The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook: A fascinating journey through the artistic creation of Middle-earth

Alan Lee, along with John Howe and Ted Nasmith is a very talented artist and depicts Middle-Earth brilliantly and with ease. This book is littered with astoundingly masterful sketches and a few incredible watercolours taken from the edition of the Lord of the Rings which he illistrated about fourteen years ago. The book deals with how he illistrated the book and, with the help of Howe and other talented artists, designed the Lord of the Rings films. The sketches are massively inspirational, and demonstrate just how good an artist he is. They are sensitive and detailed, some are highly refined some are very sketchy but all are beatiful. His detailed drawings of the realms and peoples and of course creatures of Middle-Earth are great to look at.Alan Lee also writes an interesting text to accompany his excellent artwork, which is informative and insightful.The only thing I would say is that it would have been nice if he would have focused more on telling the reader about illistrating the book, rather his work on the film. I say this because we can find out about that on the extended edition DVD's and in neumorous other books (such as Gary Russles equally brilliant 'Art of lord of the rings books')Also the format of the book is rather on the small size and it should have been bigger.However, this is an unmissable book by a extreamly talented artist whom without not only would we be without a fully illistrated Lord of the Rings, but also the films wouldnt be so visually impressive.P.S sorry for any spelling mistakes.

Alan Lee’s sketches are magical! He gives grandeur and perspective to the world that Tolkien outlined (JRRT went into much less detail than many authors, crafting his words in a way that allows interpretation around his framework which is why LOTR is three books and not ten). This is where Alan Lee comes in; his imagination is as rich as his talent. This book, holding outlines, pencil sketches and more finished images, shows the bones of his work before it is fleshed out; outlines, pencil strokes, perspective guidelines etc. If anyone wants to improve their sketching or just see how a master works, this book is a great buy.

Great for LOTR fans!Lovely detailed sketches!

When you watch a film like any of the LOTR trilogy, it’s staggering how the societies and even regions each have such solid visual consistency. When you read this book and look at the initial art, you start to realise it was almost all born in the sketches of John Howe and Allan Lee.I’ve had a fondness for Alan Lee’s art ever since his Mabinogion illustrations, so I was excited to get this.It doesn’t disappoint, it’s a quality book from content to layout to image/text ratio.The illustrations and Alan’s slightly self-depreciating when describing them seem to go together really nicely and even the placement of text makes for a surprisingly immersive read (I expected this to be a ‘looking at’ book).Can’t fault it.

A very well-illustrated collection of LOTR drawings and sketches by Alan Lee, including a small number of works in colour; perhaps Lee works to a small scale, but this is described as a large-format book; sorry, but at 19.5 cm x 25.2 cm this is a compact volume by art-book standards.Nevertheless, the 150 or so drawings it contains are a pleasure to look through; Lee`s work is very detailed and often very delicate in tone, so one would have appreciated a larger scale in order to facilitate better reproduction of some of the more understated drawings.Lee is a favourite illustrator of mine and although it`s not perfect, I value the contents of this book – do use the “look inside” feature above if it is still active.

Bought for mg nephew who loves this and he was so pleased with all the detail in it, although the actual book facier is upside down compared to the sketches and writing

If you love the movies and books then this will add to your enjoyment, highly recommend this sketchbook.

I love this book. I love the sketches that have the feel of what I believe Tolkein was trying to describe of the world of Midfle Earth and its peoples. I also have The Hobbit sketch book as well.

Tres bon livre.

The drawings, sketches and artwork are as wonderful as you could expect, but not expected was the joy I had in reading Alan Lee's descriptions. Alan's approach has been to pretty much lay things bare in terms of the everyday challenges and delights he found during his six years in New Zealand working on Tolkien's (and Pete Jackson's) world. Many of the sketches and all the artwork pertain to the 1991 illustrated version of the Lord of the Rings, with updated works and commentary that brings us up to the time of the completion of filming of the LOTR films. Lee goes to some lengths to ensure due credit is given to all the folks who worked on the art and sets for the films, and this brings in some wonderful insights into how things were in those heady, and frantic, days. A delight to read and a reference book to keep that will amply reward repeat perusals.

El libro contiene muchos de los bocetos para el señor de los anillos y la calidad con la que han sido escaneados e impresos es magnífica ya que puedes apreciar toda la sutileza y calidades del grafito que tanto caracterizan a Alan Lee. Me quedé con ganas en algunos capítulos de ver más ilustraciones pero aún así hay muchas. Es un libro que hay que tener si te gusta el dibujo y la ilustración. Alan Lee es para mi el mejor dibujante a grafito que haya visto jamás.

bez foli

This book showcases the original sketches used in the films, including early designs for characters, creatures, and environments. The detail is incredible and the visual experience is truly enjoyable. I only wish some of the concept art included color to enhance the beauty even more, but that doesn’t take away from the quality of the book.A genuine artistic treasure for fans of The Lord of the Rings.