MYTH AND MAGIC: THE ART OF JOHN HOWE

For the first time, a body of John Howe’s work is presented with more than 250 of his paintings and sketches, celebrating the life-giving vision of a prominent contemporary artist of the imagination. Myth and Magic takes the reader on a journey through John Howe’s world: from his beginnings as a student to his most recent work. It even reveals some of his early unknown works. All of his paintings inspired by Tolkien’s works, such as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and The History of Middle-earth are included here, complemented by the stunning artwork he created for dragon books, myths and legends, for children’s books he wrote and illustrated, to numerous covers for books by some of the greatest writers of fantasy. John Howe gives us additional entertaining informative commentary on how he makes his works. The Magic of Myths is also proud to feature in the volume the Tolkien expert and author of the Official Guide to the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Brian Sibley, as well as leading fantasy writers such as Robin Hobb and Robert Goldstock; it also includes a revealing confession from the Oscar-winning actor Sir Ian McKellen about the challenge of playing John Howe’s Gandalf. The exclusive foreword to the volume is by Peter Jackson, director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.