mordor, the Shire that have been ingrained in our minds. Not only did they provide the illustrations to the books but also were the head artistic directors of the films Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and Return of the King directed by Peter S. Jackson. The two men who accomplished this were none other than Alan Lee and John Howe.

Born in Vancouver, British Columbia John Howe was primarily self taught with the help of his mother. In school he would complete artistic assignments for fellow students for the price of 50 cents a pop. After his graduation from highschool he went on to college in Strasbourg, France, and the following year in the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs. All throughout his life has expressed a great interest for fantasy. His work focusses on the mystical and legendary which gives him the freedom of creating a yet unseen person, place or thing. His other works have included illustrations for Beowulf as well as artistic input for The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe film from 2005. And despite that their major claim to fame is share, there is supposedly a mutual friendship between both John Howe and Alan Lee.