Myth & Magic

...and speaking of the days of enchanted castles, I decided to post one of my latest drawings.
I've recently purchased a book about the artwork of John Howe and am just fascinated with his ability to create authentic mythical scenery and creatures. For those of you who may not have heard of him, John Howe is a fantasy artist, more so a visionary, and is most noted for his artwork inspired by The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion, basically Tolkien's Middle-earth. As noted in the book, his ability to capture a moment in time, that passionate second before a hero becomes is unbelievable. Your able to study their facial expressions and see a number of emotions, almost as if you can actually see them weighing out the possibilities of their next move, the 'what is my best choice scenario here - big dragon on my left, ugly ogre warriors on my right', and then there is the beautiful princesses, wait I didn't see helplessness in these girls..these are wild rugged kick butt princesses that you just don't want to fool with. But best of all is the almighty dragons. Extinction has made them almost impossible to know how to draw, okay so maybe they didn't ever exist, but to see them brought to life in his paintings, you would argue. What I think is most appealing to me is the elegance of the lines, so many fragile curves for such a ferocious creature. Its that love hate thing,,,yes their evil but to pretty to die, like when a big ole grizzly is about to gobble you up - I think your adorable in the woods but now that your in front of me...one of us is going to have to die; just to point out one expression that you'll find on John Howe's heroes.
Well, your just going to have to buy the book. I found it at Barnes and Noble. Its titled Myth & Magic; The Art of John Howe forward by Peter Jackson. Did I mention the fantastic array of color. I'm sure if you buy it, you'll think...so why did she think her drawing would compare - its just inspirational, I'm sure I have a long way to go before I put Mr. Howe out of work.