Fridays at the Mathom-House:

Happy Friday! I meant to get this posted up last week . . . but didn't. This week's Mathom-House will be featuring the amazing illustrations of Sceithailm, who has a gallery full of amazing stuff over at deviantart.com. All of her work is great, but to me, her depictions of Middle-earth are the cream of the crop. The texturing she works into the fabrics and skin of her characters is amazing.

Jump past the break to enjoy a feast for the eyes!

Fridays at the Mathom-House: Wangyuxi

This Friday we're switching back to some current artwork featuring everybody's favorite wizards from Middle-Earth. These awesome images are brought to you courtesy of Wangyuxi. He's got a lot of other stuff over on http://wangyuxi.deviantart.com/, so you should go check it out. No really. Like right now.

I have to admit, my favorite part of these images aren't the wizards, but the dwarf in this first image . . . I assume it's Gimli (though I'm not positive). He just looks awesome. Anyways, enjoy this fine rendition of Gandalf and then jump past the break to see Sauruman, Radagast and a few other surprises.

Happy weekend everybody!

Gandalf the Gray and Gimli son of Gloin

Fridays at the Mathom-House: Magali Villeneuve

The Mathom-house it was called; for anything that Hobbits had no immediate use for, but were unwilling to throw away, they called a ‘mathom’.

–The Fellowship of the Ring; Prologue 

Friday is here and superb Middle-Earth art has arrived! Today we'll be showcasing the Lord of the Rings artwork of Magali Villeneuve. All of the art on display today comes from the new Lord of the Rings Card Game by Fantasy Flight Games. And if you're interested in seeing more of Magali's work once you've looked through what we have here, head on over to her blog to see a bunch of other amazing artwork.

There's a ton of pictures here, so I'm not gonna comment on each and everyone. Instead, I'll just give a brief overview of why I like this artist so much. First and foremost, Magali has real talent . . . her art looks good enough to be included in a Tolkien book, which you don't see often these days. Second, Magali's artwork is filled with detail, which is what first caught my eye. Just look at Bifur, below. There's scrollwork on his hood, breath misting in the air, and his axe looks good enough to have come straight from the armories of the Lonely Mountain.

All in all, these images are good stuff. Enjoy!

Bifur of Erebor

Galadriel and Gandalf: A Not So Romantic Story

Can I complain about something? Ever since the teaser trailer for The Hobbit came out last December, people have been freaking about the scene where Gandalf and Galadriel are standing on some balcony in Rivendell, and Galadriel reaches out and touches Gandalf's hair. The scene can't be more than three seconds long, but people are reading all kinds of innuendo into it.

Gandalf and Galadriel in the Trailer

*Gasp! Is Peter Jackson going to have Gandalf and Galadriel fall in love? That never happens in the book! WHAT CAN HE BE THINKING???

To find out if these two old folks are really about to "share a moment" read on:

Fridays at the Mathom-House: Otis Frampton

The Mathom-house it was called; for anything that Hobbits had no immediate use for, but were unwilling to throw away, they called a ‘mathom’.

–The Fellowship of the Ring; Prologue 

Friday! Another week is over, the weekend is looming and its time to head on over to take a pit-stop here at the Mathom-House, where there's a whole lot of awesome-ness in a hole in the ground to celebrate! This week we'll be looking at the Hobbit/LOTR artwork of Otis Frampton. I stumbled on this guy's work a few months ago and couldn't get over just how good it is. His art has an amazing, stylized look, yet the details don't suffer for it. Frampton also does a great job of imbuing his images with atmosphere. Take a look for yourself:

Bilbo and the Dragon

The thing I like best about this first image is the sheer size of Smaug . . . the guy is HUGE, and Frampton did a great job of making the dragon's tail disappear into the haze of the chamber. Like I mentioned above, effects like that lend a sense of depth and atmosphere that make this picture really fun.

More great art after the break: