John Howe - Definition and Overview

For other people with the same name, see: John Howe (disambiguation).

John Howe (born 1957 in Vancouver, Canada) is a book illustrator, living in Switzerland. He is best known for his work based on J. R. R. Tolkien's worlds. Howe and Alan Lee were the lead artists of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. Howe also re-illustrated the maps of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion in 1996–2003.

Howe is an expert in medieval armour and weaponry.

Howe is criticized by some for pushing a medieval look on Middle-earth: whereas Tolkien's Middle-earth, a world filled with descendants of a once-great empire (Númenor) in many ways resembles more ancient Greece or ancient Egypt in their waning days, John Howe's Middle-earth is visually based primarily on medieval Europe. This look was incorporated partially into Peter Jackson's movies. It can however be argued that Howe's interpretation is quite accurate, since Europe's medieval period also followed a great empire (the Roman Empire). The world of Middle-earth contains other anachronisms, most importantly hobbits' almost Edwardian lifestyle.

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John Howe (artist)

• John Howe's website (http://www.john-howe.com/)