Year: 1979
Publisher: Ballantine
ISBN: 0345273966
Content: 112 pages with colour illustrations
In the 90´s I served for a short period of time as a humble agent for some Hungarian artists in the SF&F field. One thing I mentioned now and then, if being asked for advice how to burst into the European and especially US market was to find a special subject everybody knows and prepare some outstanding paintings for it. My examples were Lord of the Rings and The Foundation by Tolkien and Asimov - those are probably still the most recognisable image resources for a new talent in the field to attract attention with. (If you don´t count overmerchandised categories such as Star Trek and Star Wars, which you might want to get permission first before you do some work for...)
Anyway, I am only mentioning this now because it was their J.R.R. Tolkien Calendars in three consecutive years The Brothers Hildebrandt (Greg and Tim) became instantly famous and renown for. Even though they made some beautiful, fairytale-like illustrations for the Shannara books by Terry Brooks, it is their renderings from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings which not only made this early bestselling artbook possible, but also inspired lots of Tolkien-illustrators and illustrations in the decades to follow, up to certain sceneries from the Peter Jackson movies which were evidently based on the viewpoint and renderings of the Brothers Hildebrandt.
This was also the first volume - of my knowledge - which meticulously showed us preparations and polaroid shots used by fantasy artists during and for their work (something which later Boris Vallejo revealed in some of his artbooks as well). The artbook also contained some more private works about family members as well as record covers and some other material and illustrations. Tim and Greg continued later with their own respective career and published a lot of personal material and artbooks before reuniting first for some trading cards and comic book projects, then an artbook containing all their illustrations for Lucasfilm, and later with an artbook full of tolkienesque paintings celebrating the arrival of the movie trilogy. Tim Hildebrandt died in 2006 very untimely, while as of last, Greg still produces some covers, mainly in connection with the Star Wars universe and comic books. You can see more of their works and related material on their authorized website.
No comments:
Post a Comment