4.80

5

Jan 13, 2015

I am a massive fan of fantasy art. From the early days of my childhood I adored pouring over drawings, paintings, and sculptures of things ranging from dragons souring through the skies through to wizards standing toe to toe with invading armies. I literally worshipped artists like John Howe, Keith Parkinson, Michael Whelan and Frank Frazetta, and I consumed their work with fanaticism and passion.

So when I heard of the the impending release of the Art and Design book for The Hobbit: The Battle I am a massive fan of fantasy art. From the early days of my childhood I adored pouring over drawings, paintings, and sculptures of things ranging from dragons souring through the skies through to wizards standing toe to toe with invading armies. I literally worshipped artists like John Howe, Keith Parkinson, Michael Whelan and Frank Frazetta, and I consumed their work with fanaticism and passion.

So when I heard of the the impending release of the Art and Design book for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies I was excited to say the least. And boy was I not disappointed. Composing of over 250 different pieces of art, sketches, costumes and concept designs, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Art and Design book is an impressive addition to fantasy art literature. This book covers everything, from the initial sketches and artist discussion right though to the final design that made it to film. Props, sets, creatures, armour and weapons are all covered in great detail, and conceptual artists like John Howe and Alan Lee provide expert commentary all throughout the book.

I adored pouring over each and every single page, taking in the beautiful artwork or gleaming an interesting fact from the information (such as how Thranduil's armour was initially inspired by the intricate and beautiful armour of Japanese samurai) that accompanied it. I also enjoyed how the book was divided into sections that focused on the different factions of Middle Earth, and I loved seeing the bad guys (orcs, goblins, Necromancer etc) get equal treatment and focus. It was simply amazing to learn just how much work and background design goes into the production of a film like the The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, and after reading this I have a new found respect and admiration for all of those men and women behind its production.

I could read this tome over and over and still discover new things every time. To put it simply, this book is a must have for any fantasy art lover, Tolkien fan, or cosplayer. An absolutely stunning and visually brilliant book, and a must have for anyone with eyes and a soul!

5 out of 5 stars.

smashdragons.blogspot.com.au

Note - A review copy was provided.
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3

Dec 28, 2014

Bilbo got one page. ONE. PAGE. Which is on-par with the movie, I guess. BUT WOW. It didn't even show all his costumes???? And all the dwarves got like ten pages each????

Also, much of the text was plot summary, which was a waste of time and also boring.

5

Mar 30, 2014

Wow.

This final chronicle of The Hobbit art books contains amazingly gorgeous concept art. Over half of it is digital art (I usually prefer pencil, ink, or charcoal drawn art) but this stuff is so good I can't complain.

And the pencil or ink drawn art in here is incredible. Mostly all done by the masters Alan Lee and John Howe, they are detailed and imaginative and beautiful.

Sometimes, though, the art that looked the best and most interesting was so tiny you couldn't see it very well. I know Wow.

This final chronicle of The Hobbit art books contains amazingly gorgeous concept art. Over half of it is digital art (I usually prefer pencil, ink, or charcoal drawn art) but this stuff is so good I can't complain.

And the pencil or ink drawn art in here is incredible. Mostly all done by the masters Alan Lee and John Howe, they are detailed and imaginative and beautiful.

Sometimes, though, the art that looked the best and most interesting was so tiny you couldn't see it very well. I know that they can't have a 700 page book to give each piece a full page, more's the pity, but it was still a bit disappointing.

I found myself being torn while reading this book though, because something would be mentioned and I was thanking whoever vetoed that idea, like Thorin and Azog battling across the face of a frozen waterfall, while ice chunks fell away. And then I would read that someone had drawn up a full color sketch of Azog holding Kili underwater while Thorin struggled desperately to reach him and bang my head against the wall because WHY COULDN'T THAT HAVE BEEN IN THE MOVIE?!?

The concept art for Thorin's tomb in Erebor was great art design and so pretty. Why can't I recall seeing it in the movie? Probably because I couldn't see through my tears.

The concept art for Thorin being slain more near to Dale looked much better than Thazog On Ice.

I wish they had kept in the nod to Gimli and Legolas' friendship by having that one line between Gloin and Thranduil.

I really liked some of the other designs for Bolg that they were considering far more than what they settled on.

So from this it would appear that Dain was entirely digital, which I totally called while watching the movie, because he looked all wrong.

"In Tolkien's books, Goblins are synonymous with Orcs." Really??

"The reference in the books to Azog having a huge, iron-clad head." Oh, I guess you also decided to ignore the reference about Azog not being alive during the timeline of the Hobbit...

You can definitely see that Peter Jackson has a flair for the dramatic, considering all the things he wanted added in because it would look bitching. Some of those were admittedly pretty cool, but some were just a wee bit over the top.

Oh, and I found a typo!

"neighboring Erebor soldtheir toys and jewelry."

No space.
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4

Nov 06, 2017

Really cool companion piece to the films. I enjoyed seeing the different artistic stages that some of the architecture, costumes, weapons, and monsters went through before sliding into the final shapes.
I also enjoyed the commentary and view into the days of the artists themselves. I also found myself being more critical of the screenwriters and director for the choices they ended up making from their options, as well as the directions they have the artists to inspire different elements.
Let it be Really cool companion piece to the films. I enjoyed seeing the different artistic stages that some of the architecture, costumes, weapons, and monsters went through before sliding into the final shapes.
I also enjoyed the commentary and view into the days of the artists themselves. I also found myself being more critical of the screenwriters and director for the choices they ended up making from their options, as well as the directions they have the artists to inspire different elements.
Let it be known though, these artists are masters! The scale of art they could sketch up in no time at all is equal parts intimidating and inspiring. Great stuff! ...more

5

Apr 22, 2018

Beautiful art. It made me look at the Hobbit movies in a new way.

5

Nov 09, 2018

Large, heavy, filled with information and beautiful pictures. What else could one want?

5

Jan 10, 2015

A compilation of the artwork, concept designs, models, and behind the scenes insight that led to the movie "Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies." I will warn that this book does contain some spoilers of the movie, so if you have not seen the movie, this book may ruin some surprises!

Hundreds of visual works adorn all 250+ pages, along with commentary from conceptual artists (ex Alan Lee and John Howe), Weta designers, costume designers, and special effects. Subjects range from all sets in the A compilation of the artwork, concept designs, models, and behind the scenes insight that led to the movie "Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies." I will warn that this book does contain some spoilers of the movie, so if you have not seen the movie, this book may ruin some surprises!

Hundreds of visual works adorn all 250+ pages, along with commentary from conceptual artists (ex Alan Lee and John Howe), Weta designers, costume designers, and special effects. Subjects range from all sets in the movie, as well as sets and designs that never made it to the final product. Scenery, costumes, weaponry, creatures, and props all a focus in this book. A must have companion for anyone with a love of Tolkien and the Hobbit movies, who has an interest in movie-making, or just wants some tips for costume cosplay :). ...more

5

Dec 04, 2014

Great ending to an awesome trilogy of movies! What I liked the most about this book was hearing about how they did the art for my favorite scene in the movie: the battle scene in Dol Guldur between Sauron and the Nazgul and Lady Galadriel, Saruman, and Elrond. Other things I liked were hearing about how they designed the different sets and how important they were for the movie. I liked hearing about how instrumental the sets were to scenes in the movie. Another of my favorite scenes were the Great ending to an awesome trilogy of movies! What I liked the most about this book was hearing about how they did the art for my favorite scene in the movie: the battle scene in Dol Guldur between Sauron and the Nazgul and Lady Galadriel, Saruman, and Elrond. Other things I liked were hearing about how they designed the different sets and how important they were for the movie. I liked hearing about how instrumental the sets were to scenes in the movie. Another of my favorite scenes were the battle sequences in the movie and how the sets of Dale, Ravenhill, and Erebor were portrayed as in the book about how they designed them. Great book about how the art department made this movie possible! ...more

5

Mar 25, 2014

The artistry alone is reason enough to purchase this book. I may almost completely disagree with Peter Jackson's "artistic choices" in the movie but that does not take away from the absolute pleasure of reading this book. The pictures are absolutely gorgeous. Learning about all that goes into the tiniest details, many of which are not even seen much less appreciated. All I need are books 4 and 6 (when it's published).

5

Jan 14, 2015

This was filled with beautiful concept art and loads of ideas that didn't make it all the way. Some sketches even made me shiver because they were so good, and I'm amazed they can even come up with things like this. It was very interesting to read and I love these movies so much, it was amazing to see something like this. I need the art books for the other two movies now too...

4

Jul 24, 2015

This book was amazing! All the artwork was incredible.
It was cool to read about some of the ideas they had for the movie but decided to discard.
There was one problem with this book, there was to little about Bilbo and Tauriel. There were a few drawings of Bilbo but none of Tauriel, at least Bilbo got a whole page!

4

Jan 15, 2015

the concept art was so beautiful in this book it makes me wonder why they didn't use more of it in the actual movie. i do enjoy seeing their process of decision when they decide what to use and what not to use in the movie. this book is a must for anyone who loves the hobbit movies no matter how peter jackson puts things together. love love love these movies.

5

Dec 26, 2014

Es una obra de arte esta colección de libros, con todas las ilustraciones originales de John Howe y Alan Lee y del equipo de diseñadores de Weta, encabezados por Daniel Falconer, que firma los libros.

5

Nov 13, 2016

Took me way too long to finish reading/enjoying this.
Love it!

5

Dec 30, 2014

Another amazing book from Daniel Falconer. ... I never get tired of seeing the exquisite work that goes on behind the scenes of my favourite films

3

May 21, 2016

Enjoyable to see the thoughts, concepts, and various directions the visuals could take. Worth a borrow but, unless you're an intense fan, not a purchase.