Alan Lee (illustrator)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other people with the same name, see Alan Lee (disambiguation).

Alan Lee
Academy Award
2004
Signature

Alan Lee (born 20 August 1947) is an English book

concept design of Peter Jackson's film adaptations of Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit
film series.

Early life and education

Alan Lee was born in

Ealing School of Art.[1]

Career

Illustration

Tolkien

Further information: Illustrating Tolkien

Lee has illustrated dozens of

fantasy books, including some non-fiction, and many more book covers.[2]
Among the numerous works by J. R. R. Tolkien that he has illustrated are the 1992 centenary edition of The Lord of the Rings, a 1999 edition of The Hobbit, the 2007 The Children of Húrin, the 2017 Beren and Lúthien, the 2018 The Fall of Gondolin, and the 2022 The Fall of Númenor.[2]

Other illustrations

Non-Tolkien books he has illustrated include

The Mabinogion (two versions), Castles by David Day, The Mirrorstone by Michael Palin, The Moon's Revenge by Joan Aiken, and Merlin Dreams by Peter Dickinson.[2]

He has illustrated retellings of

Shapeshifters (Frances Lincoln, 2009).[3]

Lee made cover paintings for the 1983 Penguin edition of

media
that Lee commonly uses.

Film

Tolkien

Further information: Production of The Lord of the Rings film series § Art design
bigature" of the tower for filming.[4]

Lee and

Rohan soldier in the armoury (over the shoulder of Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn who is talking to Legolas in Elvish).[8]

Two years after completing

The Lord of the Rings film series, Lee released a 192-page collection of his concept artwork for the project, The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook (HarperCollins, 2005). Peter Jackson said, "His art captured what I hoped to capture with the films."[9]

Other films

Lee worked as a concept designer on the films Legend, Erik the Viking, King Kong and the television mini-series Merlin.[5] The art book Faeries, produced in collaboration with Brian Froud, was the basis of a 1981 animated feature of the same name.[10]

Books illustrated

Awards

For his 1978 book with Brian Froud, Faeries, Lee was runner-up for the fantasy Locus Award, year's best art or illustrated book.[12]

For illustrating Merlin Dreams by Peter Dickinson (1988), he won the annual Chesley Award for Best Interior Illustration[12] and he was a highly commended runner-up for the Greenaway Medal.[13][a] He also won the BSFA Award for Best Artwork, for that year's best single new image.[12] Five years later, he won the

Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject. The book was Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff, a version of the Trojan War story.[14]
For the 60th anniversary edition of The Hobbit, Tolkien's 1937 classic, Lee won his second Chesley Award for Interior Illustration (he is a finalist eight times through 2011).[15] For that year's work he won the annual World Fantasy Award, Best Artist, at the 1998 World Fantasy Convention.[16] In 2000, he won the competitive, juried Spectrum Award for fantastic art in the grandmaster category.[17] Lee, Grant Major and Dan Hennah earned the 2004 Academy Award for Best Art Direction for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, third in the film trilogy.[18] In 2016 he was awarded the 'Schwäbischen Lindwurm' of the Dragon Days Crossmedia Fantastikfestival Stuttgart.

Notes

  1. ^ There are usually eight books on the Greenaway Medal shortlist. According to CCSU, some runners-up through 2002 were Commended (from 1959) or Highly Commended (from 1974). There were 31 high commendations in 29 years including Lee and two others in 1988.

References

  1. ^ Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. "Alan Lee Biography".
  2. ^ a b c d Alan Lee at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  3. ^ "Shapeshifters: tales from Ovid's Metamorphoses". WorldCat. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7660-2737-4
    .
  5. ^
    IMDb
  6. ^ "Guillermo del Toro Chats with TORN About The Hobbit Films!". TheOneRing.net. 25 April 2008. Retrieved 26 April 2008.
  7. ^ In a documentary interview on the extended edition of The Fellowship of the Ring.
  8. ^ "Cameos and Special Extras in The Lord of The Rings". Anonymous.
  9. ^ "The lord of the rings sketchbook" (British edition). WorldCat. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  10. ISBN 978-0553346343
    .
  11. ^ Sutcliff, Rosemary (2010) Fantasy illustrator Alan Lee worked with Rosemary Sutcliff
  12. ^ a b c Lee, Alan" Archived 2012-10-16 at the Wayback Machine. Index of Art Nominees. Locus Index to SF Awards. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  13. ^ "Kate Greenaway Medal" Archived 2014-09-16 at the Wayback Machine. 2007(?). Curriculum Lab. Elihu Burritt Library. Central Connecticut State University. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  14. CILIP
    . Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  15. ^ "Chesley Nominees List". The Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards. Archived from the original on 4 November 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  16. ^ "1998 World Fantasy Award Winners and Nominees". World Fantasy Convention. Archived from the original on 22 September 2008.
  17. ^ 2000 Spectrum Awards. Archived 2012-10-19 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King". AllMovie.

See also

External links

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