John Howe

"I shan't call it the end, till we've cleared up the mess." — Sam This article or section needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of article quality.

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John Howe
Biographical information
Born	21 August, 1957
Location	Switzerland
Website	John-Howe.com

John Howe is a renowned artist. He has illustrated numerous Tolkien books and calendars. Together with Alan Lee, Howe was a concept artist for both The Lord of the Rings (film series) and The Hobbit (film series).

History

John Howe was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He graduated from the École des Arts Dècoratifs of Strasbourg. Howe has illustrated many of Tolkien's works including The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. He now lives in Neuchatel with his wife and son.

Howe's version of Boromir is based on his own face.

The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy

Howe, along with his colleague Alan Lee, was the lead artist for The Lord of the Rings (film series). Contrary to popular belief, he does not appear as one of the nine Kings of Men in the Prologue of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Howe is often identified as the second from the left, but a picture with better light shows that to be a different person.

Published Artwork

Howe is one of HarperCollins' most used artists, and his cover art is frequently featured on translations as well.

Multiple editions

• The Hobbit
• The Fellowship of the Ring
• The Two Towers
• The Return of the King
• Unfinished Tales
• The Silmarillion
• The Book of Lost Tales Part One
• The Book of Lost Tales Part Two
• The Lays of Beleriand
• The Shaping of Middle-earth
• The Lost Road and Other Writings
• The Return of the Shadow
• The Treason of Isengard
• The War of the Ring
• Sauron Defeated
• Morgoth's Ring
• The War of the Jewels
• The Peoples of Middle-earth
• The History of Middle-earth Index

Calendars and books

• 1987 - Tolkien Calendar
• 1988 - Tolkien Calendar
• 1991 - Tolkien Calendar
• 1995 - Tolkien Calendar
• 1995 - The Tolkien Diary
• 1995 - There and Back Again: The Map of the Hobbit
• 1995 - The Map of Tolkien's Middle-earth
• 1997 - Tolkien Calendar
• 1997 - Iron Crown Enterprises' Middle-earth Collectible Card Game
• 1998 - The History of The Lord of the Rings boxset
• 1999 - The Map of Tolkien's Beleriand and the Lands to the North
• 2000 - Images of Middle-Earth
• 2000 - Lord of the Rings (board game)
• 2001 - Tolkien Calendar
• 2001 - The Lord of the Rings Tolkien Diary
• 2001 - Myth and Magic: The Art of John Howe
• 2003 - The Maps of Tolkien's Middle-earth
• 2004 - War of the Ring (board game)
• 2004 - John Howe - Artbook
• 2006 - Battles of the Third Age (board game)
• 2007 - John Howe Fantasy Art Workshop
• 2008 - John Howe Forging Dragons
• 2009 - John Howe Fantasy Drawing Workshop
• 2014 - Coloring Dragons: Featuring the artwork of John Howe from The Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit movies
• 2018 - A Middle-earth Traveller

Articles

• 2014: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies: Chronicles: Art & Design
  • "Introduction"

Filmography

• 2001 - Beyond the Movie: The Lord of the Rings
• 2002 - The Making of 'The Lord of the Rings'
• 2003 - J.R.R. Tolkien: Origins of Middle-Earth
• 2004 - Designing Middle-Earth
• 2004 - John Howe: There and Back Again
• 2009 - Reclaiming the Blade
• 2014 - A la recherche du Hobbit series (episodes 1-5)

Quotations

"Illustrating Tolkien means treading warily, dipping one's brush in shadow and rinsing them in light. Battle and balance, down the impossible path between the clear and the obscure."

― John Howe on painting Middle-earth, Tolkien's World.

"Somewhat shamefully I am obliged to admit that I first read The Two Towers and The Return of the King, and finally The Fellowship of the Ring. [...] Thus, I plunged directly into the world of Tolkien just above the Falls of Rauros and have been swimming diligently ever since."

― John Howe on his reading experience, Tolkien's World.

"It was this place in North Island, and we wandered round these fields saying, well, Bag End can go here, that can be our party tree; it was very exciting. It's almost even more fun to have a location imposed upon you, because you really have to get down to brass tacks and figure it out, imagine it on paper. It's a real illustrator's job."

― John Howe on working for Weta, Interview.

See also

• Images by John Howe
• Images of John Howe

External links

• Official website
• John Howe (illustrator) at Wikipedia

References

Illustrators of The Lord of the Rings
Internal art	J.R.R. Tolkien (1937-present) · Eric Fraser/Ingahild Grathmer (The Folio Society: 1979, 1992-present) · Alan Lee (1997-present)
Cover art only	J.R.R. Tolkien (1937-present) · Pauline Baynes (1970-1989) · Roger Garland (1983-1991) · John Howe (1991-present) · Ted Nasmith (1990) · Geoff Taylor (1999)

Illustrators of The Silmarillion
Internal art	Francis Mosley (The Folio Society: 1997-present)· Ted Nasmith (1998-present)
Cover art only	J.R.R. Tolkien (1937-present) · Roger Garland (1983-1991) · John Howe (1992-1995)

Illustrators of official Tolkien calendars

Emily Austin (2023) · Pauline Baynes (1973, 1974) · Cor Blok (2011, 2012) · Jemima Catlin (2014) · Jenny Dolfen (2023) · Inger Edelfeldt (1985) · Mary Fairburn (2015) · Roger Garland (1984, 1987, 1988, 1989) · Spiros Gelekas (2023) · Justin Gerard (2023) · Donato Giancola (2023) · Michael Hague (1986) · The Brothers Hildebrandt (1976 US, 1977 US, 1978 US) · John Howe (1987, 1988, 1991, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2013, 2021) · Tove Jansson (2016) · Michael Kaluta (1994) · Tim Kirk (1975) · Alan Lee (1987, 1993, 1999, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2024) · Ted Nasmith (1987, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2021, 2022) · Kip Rasmussen (2023) · Darrell Sweet (1982) · J.R.R. Tolkien (1973, 1974, 1976 UK, 1977 UK, 1978 UK, 1979, 2005, 2006, 2017)