Recommended Reading: John Howe
on October 5th, 2009The blogging is light, because I am not here. On the road, doing business stuff, and off to New York for the Lord of the Rings event.
I meant to get more commissions posted, but didn’t have time to scan any more before I hit the road. However, the pages from A Distant Soil are archived and ready to load.
My Tolkien art lecture has been truncated somewhat to fit the short time we have, and many people attending the Lord of the Rings weekend cannot make the Sunday lectures. I will post my notes and recommended research list here as time permits.
Until then, I can’t think of a better book to inspire the budding professional creator than Fantasy Art Workshop by John Howe, the famous Tolkien illustrator and conceptual artist. Howe is not only one of my favorites, but this book is also an excellent overview of life as a professional artist: fighting procrastination, late-paying and deadbeat clients, organizing the files. Nuts and bolts discussion that I find fascinating (and which dominates this blog.)
Like many artists, I assume the people I admire walk on water and have beds lined with rose petals. It is comforting reading accounts by someone as successful as Howe, who candidly relates mundane concerns with which all artists struggle. I truly enjoyed this book. Published by the same company as my Girl to Grrrl Manga and Manga Pro Superstar books. It’s on sale for a super-low price at Amazon just now.
I liked him so much, I took a picture. Actually, I think the publicity guy at Impact Books took our picture.
Here’s John Howe and Little Me at an Impact Books signing, promoting our tomes.
