Worst of Tolkien Art

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

I honestly don't see what's so bad about the Hildebrandts' "Wedding of Aragorn and Arwen". Though most of the rest of those are quite bad. The worst is undoubtedly the "exotic dancer" Luthien. And while I'm generally a fan of Nasmith and a defender of Bakshi's movie, Ulmo and Sam are certainly not their respective strong points.

I think the Hildebrandts took their cue from that old postcard Tolkien had of his hiking trip in the Alps, the postcard with an old man on it that apparently provided some inspiration for Gandalf. This style is closely related to Swiss styles, which in my imagination belong with the illustrations of my girlhood edition of Heidi.

Some comments by davem and myself on Esty's other art thread, the good one, probably best belong on this thread:

Some thoughts on what makes for bad Tolkien art, from post #31 on the Tolkien the Artist thread.