The world of Middle-earth portrayed in J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy for The Lord of the Rings, is wonderfully depicted in some of the paintings by modern day fantasy artist, Stephen Hickman. His colors are vibrant, his lines are finely detailed, and his figures jump off the canvass. The themes of his works focus on the beauty and ferociousness of humans living in a supernatural habitat, which made Tolkien’s stories a perfect source of inspiration for his paintings.

The expressions in Hickman’s fictitious characters of hobbits, elves, earthly sorcerers, primordial beasts, and mythical creatures are entrancing, and his scenic illustrations with lush landscapes, delightful flora and fauna, and grizzly battles told from Tolkien’s stories are pictures that will move you beyond words. Hickman displays nature as being animated and having human-like features, and humans as being wondrous creatures of nature. The look of his figures is Medieval, but his technique is completely modern.

Hickman’s portrait of “Aragorn and Arwen,” who were played by the actors Viggo Mortensen and Liv Tyler respectively in Peter Jackson’s movie version of The Lord of the Rings, are shown as paragons of human-folk. Aragorn’s fair facial features, broad shoulders, long sinewy legs, and tapered waist project him as a man of understanding possessing a stout build and making him a strong protector and a judicious leader of his kind. Arwen’s long, flowing brown hair and comely beauty show her to be a woman of virtue and sensitivity. The image of Aragorn and Arwen is reminiscent of other legendary couples like Roman and Juliet, Tristan and Isolde, and Samson and Delilah, to name a few. As in these stories, Tolkien tells in his story that when Aragorn first sets his eyes on Arwen in Rivendell, it is love at first sight and Hickman captures that look of star-crossed lovers in his painting.

Hickman’s painting entitled “At The Entmoot” is a sweet portrait of the talking trees in Middle-earth, which Tolkien calls “Ent,” cradling the two hobbits, Frodo Baggins, played by Elijah Woods in the movie, and Sam Gamgee, played by Sean Astin, in a protective embrace. By the look on the faces of the hobbits, they are fully attentive to the tree across from them who appears to be narrating a rather enchanting tale. The detailing of the tree trunks and branches are impeccably realistic, and the tenderness in the “Ents” eyes is human-like making the supernatural seem completely natural. The painting has a friendly look with a childlike fascination.

Conversely, Hickman’s portraits of “Gaffer Gamgee and the Black Rider” and “Gandalf and the Balrog” show the more brutal side of earthly creatures. The elderly hobbit, Gaffer, fighting off a giant horseman garbed in complete black shows a perilously situation as the tiny hobbit seems to be able to hold the horse and its rider back, which Hickman displays by keeping Gaffer’s gate door to his home closed. It gives the impression that Gaffer has won. Also inspired from a scene in Tolkien’s books is “Gandalf and the Balrog.” Hickman’s rendition of Gandalf, played by actor Ian McKellen in the movie, fighting the Balrog, which is a tall, menacing humanoid able to shroud itself in a monstrous wall of fire in Tolkien’s story, appears fearless before the beast. The swirling lines of fires are superseded by the white of Gandalf’s gown, showing that good prevails.

Hickman also portrays Gandalf as being fearless in his painting, “Escape From Orthanc,” which depicts the scene when Gandalf jumps on the back of giant bird to escape imprisonment at the Tower of Cirith Ungol by Mordor. The painting shows Gandalf and his rescuer moving at an insanely fast speed by the wind-swept features of Gandalf’s face and the aerodynamic shape of the bird’s wings. Hickman shows Gandalf and the bird flying down rather than across in a horizontal line. The vertical line of the portrait gives the viewer an image of Gandalf being sucked into a vortex which intensifies the danger and the feel of freedom from bondage.

Hickman was also inspired by Tolkien’s writings about the “Siege of Minas Tirith,” which he paints as an immensely tense and chaotic battle. Tolkien writes that Minas Tirith is the capital of Gondor in Middle-earth. It is referred to as the White City or the City of Kings. The city was besieged by Mordor’s troops, but saved by the might of Gandalf, Rohan, and Gondor’s fiefs. Hickman’s portrayal of the battle makes no clear indication of a victor, but shows a land in complete disarray and fires that reach as high as the mountains and taking over the entire skyline.

The Tolkien series is just one part of Stephen Hickman’s collection. Other writers such as H.P. Lovecraft, A. Merritt, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Clark Ashton Smith have inspired Hickman to paint scenes which add a visual dimension to these authors fantasy/science fiction stories.

Hickman’s love of art and fantasy stories was planted in him by his parents. Born in Washington, D.C. in 1946, it was his father who was the storyteller and his mother who introduced him to painting. As a child, Hickman traveled around the globe with his parents, which opened him up to other cultures. He graduated from Francis Hammond High School in Alexandria, Virginia and trained for two years at Richmond Professional Institute, now part of Virginia Commonwealth University. From other artists such as Frank Frazetta and Roy G. Krenkel, Hickman learned to articulate the skeletal features of his figures and to spend money on decent paint brushes, which improved his artistry greatly.

Hickman’s professional career was launched in 1972 when he was hired by Shirt Explosion in Lanham, Maryland to design T-shirts. His entry into book illustration came in 1974 when Charles Volpe, Art Editor at Ace Books commissioned Hickman to make illustrations for book covers for the company’s Classic and Science Fiction writers. His artwork has graced the covers of books by Stephen Brust, Hal Colbatch, Andre Norton, David Drake, Anne McCaffrey, Robert Heinlein, and many others. Hickman was honored with a Hugo Award in 1994 from the World Science Fiction Convention for the United States Postal Service’s Space Fantasy Commemorative Booklet of Stamps, the first official recognition by the US government of the science fiction genre. In addition, he has received five Chesley Awards from the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists.

Stephen Hickman is still inspired by fantasy stories to paint and sees no end in his sights.