Alan Lee (illustrator)

Alan Lee (born 20 August 1947) is an English book illustrator and film conceptual designer. He is best known for his artwork inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novels, and for his work on the conceptual design of Peter Jackson's film adaptation of Tolkien, "The Lord of the Rings" film series.
Biography.
Alan Lee was born in Middlesex, England, and studied at the Ealing School of Art.
As of 2007, Lee, his wife, and two children live in Chagford, Dartmoor, Devon, England.
Illustration.
Lee has illustrated dozens of fantasy books, including some non-fiction, and many more covers. 
Among the numerous works by J. R. R. Tolkien that he has illustrated are the 1992 centenary edition of "The Lord of the Rings", a 1999 edition of "The Hobbit", the 2007 "The Children of Húrin", the 2017 "Beren and Lúthien" and the 2018 "The Fall of Gondolin". 
Non-Tolkien books he has illustrated include "Faeries" (with Brian Froud), "Lavondyss" by Robert Holdstock, "The Mabinogion" (two versions), "Castles" by David Day, "The Mirrorstone" by Michael Palin, "The Moon's Revenge" by Joan Aiken, and "Merlin Dreams" by Peter Dickinson.
He has illustrated retellings of classics for young people. Two were Rosemary Sutcliff's versions of the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey"—namely, "Black Ships Before Troy" (Oxford, 1993) and "The Wanderings of Odysseus" (Frances Lincoln, 1995). Another was Adrian Mitchell's version of Ovid's "Metamorphoses"—namely, "Shapeshifters" (Frances Lincoln, 2009).
Lee made cover paintings for the 1983 Penguin edition of Mervyn Peake's "Gormenghast" trilogy. He also did the artwork for "Alive!", a 2007 CD by the Dutch band Omnia, released during the Castlefest festival.
Watercolour painting and pencil sketches are two of Lee's common media.
Film.
Lee and John Howe were the lead concept artists of Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" films and were recruited by director Guillermo del Toro in 2008 for continuity of design in the subsequent "The Hobbit" films, before joining Jackson when he took over the "Hobbit" films project. Jackson has explained how he originally recruited the reclusive Lee. By courier to Lee's home in the south of England, he sent two of his previous films, "Forgotten Silver" and "Heavenly Creatures", with a note from himself and Fran Walsh that piqued Lee's interest enough for him to become involved. Lee went on to illustrate and even to help construct many of the scenarios for the movies, including objects and weapons for the actors. He made two cameo appearances: in the opening sequence of "" as one of the nine kings of men who became the Nazgûl; and in "The Two Towers" as a Rohan soldier in the armoury (over the shoulder of Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn who is talking to Legolas in Elvish).
Lee worked as a conceptual designer on the films "Legend", "Erik the Viking", "King Kong" and the television mini-series "Merlin." The art book "Faeries", produced in collaboration with Brian Froud, was the basis of a 1981 animated feature of the same name.
Two years after completion of "The Lord of the Rings" film series, Lee released a 192-page collection of his conceptual artwork for the project, entitled "The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook" (HarperCollins, 2005). Peter Jackson said, "His art captured what I hoped to capture with the films."
Awards.
For his 1978 book with Brian Froud, "Faeries", Lee was runner-up for the fantasy Locus Award, year's best art or illustrated book.
For illustrating "Merlin Dreams" by Peter Dickinson (1988), he won the annual Chesley Award for Best Interior Illustration and he was a highly commended runner-up for the Greenaway Medal. He also won the BSFA Award for Best Artwork, for that year's best single new image.
Five years later, he won the Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject. The book was "Black Ships Before Troy" by Rosemary Sutcliff, a version of the Trojan War story.
For the 60th anniversary edition of "The Hobbit", Tolkien's 1937 classic, Lee won his second Chesley Award for Interior Illustration (he is a finalist eight times through 2011).
For that year's work he won the annual World Fantasy Award, Best Artist, at the 1998 World Fantasy Convention.
In 2000, he won the competitive, juried Spectrum Award for fantastic art in the grandmaster category.
Lee, Grant Major and Dan Hennah earned the 2004 Academy Award for Best Art Direction for "", third in the film trilogy.