Get inside the mind of Tolkien illustrator John Howe at new Swiss studio-museum

NEUCHATEL, Switzerland – John Howe, the illustrator who brought J.R.R. Tolkien’s universe to life, is now inviting the world into his mind’s eye by setting up his studio in a mediaeval prison-turned-museum in Switzerland.

The 68-year-old is famed for his interpretation of the English writer’s literary work, which ultimately saw him serve as a concept artist on New Zealand film-maker Peter Jackson’s movie trilogies The Lord Of The Rings (2001 to 2003) and The Hobbit (2012 to 2014).

A lover of mythology and legends, Howe has also worked on video games and a television series.

The heroic or mysterious figures the internationally acclaimed artist draws – such as Gandalf, Treebeard, Saruman or Legolas – often emerge from darkness, bluish shadows, golden glimmers or greenish hues.

In the future, when he is not working on a film, Howe will be found at his studio in the Tower Of Fantasy, which opens on Dec 18 in Neuchatel in north-west Switzerland, the lakeside city he now calls home.

Around 270 of his works will be exhibited for a year in this new museum, of which he is one of the founders.

In the studio – which will remain open after the exhibition, Journey Into The Worlds Of John Howe, closes – visitors will be able to talk to Howe and watch him create – a challenge he does not shy away from.

“It’s people who keep us going, after all,” he said.

“We thought we’d offer the public a little glimpse into my mind,” he added, voicing a desire to share his perspective and his method.

‘Cascade of images’

The exhibited works represent only a tiny fraction of his output.

Whether standing or sitting, “I draw all the time”, the Canada-born, naturalised Swiss illustrator said.

“At first, it’s a need, then a vocation, a profession, and then, little by little, it defines you,” and becomes “a reason for being”, he said.

Brought up on a farm near Vancouver, Canada, he says this growing passion has driven him since childhood.

At around 12 years old, he discovered Tolkien and his epic fantasy trilogy The Lord Of The Rings (1954 to 1955) at the library – though Howe jokingly regrets having had to start with the second volume, as the first was not available.

A few years later, he immersed himself once again into Tolkien’s world, a re-reading that brought forth “a cascade of images” from his pencils because, according to Howe, the English writer is one of those “wonderful authors who offer a plethora of images to the reader”.

Howe studied decorative arts in Strasbourg.

There, he discovered the French city’s imposing Gothic cathedral and spent his days inside it like Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre-Dame, thanks to a master key entrusted to him.

He was fascinated by Gothic buildings – something he had previously seen only in books.

“I had never seen a real cathedral. I had never had so much history at my fingertips in this way. It was a kind of electric shock,” he said.

Middle Ages ‘fan zone’

Howe, who has become one of the masters of mediaeval fantasy, is passionate about history, which he considers “an important ingredient” in constructing his imagery.

His drawings blend historical meticulousness and epic imagination with a keen sense of architectural and mythological detail, creating an often dark and majestic atmosphere, borrowing from the Middle Ages.

“The Middle Ages is the world’s biggest fan zone,” he said.

“It’s a territory inhabited, on the one hand, by very serious people – archaeologists, philologists, historians, scientists – and on the other hand, by the artists, like nomads, who wander through it with only one goal: to tell stories.”

This self-described storyteller is not afraid of a blank page.

His characters and landscapes are created with hatching strokes, which he then colours in.

“The images are out there in the world. You have to go and find them,” he said.

“It’s a bit like when you’re in the mountains, there’s fog everywhere and then suddenly it clears, revealing a magnificent landscape. Drawing is a bit like that.”

Howe never tires of Tolkien’s universe and is now working on English actor-director Andy Serkis’ 2027 film project The Lord Of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum. Serkis played Gollum in the Jackson films.

Nor does Howe reject The Lord Of The Rings label that has stuck to him.

Some of the movie series’ monsters, like the Nazgul – spectres riding flying beasts – or the Balrog, a giant infernal creature, were directly based on his illustrations.

This pleases Howe, he says, because they now belong to the collective imagination, not just his own. AFP