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See the Sketches J.R.R. Tolkien Used To Build Middle-Earth (wired.com)
Esther Schindler writes: In addition to writing the story of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien drew it. The maps and sketches he made while drafting it "informed his storytelling, allowing him to test narrative ideas and illustrate scenes he needed to capture in words," reports Ethan Gilsdorf at Wired. "For Tolkien, the art of writing and the art of drawing were inextricably intertwined."
It's all coming out in a new book, but here we get a sneak preview, along with several cool observations, such as: "If Tolkien's nerdy use of graph paper feels like a secret message to future Dungeons & Dragons players, then so does his 'Plan of Shelob's lair.' Tolkien's map of tunnels stocked with nasties—here, a spider named Shelob—would be right at home in any Dungeon Master's campaign notes. He even marks the place for a classic dungeon crawl feature: 'trap.'"
It's all coming out in a new book, but here we get a sneak preview, along with several cool observations, such as: "If Tolkien's nerdy use of graph paper feels like a secret message to future Dungeons & Dragons players, then so does his 'Plan of Shelob's lair.' Tolkien's map of tunnels stocked with nasties—here, a spider named Shelob—would be right at home in any Dungeon Master's campaign notes. He even marks the place for a classic dungeon crawl feature: 'trap.'"
TFS only has one image
It's one of these magic new interweb things. You click the arrows at the sides and different pictures appear, like in the Mirror of Galadriel.
Why are these articles being posted? This is not tech news. Nerds/Geeks - let's move on. I like Star Trek too - I don't want to see articles about that either. Go ahead, I'm sure folks agree - maybe you're reading this now, agreeing, yet you will take the counter argument if/when you choose to reply to this. I won't be checking for replies on this, I am not attempting to introduce flame bait here. While I'm at it, I really can't get over how lame some of the tech is on here lately too. I need to break the habit of coming here as I do a couple of times a day. Maybe I'm ranting - maybe it's that time of the month for me.... I don't know. Perhaps I'm outgrowing most of the content on here these days. Maybe I'm just let down by /. these days. Apologies for my outburst.
I hit a blank advertising slide between 6 and 7. Also, if you feel the urge to avoid the java script, you can just look at the source - links to all images are there. The caption to the first image is "Map of Rohan, Gondor, and Mordor".
The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head
Oh lighten up. LoTR has always been on-topic here. It's part of your nerd or geek card membership. After all, you conveniently left out the most important part of the tagline: "news for nerds." Though maybe the nature of the nerd is changing. Hard to believe I've been wasting time on slashdot for nearly 20 years now.
Other nerdy non-tech subjects come up from time to time, that slashdotters seem to love talking about:
- star trek
- star wars
- science fiction in general
- The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy
to name but a few.
I'm surprised you came down from your high horse long enough to send a message to us peons.
If J.R.R. Tolkien isn't "news for nerds" then I have no clue what would qualify.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
Ya! I already wanna comment bitching about how come he didn't use that map instead of the famous but idiotically rectilinear mountains one, expecting someone else to chime in he drew that one, too, then I would make a sarcastic comment that he obviously used rectangle graph paper for large scale outdoors instead of hex, what a doof he was.
I am not well-appreciated answering questions on stackexchange by the humorless robots there.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
J.R.R. Tolkien's Rings trilogy was originally published in 1954-55, relatively obscure until an American pulp publisher 'Ace' just went to press without even asking, never mind the money. Tolkien battled them for rights and royalties, and things dragged along slowly until a cadre of deep fan American readers took on the cause with verve that Ace could scarcely have imagined, and sent them reeling. Ace eventually offered an arrangement that was accepted by the Author and formal truce was declared.
Meanwhile (1960s) popularity of the books had taken off considerably in the United States and Britain. So with new interest Ballentine Books approached the author with intent to produce an 'authorised' paperback edition -- with some revision -- and they would do the cover. From Humphrey Carpenter's J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography,
[After some delay] they decided that they could not wait any longer. In order to get at least one Tolkien book into the shops they published The Hobbit in the original text without waiting for Tolkien's revisions, which they planned to include in a later edition. They sent him a copy, and he was astonished by the picture on the cover. Ace Books for all their moral 'piracy' had employed a cover artist who knew something about the story, but Ballantine's cover picture seemed to have no relevance whatever to The Hobbit, for it showed a hill, two emus, and a curious tree bearing bulbous fruit. Tolkien exploded: 'What has it got to do with the story? Where is this place? Why emus? And what is the thing in the foreground with pink bulbs?' When the reply came that the artist hadn't time to read the book, and that the object with pink bulbs was 'meant to suggest a Christmas tree', Tolkien could only answer: 'I begin to feel that I am shut up in a madhouse.'
Late in 1965 the `authorised' paperback of The Lord of the Rings was published in America in three volumes, with Tolkien's revisions incorporated, and with the emus and the Christmas tree on the cover of the first volume, though this picture was later removed and one of Tolkien's own drawings was substituted; two more of his pictures were used for the second and third volumes. Each copy carried a message from Tolkien: 'This paperback edition and no other has been published with my consent and co-operation. Those who approve of courtesy (at least) to living authors will purchase it and no other.'
Purple Emu Fellowships are now rare. I used to have one.
<blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
That's not quite right.
Tolkien himself admitted--in Letters if not other commentary--that he was no artist
That was JRRT being self-deprecating and humble. Some of his art was actually quite good. It all came down to how much time he put into it - there's a big difference between his finished works and his crude sketches. I think what he means when he says "I'm no artist" is more along the lines of "I'm not on par with picasso" rather than "I can't draw". If you want to see some awesome art by JRRT, check out J.R.R Tolkiien: Artist And Illustrator, which has some awesome stuff. This new book seems to be focusing more on the rough sketches.
and that Chris did most of the artwork associated with the maps and early sketches that went with his work.
Chris only did the maps IIRC. The other illustrations tended to be JRRT. The original (intended, I don't think it was published in the end) cover of the hobbit was entirely JRRT's design.
You really do need to get a clue about this site. It was never just about technology, and Tolkien has always been on topic here.