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Illustrating Tolkien means treading warily, dipping one's brush in shadow and rinsing them in light. Battle and balance, down the impossible path between the clear and the obscure.

— John Howe Tolkien's World: Paintings of Middle-Earth (1992)

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More quotes by John Howe

Drawing is giving yourself up to an exercise with no immediate application. It is a form of communion with your subject, be it in front of you or in your head.

John Howe : Fantasy Art Workshop (2007)

Like any admirer of Celtic myth, I was eager to have a go at depicting Cernunnos, the antlered god. I often sit with one of my many books on the subject and look in awe at the reproduction of the Gunderstrup Cauldron, on which he appears.

John Howe : Fantasy Art Workshop (2007)

History is like a jigsaw puzzle, except every piece is from a different puzzle, and you try to make them all fit. Although you many never have a finished picture, the time you spend, I think you end up understanding at least the pieces.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John Howe (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.