Alan Lee, the Oscar-winning conceptual designer for the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, discusses his approach to depicting Tolkien's imaginary world. The book presents more than 150 of Lee's celebrated illustrations to show how his imagery for both the illustrated Lord of the Rings and the films progressed from concept to finished art. In addition, the book contains 20 full-color plates and numerous examples of the conceptual art produced for Peter Jackson's film adaptation.

The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook provides a wealth of background information and will be of interest to those who know and love Tolkien's work, from books to films to DVDs, as well as to budding artists and illustrators interested in how to approach book illustration.

Great service. Quick shipment. The book was exactly as described. The book was in excellent condition. Thanks for the wonderful opportunity so I could own this book.

I baught this for my friend. I recommend it for any artist or sketcher as a great reference for different looks.

Simply a brilliant piece to my lotr collection. Not only are the sketches great, they also give an insight to how the movie came to be as it did and if it hadn't been for Alan Lee then the movie would have been the poorer for it. The text by Alan Lee is a useful tool to be taken into the magic that was in the creation of the movie. Great book!

This book was amazing and offers a mystical wonderland that is both intriqing and adventurous.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2S77U89YLNYUN The description from the book jacket is rather accurate and I'll quote it here:

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In The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook Alan Lee reveals in pictures and in words how he created the beautiful watercolour paintings for the special centenary edition of The Lord of the Rings. These images would prove so powerful and evocative that they would eventually define the look of Peter Jackson's movie trilogy and would earn him a coveted Academy Award.

The book is filled with over 150 of his sketches and early conceptual pieces to show how the project progressed from idea to finished art. It also contains a selection of colour paintings reproduced in full-page glory, together with numerous examples of previously unseen conceptual art produced for the films and many new works drawn specially for this book.

The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook provides a fascinating insight into the imagination of the ma who painted Tolkien's vision, firstly onto the page and then in three dimensions on the cinema screen. It will also be of interest to many of the 100,000 people who have bought the illustrated The Lord of the Rings as well as for budding artists interested in unlocking the secrets of book illustration.
-- end quote --

Full coloured paintings are few actually. But this book has an amazing collection of pencil sketches. The chapters are sorted by places that appear in the book, in chronological order.

With the author's comments, it makes this book sort of a "Making of" book together with it being an "Art of" book. So that's really a plus.

It should interest concept and fantasy artists. Oh, and also Lord of the Rings fans.

There are more pictures on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for my blog's link.