Alan Lee + John Howe Collaborative Drawing From Middle Earth Lotr Hobbit Unicorn For Sale

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Original drawing by Alan Lee and John Howe

Measures 16"x20" graphite on paper. Signed by Alan Lee and John Howe.

This original was created by both artists while on the set of Hobbit 2. It was created for Robin's Relief, and will ship to the winning buyer direct from Middle Earth.

This piece was donated directly by both artists for Robin's Relief sale. The low opening offer on this item is not indicative of its value. The artists have graciously allowed us to start the offerding far below its current market value to ensure a donation to Robin's Relief.

offer high! offer generously! Every penny in this sale goes to financing new hands and new feet for Robin.>

Robin Sullins, mother of four, avid dog rescuer, artist, friend-of-fairy tale, was bitten on Christmas day while breaking up a family dog squabble. Her body reacted uncommonly, and violently, to a common dog bacteria. Her fingers and legs have been amputated, and she's on dialysis after multiple kidney failures.

She has been in intensive care at the University Medical Center Brackenridge in Austin, Texas since December 27th and is improving daily.

She is self-employed and uninsured.

To read her full story and see the news covered by CNN, Inside Edition, The New York Daily News, visit www.RobinSullins.com

This sale is for medical bills, and to finance new legs and new hands for Robin.

Help us bring her home.

Lee has illustrated dozens of fantasy books, including some nonfiction, and many more covers.[2] Among the most notable interiors are several works of J.R.R. Tolkien: the centenary edition of The Lord of the Rings (1991), a 1995 edition of The Hobbit, and the first edition of Narn i Chîn Húrin: the tale of the children of Húrin (2007).[3] The latter is his work most widely held in WorldCat participating libraries.[4] Other books he has illustrated include Faeries (with Brian Froud), Lavondyss by Robert Holdstock (as well as the cover of an early print of this book), The Mabinogion (two versions), Castles and Tolkien's Ring (both nonfiction by David Day), The Mirrorstone by Michael Palin, The Moon's Revenge by Joan Aiken, and Merlin Dreams by Peter Dickinson.[2][3]

He has also illustrated retellings of classics for young people. Two were Rosemary Sutcliff's versions of the Iliad and the Odyssey—namely, Black Ships Before Troy (Oxford, 1993) and The Wanderings of Odysseus (Frances Lincoln, 1995). Another was Adrian Mitchell's version of Ovid's Metamorphoses—namely, Shapeshifters (Frances Lincoln, 2009).[5]

Lee did cover paintings for the 1983 Penguin edition of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy.[2][3] He also did the artwork for Alive!, a CD by the Dutch band Omnia, released on 3 August 2007 during the Castlefest festival.[3]

Watercolour painting and pencil sketches are two of Lee's common media.[3]

Lee and John Howe were the lead concept artists of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies,[6] and were contacted by former director Guillermo del Toro to keep continuity of design for the upcoming Hobbit films.[6] In a documentary interview on the extended edition of Fellowship of the Ring, Jackson details the story of how he managed to contact Lee, a rather reclusive man, in his home in the south of England. By couriering a package to him containing two of Jackson's previous films, Forgotten Silver and Heavenly Creatures, with a note from himself and Fran Walsh, Alan's interest was piqued enough to become involved. He went on to illustrate and even help construct many of the scenarios for the movies, including objects and weapons for the actors. He also made two cameo appearances, in the opening sequence of The Fellowship as one of the nine kings who became the Nazgûl, and in The Two Towers as one Rohan soldier in the armoury (over the shoulder of Mortenson as Aragorn and Legolas talk in Elvish).[7]

Lee has also worked as a conceptual designer on the films Legend, Erik the Viking, King Kong and the television mini-series Merlin.[6] The art book Faeries, produced in collaboration with Brian Froud, was the basis of a 1981 animated feature of the same name.[8][9]

John Howe (born August 21, 1957 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian book illustrator, living in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. One year after graduating from high school, he studied in a college in Strasbourg, France, then at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs.

He is best known for his work based on J. R. R. Tolkien's worlds. Howe and noted Tolkien artist Alan Lee served as chief conceptual designers for Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, and Howe also did the illustration for the "Lord of the Rings" board game created by Reiner Knizia. Howe also re-illustrated the maps of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion in 1996–2003. His work is however not limited to this, and includes images of myths such as the Anglo Saxon legend of Beowulf (he also illustrated Knizia's board game Beowulf: The Legend). Howe illustrated many other books, amongst which many belong to the fantasy genre (Robin Hobb's books for instance.) He also contributed to the film adaptation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. In 2005 a limited edition of George R. R. Martin's novel A Clash of Kings was released by Meisha Merlin, complete with numerous illustrations by Howe.

Howe has illustrated cards for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game.[1]

For the upcoming The Hobbit films, former director Guillermo del Toro and current director Peter Jackson have been in consultation with Howe and fellow conceptual artist Alan Lee to ensure continuity of design.

Howe is a member of the living history group the Company of Saynt George.

They've been described as "The Dazzling Duo" and if you've ever visited their home or dropped by their website for a cup-of-delight, you'll know why. Angi and Silas are husband and wife, and the creative master-minds behind Duirwaigh Studios – a portal into everyday enchantment, encouraging you through art, word and music to remember the magic inside you.

After almost a decade of helping visionary artists find their niche, the couple now devotes their time to synergistic collaboration. Silas's focus is symphonic music composition and graphic arts, while Angi has turned her years as a muse into a thriving public speaking and writing career. Angi's first book Doorways and Dreamfields: A True Fairy Talehas been published, and her inspirational articles and essays can be found on www.AngiSullins.com

The dynamic duo also create inspirational films together and are the creative team behind A Knock at the Door – the little film that continues to make a big splash on the internet, having been seen by over three million viewers.

Duirwaigh's art has been featured in many publications including Somerset Studio, Somerset Digital, Where Women Create, Art Scene International, Art Business News and Smashing Magazine. Angi and Silas are veterans in the digital art movement and their website (www.duirwaigh.com) and blogs have won numerous awards including Smashing Magazine's Top Fifty Blog Designs, Pixelatic's Top Stunning Websites, Blogosphere's Top 45 Most Creative Blog Designs and Inspiredology's Top Flourish Designs.

Dear Reader,

Here's what you don't know. I was in the hospital, too. Unable to move, bathe, eat; a prisoner in my own body. And Robin was by my side.

It was 1997 and I'd gone into the hospital at 8am for a serious but routine surgery on my neck. A herniated disc along my spine had created pinched-nerve pain that grew intolerable. I skipped into pre-op singing Disney songs and joking with the staff, then woke up on a gurney some hours later paralyzed from the neck down, the result of a damaged spine. You don't really appreciate your body until you're trapped inside it, with no say over where it goes, or how. During the nightmarish days and weeks that followed, Robin was by my side. My witness. My advocate. My hands. My hope.

While Robin held the phone for me, the spoon, the straw, the catheter, the bedpan, what she really held was the tether to my soul: a very thin slip of a thread attaching me to the life I had known, and the soul that infused it with color and passion. Whenever this story comes up, I tell people that paralysis was the easy part. Not having use of my arms, legs, fingers or bladder was a cake walk compared to not having the full capacities of soul.

Without getting explicit (the entire story is contained in my book Doorways and Dreamfields: A True Fairy Tale) the experience with the hospital and its staff was a horror, dropping me into a dark, despairing abyss I did not think I'd climb out of. While my bruised spine took mere months to begin healing, it took years, a full two years, to come back to myself. During that time Robin sat quietly in a corner, guarding the sacred places, keeping hold of the tether.

A new chapter shows a scene change, different faces in a different age with different circumstances. But here we are, living a nightmare in a fresh horror story. Yet there is hope. There's a team of caring staff, and surgeons moving with skill. There's a shining daughter and an adoring best friend by Robin's side, holding down the corners of her safety, her sanity. There's a family reaching their hands toward the sky, and toward each other, catching and receiving support. And there is me, sitting in the corner, a mac book in my lap, a lump in my throat and a tether in my hands.

Her spirit is big, and powerful. While her body writhes and shrinks in bed, her soul flies with the expanse of a dragon. It takes all my will, and the spine she helped regrow, to manage the tether.

I will not let go.

On Feb-17-13 at 17:04:48 PST, seller added the following information:

Just to be clear, my friends, Alan and John found time in their busy schedule to do a drawing especially for Robin's Relief sale. (Just in case you were thinking there were unicorns in Middle-Earth.)

On Feb-21-13 at 08:46:53 PST, seller added the following information:

INTERNATIONAL buyers, WE WILL SHIP ANYWHERE. CONTACT US FOR DETAILS AND A SHIPPING QUOTE

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