Ted Nasmith at Tolkien Thing

[dagmarjung]

It's Tolkien Thing time again! Next weekend, the German branch of the Tolkien Society will meet in Diez in a castle - nowadays it's run as a youth hostel. After Alan Lee last year, this year's special guest is Ted Nasmith.

(Edit: Sorry I didn't cut this post! Didn't mean to clog your f-list.)

Comments

[wulfila]

Your thoughts on Ted Nasmith's art are very interesting, especially as I can relate to your feelings, to a certain degree - I believe Alan Lee's illustrations work best with Tolkien, while Nasmith is a bit too flashy and too much in the "generic hyperrealistic fantasy painting" corner (I am not an artist, and probably not expressing myself very well here, but I hope you know what I mean). He does kill the sense of mystery indeed, even though he does not do it in the giggle-inducing manner the Hildebrandts do it

[dagmarjung]

I agree with all you said about Tolkien's writing style. Like the old sagas or the bible, Tolkien often uses simple and sparse words to say meaningful things. He doesn't push every emotional or dramatic button. He expects his readers to draw their own conclusions and fill in the gaps.

Tad Nasmith made a dia show of his paintings and projects, and at the end he showed us two paintings of castles from George R.R. Martin's 'Fire and Ice' series. I felt that Nasmith's style of exaggerated grandeur suited Martin's style perfectly.

Thank your for your kind words about my drawings! You made me blush. I can sense the same feeling of honesty in your drawings too. Your characters are just the persons they are meant to be, behaving in a natural way, never posing.

Completely irrelevant comment

[maggiehoneybite]

Hi Dagmar,

I hope you don't mind my invading your LJ like this, but I've been told to point you toward this recent entry of mine. There's a reference to a "Horse with Mullet" painting that you might enjoy.

Re: Completely irrelevant comment

[dagmarjung]

Thanks for the hint, but the website seems quite unmanagable to me. Takes ages to load, and then it shows just one image (titled 'a bird with absolutely no face') and nothing else, no galleries, no thumbnails, menu or links. No way to get to a horse with a mullet.

Come to think of it, why haven't I friended you? I need more spider slash in my dreary life!
Have remedied that.

Re: Completely irrelevant comment

[maggiehoneybite]

There should be little arrows in the upper right-hand corner, next to the bird, for navigation. But I agree -- it's a website with lots of info that takes ages to load. And you can't turn the music off, which is probably part of the problem. It's too bad I can't link to the horse directly.

Come to think of it, why haven't I friended you?

I was thinking the very same thing today. Hence, have friended you. :)

[tehta]

Your post has prompted me to look at Tolkien art again, and hey! I had never seen this But is that Turgon back there???

But of course I am familiar with many of Nasmith's other works, such as Turin Tears At His Hair and Ulmo Is Scary. I have to say that I agree with you that he is the least appealing of the three: I always feel like there is something weird about his people. Like they are posing: holding what should be a dynamic arrangement of limbs for an unnaturally long time. And his colours do feel too bright tome.

But speaking of bright colour... One thing I would much like to see is some Tolkien illustrations in the style of Bilibin's illustrations. They are a *little* tacky, I know--though not as tacky as in these reproductions, though: I have a good book of them at home, and have seem some originals at an exhibit, and they look much sharper with better colours. But of course I could think them suitable for Tolkien only because they remind me of Russian fairytales, which were among the first such stories I heard and so still

[dagmarjung]

I agree, Bilibin would have made a great Tolkien artist. I don't feel that Tolkien calls necessarily for hyper-realistic art, like what we see in the (mostly North American) tradition of modern SF/Fantasy illustration. Bilibin brings out the magic and mystery in the worlds he depicts. He does grandeur in a way that doesn't look sterile. I would love to see him doing Silmarillion Elves.

[sirielle]

"is that Turgon back there???"

Ha, you are a fan of blond Fingolfinions like me ;) I wonder if his Fingon is blodie, too.

[sirielle]

He was probably paied for that weekend, didn't he? So it wasn't great effort on his part ;)

And how was the meeting? It's already after it, isn't it?

"In my opinion, the best paintings don't show each and everything, but leave some room for the viewer's eye and imagination to add the missing detail, to fill the gaps that are not really gaps."

This is great lesson in which I agree, that's something missing in many works and something with which I may easily fail. For I agree with you but the same time can't stop refining things till I stuck on something I can't refine and I end up with another never finished image.
But I think I've found a cure for that - at least for my art - more traditional media work, where there is no room for endless changing of images. I started all in digital after I dropped drawing at all some years ago, so I;'ve never really eared where to stop.'

[sirielle]

I should not post comments at night. This sentence sounds opposite to what I wanted to say as I read it again, so:

"that's something missing in many works and something with which I may easily fail."

I mean some works are missing something because they are too detailed, like a photography (not necessarily realistic), but there is no life nor mystery in them (nor depth of field which is one of reasons they look artificial). And although I care of depth of field I can easily get lost in details and loose any mystery I might have while envisioning the image I want to paint.