Joel Merriner
@joelmerriner
Doctor of art history, artist and writer, author of adventures in '80s fandom and the visual Legendarium
The Black Riders party post-Weathertop. No wait, it's Dance of Death by Michael Wolgemut (1493). #Tolkien
Quick alcohol marker sketch for an upcoming painting - Hedgerow Mage with Spider Accomplice🕷️🕸️
And the award for Creepiest Dragon of the Day goes to... Glaurung (1981) by the late, great Roger Garland. If you're old enough you'll remember this one from the cover of the 1982 Unfinished Tales paperback by Unwin. A truly weird and icky Great Worm emerges from a sphincter-like gate #Tolkien 😱
Besides fantasy I used to paint a lot of wildlife, and this is a subject I'm hoping to return to now that I've got a bit more time to flex the old paintbrushes. Here's one I did for a commission, a Bengal Tiger (oils on canvas) with a particularly intense, Derren Brown-like gaze. Look into my eyes 😵💫
On the subject of new projects I'll be kicking off my Substack Release the Wargs! shortly where I'll be combining my customary #Tolkien art history rambles with snippets of fiction, book updates and random fantasy art stuff. First post should be up soon, subscribe if you can stand the howling 🐺🤪
I'll also be dusting off my paintbrushes and returning to one of my earliest loves, fantasy art. Of course I won't be abandoning #Tolkien art history any time soon. In fact I'll be posting a lot more regularly in future, with added book/art news thrown in. So stay tuned and maybe give me a follow!
So, after nearly ten years I've officially left HE teaching. It's been good, but it's time for a change. Luckily I've got some exciting new projects to throw myself into. Firstly, I'm writing a new book, a (🤞) funny tale about '80s fantasy fandom called Chaotic Good Guy...1/2 (Art: John Blanche)
The paperback version of my book Illustrating The Lord of the Rings in the Soviet Bloc is available to pre-order on Amazon now www.amazon.co.uk/Illustrating... Sadly the PB release date isn't until 18th March 2027 (🤪) but in the meantime here's some Yassen Panov to get you in the mood #Tolkien
For Friday, a question... Which Nazgûl are you? (I'm top right at the back, if you're asking 😜💀) Art by the awesome Allan Curless (c.1979)
One for Tuesday - Thingol presents the Dragon-helm of Dor-lómin to sulky kid Túrin by Denis Gordeev (c. 2010). In a typically rich Gordeev composition, it's the fabrics, surfaces and gilded metals that really shine. Some great facial expressions too, but watch that slippery floor folks! #Tolkien
For my new book project I've been revisiting my first encounter with #Tolkien art. It came via his own Death of Smaug (c. 1936), as seen on a 1967 Hobbit bought at my school jumble in 1981. No blurb on this cover, just a list of epic Unwin titles such as D.H. Fink Release from Nervous Tension 😁 📚💙
A bit of Sunday Nerdery for you - recurring medieval motif I-IV Notre-Dame - rose window pattern accents (c. 1250) Edward Johnston - decorative page border (1906) #Tolkien - Glorund sets forth to seek Túrin border (1927) Moe Szyslak - Icelandic jumper in The Saga of Carl (2013)
Every now and again I feel obliged to repost David E. Alter Jr's brilliant 1982 pic Bilbo's Great Adventure. Like a cross between a Victorian neo-medieval tapestry and an 8-bit platform game it condenses the whole story of The Hobbit into one image. My fave #Tolkien detail...that awesome little Bard
Here's one I've been writing about this week, from the heady fantasy days of 1986 it's John Sibbick's iconic old school cover pic for #Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st edition. Depicting a gang of adventurers storming the Temple of Khorne it's chock full of in-jokes, including Sibbick's severed head 💀
In the introduction to my book I talk a bit (well, quite a lot) about Balrog iconographies, comparing/contrasting examples of the winged and wingless varieties. Falling firmly into the latter camp is this one: Paul Raymond Gregory's two-and-a-half metre wide epic oil painting Khazad-dûm #Tolkien 🔥
Joan Wyatt's Hall of Edoras (c. 1979) has always intrigued me. Of course it has echoes of Beorn's Hall by #Tolkien, and that medieval hall prototype sketch from E.V. Gordon's book...but bloody hell if it doesn't look a lot like Hubert Robert's design for the Grand Galerie of the Louvre (1796) too😲😉
It's Friday! To celebrate that fact here's a classic piece of '80s #Tolkien awesomeness courtesy of Inger Edelfeldt - Scouring of the Shire (c. 1983). Also known as Don't F**k with Hobbits, it depicts a mangy, tattered Saruman in a doomed face-off with Frodo, Gríma and assorted Halfling hard-nuts.
Yes, I've posted it before (and before that) but I care not! Galloping full pelt from MERP Gorgoroth (1990) come Angus McBride's breakneck Nazgûl trio. Glimmering armour, billowing cloaks, malevolent red-eyed horses and a female Ringwraith about to hack off your head. "This - is - Mordor!" #Tolkien
A bit off-topic for me, but hey you know how it is, every now and again somebody asks you to paint them an albino lion. This is one I knocked out in oils a few years back when I did such things. Yes, I know his eyes aren't pink but I just got too wrapped up in his hair to give a damn about that...🦁🎨
Working on a new book proposal at the mo...a semi-perilous dungeon-crawl through ‘70s & ‘80s fantasy art in the unreliable company of a wide-eyed teenage wannabe-artist fanboy (me) and a wizened bearded academic (also me). To put you in mind of that era, here's Jimmy Cauty's 1976 classic #Tolkien
Angus McBride's 1997 pic An Unexpected Party (made for Iron Crown's Middle-earth Puzzles set), has the retro styling of an old Saturday matinee film. I feel like it shouldn't be my cup of tea, but then I get lost in the detail and the awesome McBride-ness and it's just too cool not to love #Tolkien
It's Friday and here's fantasy and sci fi art elder Rodney Matthews' 2014 pic The Thief (2014), aka Bilbo Risks a Scorching to Steal a Cup from a Massively Sinister and Spikey Smaug. Favourite details here: the dragon's slit eye and the faux-Tengwar jars which hint at the original 1937 #Tolkien pic
Today I present one of my favourite details from a #Tolkien illustration ever. Yes, as featured in John Blanche's riotous, head-thumping c. 1979 Battle of the Five Armies pic, it's the Warg who's lost his rider but doesn't give a shit because he's in the zone and running free in a leopard-skin 🐺🐺
For Friday - The King at the Cross-roads by Darrell Sweet (c. 1981). Although I'm not a big fan of Sweet's Hobbit depictions, this pic of Frodo, Sam and a weird and uncanny Gollum stood before the old king's hewn head is undeniably impressive. The red glow and hollow eyes magnify the drama #Tolkien
#TolkienTrewsday "Colours" and Roger Garland flexes his polychromatic muscles in Bridge of Khazad-dûm (c. 1983). Here the reds, browns, purples and blues denote the evils of Moria, while the green glow signals freedom. Poor old Gandalf the Grey (+ blue and red) is going nowhere but down 😔 #Tolkien
"I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse," In 1989 Èduard Zarjanskij channelled several famous #Tolkien photos to create this super-cool but distinctly Sicilian pic for the back of Raduga's Russian translation of The Fellowship of the Ring. The forged signature adds an extra little thrill
If you've just followed me, or have been tracking my #Tolkien art adventures for a while, I'd like to thank you all! Keep checking back regularly if you want art historical chat, punk orc sketches, book talk and classic pics like this: Angus McBride's Denizens of the Dark Wood MERP cover (1989) 💀