John Howe (born August 21, 1957) is a Canadian book illustrator and concept designer, best-known for his artwork of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth.

Early life

John Howe was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. He was drawing from pre-school age, with his mother's help. Around primary school age he found his mother's ability no longer living up to his expectations, and even got frustrated once at both his mother and himself at not being able to draw a cow to his expectations. Howe's school years were complicated by moves which took place with a timing that left the art classes full, and left him in classes like power mechanics. He did find his ability as a draughtsman to be profitable in biology class though, where he and a friend would produce renderings of microscopic organisms for classmates at fifty cents each. As a child, he collected the covers of paperbacks. His collection included items from Frank Frazetta, Barry Smith, and Bernie Wrightson. In his adolescence, Howe read The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien. He said he got "a real spark" from the Tolkien Calendars of paintings by the Brothers Hildebrandt, which showed him that Tolkien's books could be illustrated. Howe made drawings of his own versions of the scenes depicted in the calendar. These drawings, according to Howe, may not have survived.

A year after his high school graduation, Howe moved to Strasbourg, France to attend college. The following year, he enrolled into the École des arts décoratifs. He cites his experience of this period as follows:

For The Hobbit films, original director Guillermo del Toro and replacement director Peter Jackson consulted with both Howe and fellow concept artist Alan Lee to ensure continuity of design.

Howe is a member of the living history group the Company of Saynt George, and has expertise in ancient and medieval armour and armaments.

Howe served as a concept designer for Amazon's 2022 The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Selected works

  • The Fisherman & His Wife, transl. from Brothers Grimm (Mankato, Minnesota: Creative Education, 1983). — picture book
  • The Enchanted World: Night Creatures (Time Life, 1985)
  • The Enchanted World: Water Spirits (Time Life, 1985)
  • The Enchanted World: Dwarfs (Time Life, 1985)
  • The Enchanted World: Giants and Ogres (Time Life, 1985)
  • Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving, retold by John Howe (Little, Brown & Company, 1988)
  • Jack and the Beanstalk, retold by John Howe (Little, Brown & Company, 1989)

<!-- LC lists at least six other titles; see TALK#Works-->

  • Knights: A 3-Dimensional Exploration (Tango Books, 1995)
  • The Knight With the Lion: The Story of Yvain (Little, Brown & Company, 1996)
  • A Diversity of Dragons by Anne McCaffrey with Richard Woods (Atheneum Books, 1997)
  • Images of Middle-Earth (HarperCollins, 2000)
  • The Maps of Tolkien's Middle-earth by Brian Sibley (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2003)
  • The King of Winter's Daughter (Little, Brown & Company, 2005)
  • Fantasy Encyclopedia (Kingfisher, 2005)
  • Wizardology: The Book of the Secrets of Merlin (Candlewick Press, 2005)
  • Myth and Magic: The Art of John Howe (Barnes & Noble, 2006)
  • Fantasy Art Workshop (Impact Books, 2007)
  • Forging Dragons: Inspirations, Approaches and Techniques for Drawing and Painting Dragons (David & Charles, 2008)
  • Fantasy Drawing Workshop (Impact Books, 2009)
  • Lost Worlds (Kingfisher, 2009)
  • Cathedral (Caurette Editions, 2024)

See also

  • Works inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien

References

<!-- delete the word "bar" when there are enough ordinary See also -->