The Children of Aulë: A Depressing Illustration of the Forced Migrations of the Dwarves

So I've put together geneological charts for both the elves and men of Middle-earth, and I was really looking forward to doing the same for the dwarves––they've always been my favorite anyways. However, I have to admit that after doing the work and the research to make this chart . . . I'm mostly just depressed. Those dwarfs had a crappy history. No, I'm being serious. You probably don't even want to hear about it. It was that bad.

If you don't believe me . . . well, just jump past the break and you'll see:

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: Anke Eissmann

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 

Seven days done and now it's time for a batch of amazing Tolkien art. Yes, good reader, it's that time again: Fridays at the Mathom-house. This week we'll be showcasing the art of Anke Eissmann, who's website has an awesome section dedicated to her Tolkien art. Anke's art caught my eye because of her use of traditional mediums like watercolor and pen-and-ink, instead of the digital art you see everywhere nowadays. In fact, her watercolor paintings remind a lot of Tolkien's own watercolors. So, limber up your scroller-finger and sit back to enjoy some great Hobbit art:

Durin's Day

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: