lord of the rings – Graeme Skinner

The Old Forest

Graeme Skinner — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 16:41:17 +0000

Another Tolkien themed illustration, this time it’s the Old Forest

Trying

Graeme Skinner — Sat, 23 Nov 2024 15:44:15 +0000

There’s a passage in LotRs that’s always appealed to me as a possible one to attempt as an illustration, and whilst there are a few bits of this attempt that I like it still needs some work for me to think of it as finished. That, or I just need to try again For those wondering the text this is based on comes from the Fellowship of the Ring, book 2, chapter 2, The Council of Elrond…

And this I will say to you, Boromir, ere I end. Lonely men are we, Rangers of the wild, hunters–but hunters ever of the servants of the Enemy; for they are found in many places, not in Mordor only.

`If Gondor, Boromir, has been a stalwart tower, we have played another part. Many evil things there are that your strong walls and bright swords do not stay. You know little of the lands beyond your bounds. Peace and freedom, do you say? The North would have known them little but for us. Fear would have destroyed them. But when dark things come from the houseless hills, or creep from sunless woods, they fly from us. What roads would any dare to tread, what safety would there be in quiet lands, or in the homes of simple men at night, if the Dúnedain were asleep, or were all gone into the grave?

`And yet less thanks have we than you. Travellers scowl at us, and countrymen give us scornful names. “Strider” I am to one fat man who lives within a day’s march of foes that would freeze his heart or lay his little town in ruin, if he were not guarded ceaselessly. Yet we would not have it otherwise. If simple folk are free from care and fear, simple they will be, and we must be secret to keep them so. That has been the task of my kindred, while the years have lengthened and the grass has grown.

Trying part II

Painting takes quite a bit longer at the moment, this is down to arthritis in my hand/wrist which is causing issues and making me swear quite a bit but I’m still trying

Durin’s Stone

Graeme Skinner — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 16:17:16 +0000

Working towards a Durin’s Stone/Mirrormere painting, I enjoyed Celebdil, Fanuidhol, Caradhras (though one wasn’t as defined as I wanted it to be ;-)). The Dimrill Stair was somewhere I could have spent a week or two, then the foreground was a bit of a trial. The reflection in Mirrormere was put in using Photoshop in the end and I also added a bit of mist at that point. Looking forward to trying this scene in a larger format in oil, though I need to sketch Durin’s Stone a few more times first.

Still searching

Graeme Skinner — Sun, 22 Jan 2023 17:05:59 +0000

I’ve been looking for Weathertop for a while now, trying to get the landscape fixed in my mind so I can then get it down on paper. After one or two (actually a few more) sketches I thought I’d try a colour study. So, here’s my latest attempt at Weathertop…

Weathetop colour study, A3

Leaving Bag End

Graeme Skinner — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 16:47:25 +0000

I came up with this idea of painting scenes from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings with the night sky as it would actually appear on that date and time, so I went through LOTRs and marked up all the references to when the night sky was visible, there’s quite a few references Anyway, I decided for the first illustration to work out how the sky would have looked as the left Bag End, then I painted the scene – the sky took far too long, then, I realised I’d messed up my plot of how the sky would look and gave up for a while. In the end I added a digital sky (with accurate star positions) onto the original illustration.

There’s a clearer image and an explanation of the stars/constellations here… http://www.graeme-skinner.co.uk/2021-img/Leaving_Bag_End_v2b.pdf

Cover reimagined

Graeme Skinner — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 14:01:19 +0000

It’s a steam punk theme this month over on John’s website, so I decided to steam pun a Lord of the Rings cover

Clippety-clop

Graeme Skinner — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 12:39:21 +0000

It’s horsey time for the theme of the month over on John Howe’s website, or rather it’s Saddle Up – as I’m not brilliant at drawing horses I opted for a more graphical approach and decided to try and paint some flags on display many years after the Return of the King I started off painting this in watercolour but it didn’t go well so went digital…

Maker of Middle-Earth

Graeme Skinner — Wed, 03 Oct 2018 05:54:58 +0000

We had the opportunity to visit the Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth exhibition at the Bodleian, Oxford earlier this month as we were visiting the area (okay, we visited Oxfordshire because the exhibition was on ;-)). I had read various reviews online both from friends and in the media and was rather keen to see it for myself. The exhibition didn’t disappoint, seeing the original maps that J.R.R.T. and his son worked on was something I never thought I’d see, and his original illustrations were simply amazing. I must admit to leaving a couple of marks on the glass where I leant in too far and banged my head The 3D map was something that would look good in any room of the house – so when the exhibition is over I’d happily give it a home The exhibition runs until the 28th October 2018 and is free to enter (though there is an online booking fee of £1 which hardly breaks the bank) – link.

While we were in Oxford it would have been wrong not to take in some of the sights, so we wandered around for a while, luckily it was fairly quiet.

When lunchtime came around we decided to stop by the Eagle and Child, well, you have to really and we had a drink and a bite to eat in the Rabbit Room

After lunch we had a short wander in the University Parks, well, back in 1992 during the Tolkien Society Oxonmoot at Keble College I vaguely remember there was going to be a bench dedicated to Tolkien, Sadly I overslept (think young and daft with student price beer :-)) so I never got to see the bench at the time, luckily this time I managed it and stopped to use it and look at the Cherwell for a while.

Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth featured graphic is from the Bodleian website.

Yet Dawn….

Graeme Skinner — Mon, 19 Feb 2018 13:59:07 +0000

I have a for a while been tinkering with a digital piece for the theme of the month ‘competition’ over on John Howe‘s website, the them Dawn’s Early Light was one that appealed to me but the digital piece really wasn’t working out as I wanted it to. For some reason the line from Lord of the Rings kept going through my head “Yet dawn is ever the hope of men,” so I decided to play with type instead of banging my head against the wall with the failing digital doodle.

It’s not just a book…

Graeme Skinner — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 17:48:17 +0000

More on the ‘book’ theme for the John Howe forum, whilst I used The Lord of the Rings here it could apply to almost any book. It’s really not just about the book, it’s about what the book brings out of you or what it makes you feel.