"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future."
"The Lord of the Rings" Regular
36 x 24" / 20 color screen print with metallic inks
Timed edition of 2400 / Made for Bottleneck Gallery
under license from New Line Productions.
Printed by VGKids.
AP copies available under this link.
"The Lord of the Rings" Variant
36 x 24" / 14 color screen print with metallic inks
Limited edition of 450 / Made for Bottleneck Gallery
under license from New Line Productions.
Printed by VGKids
AP copies available under this link.
"The Lord of the Rings" Variant / 14 screens
Color seperations by Tom Lassota - Beffio Studio
"The Lord of the Rings" Gold Foil Variant
36 x 24" / 14 color screen print with metallic inks
Limited edition of 275 / Made for Bottleneck Gallery
under license from New Line Productions.
Printed by VGKids.
Sold out.
"The Lord of the Rings" Gold Foil Variant / 14 screens
Color seperations by Tom Lassota - Beffio Studio
"The Lord of the Rings" Fine Art Giclee
36 x 24" Fine Art Giclee
Limited edition of 210 / Made for Bottleneck Gallery
under license from New Line Productions.
Printed by Bottleneck Gallery.
AP copies available under this link.
1. Regular version - tablet drawn digital sketch. I used a massive number of studio assets, self collected screen grabs and other online references when creating this artwork. It was quite a task to figure out the order and placement of such a large number of characters not to mention the desire to hint the plot of a 9+ hours epic fantasy saga. A whole month of first figuring out the composition with Frodo in the very center, a lot of moving stuff around, adding new elements, polishing the golden frame etc. When the right balance between both wings of the triptych and the middle panel was achieved the sketch was sent for the studio's approval.
2. Variant version - tablet drawn digital sketch.
3. Character and locations breakdown.
1. I decided to draw the protagonist Frodo Baggins first and separately. Pencil drawing later colored and polished in Adobe Photoshop. This was my first attempt back when I was deciding how I want to draw this piece. Frodo was later modified to some degree: I polished the likeness and added even more details towards the end.
2. Tablet drawn line work of the entire composition. Frame was drawn separately. When drawing with pencil something as large and complicated as this I often create a detailed line work first. It was later cut into smaller portions and printed in a low opacity on several A4 and A3 paper sheets and used as a preliminary sketch for a much detailed and precise pencil drawing which came after.
3. Tablet drawn line work of the middle section.
4. All drawings made mainly with mechanical pencils: Rotring's Tikky 0,35 and Faber Castell's TK-FINE 9715 0,5. I also found my newly purchased magnifying lamp very helpful in achieving a maximum level of detail. This photo includes the middle panel drawn on two A3 size paper sheets. Below are several more photos of the pencil drawings.
5. Photo of a finished pencils with Legolas, Gollum and Arwen from the left panel on an A4 size paper.
6. Completed composition (without the frame), scanned and combined all together in Adobe Photoshop.
7. iMac screen with Levels applied.
8. Drawing cleaned and with Levels applied.
9. Underneath the drawing layer I have created a number of solid color layers with individual characters, crucial motives, separate body parts etc. to make the final rendering more efficient. Some gradients and rough shadowing was applied as well.
10. Drawing layer in Multiply layer style on top of solid colors.
11. Drawing layer has been Colorized. I apply lights and shadows with soft brush using selection from the solid colors and render all elements as much as possible. With several Adjustment layers added I get closer to the final color way. After this I start adding final details on top of all layers.
12. During a long and time consuming process of adding necessary details onto the artwork I used either Wacom's Intuos tablet or Apple Pencil on iPad Pro. I make sure that each likeness and detail is accurate and perfected. Two versions of Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn - the one on the right is the final version.
13. Boromir portrayed by Sean Bean is another example where I struggled for a while to get the result I wanted. Both of those versions were rejected in the end.
14. Instead I decided to re-draw and color him one more time from scratch. Final version on the right.
15. Frodo Baggins' color, scale and overall quality test print.
16. The golden frame surrounding the main artwork was drawn separately on eight A4 size paper sheets - scanned and combined together in Adobe Photoshop. Drawn with Rotring's Tikky 0,35 and Faber Castell's TK-FINE 9715 0,5. Below are some photos of the frame drawings.
17. My brother Krzysztof Domaradzki helped me with the title and this 3D render, created by a good buddy of mine Piotr Buczkowski, was a helpful lighting reference.
18. Piotr Buczkowski also helped me in rendering a 3D version of the quote from the center of the triptych.
19. Most of the fine details seen both on the golden frame as well as on the final artwork were made with Apple Pencil on iPad Pro using AstroPad App or with Wacom's Intuos tablet directly in Adobe Photoshop.
20. Finished golden frame.
21. Final pre-color seperated versions with and without the frame added:
Regular, Variant and Gold Foil Variant mock up.
J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world has been a significant part of my childhood: my father read his books to me and my brothers when we were kids. I also remember how impressed and mesmerised I was with Peter Jackson’s adaptation when it first hit the theatres back in 2001. Great casting, costumes, spectacular visuals, music and storytelling throughout. As difficult as it was I wanted to fit the entire trilogy on a single poster size artwork, similar to my previous releases with Bottleneck Gallery for both Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogy prints. In terms of composition I took inspiration from Renaissance paintings and to some degree from classic fantasy illustrations.
Big thank you to everyone who helped, advised or contributed in any other way, including my brother Krzysztof for helping with the title; my good buddy Tomasz Lassota from Beffio Studio for doing color separations; my pal Piotr Buczkowski from Tato Studio for the 3D renders; Michał Czapski, biggest Tolkien fan I know, who’s input in the first stage of sketching in particular was extremely helpful and lastly to VG Kids for the amazing printing job - Thank you all!
Thx for watching.
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