The Lord of the Rings: The Art of the Two Towers

This was an incredible book! This book proved to be an invaluable resource to me as a costumer. Any costumer or anyone remotely interested in LotR will benefit from this; it made the difference when I was making the Arwen Blood Red Dress. (Mom helped, but the book did more :)

The sequel to The Art of The Fellowship of the Ring, this coffee-table edition book is simply the same thing for the second of the three movies by New Line Cinema. Hundreds of paintings, art work, concept sketches, paintings and diagrams from noted artists John Howe and Alan Lee, as well as the costume designs by Ngila Dickson, and computer-images and artwork from Richard Taylor and Weta Workshop.Accompanying the images are descriptions and explanations by designers and artists, as well as interviews with Andy Serkis, the physical crux of the amazing and ground-breaking character of Gollum as seen in The Two Towers.Sketches and art work include drawings of settings such as Mordor, Orthanc, Fangorn Forest, Emyn Muil, the Dead Marshes, Rivendell, Helm's Deep, Edoras, and Meduseld.Also included are character sketches and concept art of Théoden, Éomer, Rohirrim soldiers, Treebeard, Éowyn, Grima Wormtongue, Easterling soldiers, Gondorian Rangers, Faramir, Sharku, Warg Riders, Elves, Orcs, and of course, Gollum.An amazing behind-the-scenes look at the early concepts that took shape to create the spectacular cinematic journey that reaches its end on December 17th, 2003, and if you don't mind having the movies "spoiled" a little, in that you come to learn that a lot of what you saw on the screen really wasn't there, then you'll enjoy this book immensely. A must-have if you bought the Art of The Fellowship of the Ring, and if you buy this, you have to buy Fellowship too!

This keepsake edition for fans of the "Two Towers" movie packs in gorgeous full-page color plates depicting the art of the film. From the process of model-making based on drawings by Tolkien illustrators to costuming and the making of new visual designs, Lord Of Rings: Art Of Two Towers is packed with beautiful works and insights into their creation and origins. Very highly recommended.

"The Art of The Two Towers" is a strong follow-up to "Art of Fellowship of the Ring," which features: Concept art. Lots of concept art. The "Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy is brimming over with incredibly detailed and exquisite effects, props and costumes, and though not entirely satisfying, this book gives a lot of good material.In it, Gary Russell handles many different aspects of the movie sets and costumes, no matter how tiny they are. Here you'll find different places: sketches of the Black Gate and Dead Marshes, different Golden Halls of Rohan (right down to the medieval tapestries on the walls, the ornate chairs, cups, and even the door knockers!), Isengard, Fangorn forest (and the way different light made it seem), the glittering caves (only shown briefly in the movie) and many other places. Costumes include unused Arwen armor and her more-dresses-than-she-has-scenes wardrobe; Theoden's battle armor, Eowyn's dresses (ranging from regal to homespun), and the new, more regal outfit of Gandalf the White. And for the weirder, there are different kinds of wargs (one looks almost wormlike), different extinguished Balrogs, and many different kinds of Ents, some of whom will be recognizable from the movie. There are paintings, pencil sketches, exquisitely-detailed clay models from WETA Workshops, and photographs of the finished products. "Art of Two Towers" is, like the previous book, a must-read for those who enjoy seeing how movies evolve. The little comments beside most of the pictures add extra insight as to what the brilliant people who did all this were thinking. (They can also be very funny, such as the dying-Balrog discussions -- how often do people say "creature of slime" so seriously?)This book is not flawless, however. It doesn't seem very well-organized: Gandalf's costume study is plopped in the middle of the "Fangorn" section when it would have been better with the Rohirrim outfits. Some of the concept paintings (such as the people leaving Rohan, or Saruman down among the orcs) are very splotchy. And I'm not sure why concept art for Rivendell is included since most of the Rivendell stuff was in the first movie."The Art of Two Towers" is not quite as strong as its predecessor. But it is a solid source of information for both the "Rings" fan, and the movie buff. Definitely recommended, flaws and all.