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Post by Stormrider on Jun 3, 2009 5:54:53 GMT -6
Once again, I want to say that I love your new website.
I love the colors in the cover picture--blues and oranges--nice combination! But on the November page it is the same picture and the blue looks green! I like how it looks on the cover image better although the green is brighter and more cheerful.
I like the February Troll picture. Poor Bilbo caught! The Troll is snarling at him.
The Tooks are surely adventurers and warriors. You can see that in the June picture. They would have fit in nicely with the Fellowship dressed like that!
September confuses me. What's a Hobbler? Is that a typo? And is that Bilbo with a beard blowing smoke rings with Gandalf?
I like how Gollum's eyes glow. That reminds me of the eyes of the deep underwater sea creatures. After years of being in the root of the mountains, I can see how his eyes would be like that.
I like how Gandalf's eye brows are really bushy and long and his beard is wild and very very long.
I like how the background on several of the pictures is a watermark in black and white with the color image in the foreground. Nice technique.
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Post by Parmastahir on Jun 4, 2009 6:11:58 GMT -6
Hi Stormrider -
Thanks for the reply. I'll let me son know of your comments. It was he who designed it.
Re your questions about the illustrations, I can only say that any such is subject to the artist's interpretation. I had the same questions about some of them that you did. Having read the books numerous times, I have a picture in my mind's eye of what the characters and scenes look like. I think Ms. Postma took some artistic liberties. That's all I can say!
Hope things are well with you.
Away from The Green Hill Country,
Parmastahir
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Post by Parmastahir on Jul 3, 2009 6:12:49 GMT -6
Created a new Calendar of the Month for July on the homepage of: www.tolkiencalendars.comIt is a VERY rare calendar, and one that is unique in my collection because of the format. Hope you enjoy it and comments welcome! Happy summer to all! Away from The Green Hill Country, Parmastahir
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Post by Andorinha on Jul 3, 2009 22:11:19 GMT -6
Thanks, Parmastahir!
I like the flavour of this Calendar, a "cottage industry" effort by an early group of Tolkien readers, lol, back in the Elder Days of our involvement with Middle-earth.
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Post by Stormrider on Jul 4, 2009 8:35:45 GMT -6
Very different...only six months (each with double the days of an ordinary calendar).
I like pen and ink drawings. I have been contemplating trying a few myself next time I get into an artsy mood. The drawings from this calendar have a feel of some of Tolkien's own drawings.
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Post by Parmastahir on Jul 11, 2009 10:53:24 GMT -6
Stormrider: You may discover why it's only six "months" by checking out the various calendar systems that JRRT created in the appendix to RotK. I post in other forums, and others commented exactly as you did: that these illustrations have Tolkienish feel to them.
Andorinha: This calendar was tipped into one of the issues of "Chronicles" (later "Chronicles of the King") published by a (now) well-known group of people as the "Journal of the National Organization for Tolkien" under the Permanent Press name. Other than my copy, I know of only two others: one in the Marquette U collection, one that belongs to a older collector (who has some absolutely fantastic things!) So I was indeed fortunate to obtain one (and in essentially mint condition.)
Thanks for posting!
Away from The Green Hill Country,
Parm
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Post by Parmastahir on Aug 2, 2009 18:48:08 GMT -6
Well, no matter how quiet it is around here, I will always post around the first of the month! Created a new Calendar of the Month for August on the homepage of: www.tolkiencalendars.comIt is a rather rare calendar . . . especially in the original "baggie." Hope you enjoy it and comments welcome! Happy Summer to all! Away from The Green Hill Country, Parmastahir
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Post by Andorinha on Aug 3, 2009 9:39:16 GMT -6
Now that's a "blast from the past" Parmastahir! I had completely forgotten about the old LOTR animated version, never liked it much, but now I think I'll seek a copy at the library (if they have such) and give it another view. I remember liking some of the background scenery cells, but detesting the main character portrayals -- especially the "crippled," lurching Nazgul dragging his foot behind him...
Interesting that March 2 shows the Nazgul inside the Bree Inn attacking the "fake" hobbits in their beds, the same mistake was made in the PJ film version, wonder if PJ simply copied it from the animated version?
Thanks again for sharing your collection with us!!!
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Post by Ardo Whortleberry on Aug 6, 2009 2:29:15 GMT -6
Wow! Sixteen pages already in this thread! Well, I'm not up to catching up on everything in those sixteen pages right now - I only have this to say right now:
Of all the "commercial" Tolkien Calendars that I have seen, Tim Kirk's remains my favorite...
Tim Kirk is still my all-time favorite portrayer of scenes from Middle-earth - even if has always had a tendency to draw in a "cartoonish" style...
I stil recall his pen and ink drawings that I saw in early issues of "Mythlore" magazine ( put out by The Mythopoeic Society ) ( in the 1970-72 range ) His drawings were the ones that always came the closest to the way I pictured things when I read the books, but also his artwork also may have influenced me in my imaginations of same... His work always had a touch of whimsy about it, but I also appreciated the way he could be so self-confident and free with adding all the little ( and big ) "details" -- articles of clothing; weapons & accoutrements; ( for samll details ) I especially loved the way he envisioned the hobbits & the Shire
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Post by Stormrider on Aug 6, 2009 5:54:54 GMT -6
Parmastihir: I like how the pictures are staggered onto the days of the month--that is an interesting touch--you get more images per calendar!
I don't think I have any favorite Tolkien artist--they all have such wonderful art. I have worked on a couple of our Tolkien studies and poured over art from all over to add to our studies and I loved it. So many awesome interpretations and styles to see.
The artists that stand out for me are Greg and Tim Hildebrandt because they use actual models and set them up with blankets over their shoulders for capes, pots on their heads for helmets, etc., and then take it from there! The detail in their art is exquisite. I appreciate their use of models because I found myself doing the same thing!
But there were so many artists with wonderful images and techniques and ideas I can't even count them all. Such beautiful stuff.
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Post by Stormrider on Aug 6, 2009 19:32:16 GMT -6
Funny we were just talking about Tim Kirk and the Hildebrandts!
My daughter, Desi, brought back three Tolkien collectors calendars for me from her father-in-law's house. His mother collected JRRT calendars and I guess these were the only ones left.
They are all by Ballantine: 1975 Paintings from "Portfolio of Middle-Earth" by Tim Kirk and 1977 and 1978 Illiustrations by the Brothers Hildebrandt.
They smell is little bit "basementy" but otherwise they are in very good condition. I am sure these aren't very rare ones but it is cool having them! I will have to go check them out at Parmastihir's site...I am sure you already have them.
I remember seeing all of these paintings in my search for Tolkien art for the ROTK and Hobbit studies that I led.
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Post by Parmastahir on Sept 5, 2009 5:49:21 GMT -6
Created a new Calendar of the Month for September on: www.tolkiencalendars.comHope you like this one! Happy end of Summer to all. Away from The Green Hill Country, Parmastahir
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Post by Andorinha on Sept 5, 2009 8:05:02 GMT -6
Thanks, Parmastahir!
Vibrant! LOL! I do rather like the old "technicolur" touch, very refreshingly bright after all the recent CGI blue-tone, somber art of movies/ vids. "Vibrant" works very nicely with the traditional "fairy tale" theme and flavour of The Hobbit. Especially like the depiction of Beorn meeting Gandalf and Bilbo; and the novel placement of Bard on a rooftop about to shoot Smaug.
At least on my computer, May, June, July, and October gave me "404 Not Found" messages?
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Post by Parmastahir on Sept 6, 2009 6:26:27 GMT -6
Hi Andorinha -
Thanks for the note. It's amazing how the lack of two little letters affects html code. I fixed the May/June/July/October URLs. Michael Hague's work is certainly unique among my calendars. He very much has a Renaissance style.
Away from The Green Hill Country,
Parmastahir
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Post by Ardo Whortleberry on Sept 7, 2009 17:59:58 GMT -6
Hello! ~~~
Just now took a gander at this Michael Hague calendar -- The drawing/paintings do look very much like they could easily work as the coloured illustrations for an edition of "The Hobbit" - ( full page color illustrations in-between the pages of the text ) =
The style also strikes me as being sort of "Pre-Raphaelite", ( that "Renaissance" look about them ) and also in the tradition of N.C. Wyeth & Arthur Rackham...
The drawings are all quite technically well executed, & all the bright and rich color adds elements of mood, drama and vibrancy to the scenes depicted...
My only "gripe" ( & of course, you can't always have everything you want ) is that the drawings do tend to be a little too "story-book" in their nature - it reminds me of those old - style ( like , 1920's, 1930's ) Mother Goose & Fairy Tale book illustrations, ( in some ways ), for instance: with the way the Elves and Men are dressed, the architecture in the Lake-Town, and so forth - I realize "The Hobbit" is a fantasy, after all, and anyone can be free to picture these things any way they desire - but the Renaissance Period seems just a little bit too "modern" ( to me ) to evoke the "right" time period for Tolkien's stories... - not "ancient" enough -- ( even for "The Hobbit", considered a "children's book" ) =
I have to say, however - that illustration of Smaug emerging from up out of the bowels of The Mountain is very impressive! =
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