In Conversation with John Howe

Boromir88 · Sun Dec 05, 2021 2:27 pm

John Howe (and Alan Lee) was one of the many bright and talented people Peter Jackson brought in to be heavily involved in the films. It's one of the key factors (imo) to their success. Apparently, John Howe has also been inspired by HP Lovecraft and Robert Holdstock and I would love to see him illustrate their books too!

http://www.scififantasynetwork.com/in-c ... IximfOf4Rg

The Good Hunter · Tue Dec 07, 2021 7:56 pm

Reading that John Howe is a fan of Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Machen (two of my absolute favorite horror authors) was a huge trip. It makes sense, in a way, that someone this big in the fantasy art world would be at least partially influenced by the giants of weird fiction as well. The scenes that he draws and paints often seem to me like they are on the verge of turning to horror.

And a little odd side note to all this, Tolkien was apparently a fan (or at least knew of) Lord Dunsany, a huge influence on Lovecraft's earlier short stories. I wish I had a quote to back that up but I can't seem to find it right now

Saranna · Wed Dec 08, 2021 10:48 am

@Frost Just had a quick look, there seem to be a lot of references to the idea on several fan sites, but this link https://www.quora.com/It-seems-well-est ... any-if-any ends up discussing things Tolkien did not like about Dunsany. I don't claim any particular knowledge of this myself, but maybe this may interest you?

The Good Hunter · Wed Dec 08, 2021 7:05 pm

@Saranna thank you so much for finding that! Not to derail the thread away from John Howe, but it does make me happy to learn that Tolkien was not a fan of Dunsany after all. I can't remember now where it was that I read/heard the opposite but it restores a bit of faith in him because I cannot stand Dunsany. His "whimsical" and "jocular" style were abrasive next to his obvious classism and his propensity toward inane, randomly smooshed together letters without meaning that "created a mythology"

Saranna · Thu Dec 09, 2021 10:41 am

Oh dear _ I rather like Dunsany but we'll pass over that, we can't all like everything! Yes, Howe is the main focus here and we can agree on his merit :)

Androthelm · Thu Dec 09, 2021 9:55 pm

While Dunsany is (as Frost rightly noted) a bit of a trouble I do think it's interesting to draw any kind of a link between Lovecraft and Tolkien. There's a Lovecraft short story -- Polaris -- which always reminded me a bit of the Notion Club Papers.

Lovecraft, of course, was also horribly racist. So it's always glad to see artists like Howe take what can be aesthetically salvaged from his stories and then leave the ... actual themes behind.

Boromir88 · Tue Dec 28, 2021 12:22 pm

Thank you for the responses. When it comes to Tolkien illustrators, I must say I like Alan Lee better than John Howe. I think Alan Lee's inspiration was more towards material Tolkien also used, ancient and folkloric British history.

Objectively John Howe's a talented illustrator, and I love his depictions of Middle-earth. Anytime you decide to portray written word, you're going to have your own imagination blended with the source of your inspiration. It's impossible to satisfy everyone. I've grown less fond of Howe's M-E depictions I think because they were heavily adopted by Jackson for his films. Now they are everywhere. That's also why I'd like to see Howe illustrate some other literature, because I think he's a talented illustrator, but I feel there's an over-saturation of his M-E material out there.

Winddancer · Sat Jan 01, 2022 8:39 pm

Howe is an absolute gent, was fortunate enough to sit next to him at a dinner and dumb enough to not pick his brain all night! Prolly star struck :P Tbf both of them are wonderful guys and it would be so cool to meet them again. But in regards to their work, I have to say I like Howes best (even though Lee drew me a Gandalf!) Sorry didnt mean to gloat (ok prolly did, sue me :P ) But did want to say I am so on board for seeing more from them both.

Fuin Elda · Tue Jan 04, 2022 4:36 am

I am still occasionally active on John Howes web forum doing the monthly art themes every once in a while (they are quite fun but I don't have enough time to consistently participate and the last time I went to participate they didn't have theme picked yet or listed anywhere sadly). And this makes sense we had almost a full year of themes that were 'horrors' of various sorts including of the deep and space etc. Honestly I never really put those together until this thread.

That said I will agree with Boromir88 I enjoyed Howe's earlier works of Middle earths landscapes much more as well because the adaptions really seem to have taken over - granted it's entirely possible he was and is inspired by the landscapes of New Zealand which is where the adaptions took place as most artists do like their life drawing and references.

Boromir88 · Thu Jan 20, 2022 1:00 am

Those are neat stories @Winddancer and @Fuin Elda. Thank you both for sharing.

Hanasian · Fri Jan 28, 2022 2:31 am

Boromir88 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 05, 2021 2:27 pm John Howe (and Alan Lee) was one of the many bright and talented people Peter Jackson brought in to be heavily involved in the films. It's one of the key factors (imo) to their success. Apparently, John Howe has also been inspired by HP Lovecraft and Robert Holdstock and I would love to see him illustrate their books too!

http://www.scififantasynetwork.com/in-c ... IximfOf4Rg

Having John Howe and Alan Lee in on the visuals of the Lord of the Rings movies is the reason the settings were the most accurate depictions of what Middle Earth looked like in my mind's eye. The Shire was perfect, Rohan not so much, but I rated the visual settings at 88% back in an online poll I did about 14 years ago..