Friends, minions, plaza-ites, we have a treat in store for you! Long awaited, maybe forgotten, but the irrepressible Gwaihir managed to sweet talk the great man into answering questions from plaza members ~ for your edification and ours, we present: -
An Interview withTed Nasmith!
As you so long ago requested, here are the answers to your members' questions. Thanks for your [and their] patience! It is my great privilege to be appreciated for my love of Tolkien, and I'd enjoy meeting some of you at some time. [I will post details of my upcoming book tour for The Silmarillion on my site shortly, by the way.]
Rinon Encaitaro:
1) Could you tell me how you got into art? Was it something that came naturally from childhood, or did you have to work at it?
Ted: I've been drawing pictures since my early childhood, yes. It came quite naturally, and I was encouraged to explore it by my mother and my grade school teachers. I was also counselled to enter a commercial art program in high school; that paved the way to my career in architectural renderings and other illustration.
Galastel:
2) Mr. Nasmith, of all the artists who have illustrated Tolkien's work, I like your illustrations most. I notice that most of your paintings are done in Gouache on illustration board. Could you please tell why you choose this technique?
Ted: It was one of the mediums schools tend to encourage (ie: so-called poster paints) so it was more familiar to me than oils or acrylic. Acrylics I discovered in high school, but generally found them limited and too translucent. Oils I have tried occasionally, but the drying time makes them impractical for commercial illustration. Gouache allows flexibility in the 'look', dries quickly, allows for corrections due to its opacity, plus it can be re-blended even after drying, with a little water. It also has excellent consistency for opacity with the finest brushes, thus for fine detailing. It can be applied thinly or thickly equally, too.
Tyrhael:
3) If you could pick one image (whether it be a person, place, thing, etc.) from Tolkien's books that you feel would be the hardest for you to represent artistically, what would it be?
Ted: Balrogs, probably. The irresolvable argument over wings make them a subject at least 50% of viewers will disagree with no matter which side of the question you come down on!
Lupus in Fabula:
4) What motivated you to become an artist specializing in illustrating Tolkien's written work?
Ted: It developed gradually. I just painted scenes because I loved the books, originally. With encouragement I began to want to get the artwork published. Once that happened, and fans began to show great enthusiasm, I soon felt I'd found my true calling.
Wamba the Fool:
5) Do you prefer to portray events in earlier ages (1st and 2nd), or later ones (3rd and 4th)? Why?
Ted: I don't have a preference there; I love depicting scenes from the early accounts as much as the 3rd Age. However, having gone through so much of LotR now, it's even more appealing to want to explore some of the less well known areas of Middle-earth. There's the 'Jackson factor' now, too. He has given us (much of) LotR in scene by scene photographic detail, whereas the tales of the 1st and 2nd Ages still remain outside the scope of cinema--but remain available to we artists.
Syra Bracegirdle:
6) Out of all your works, do you have a favorite painting?
Ted: Not really any single work; there are many where I feel I accomplished my objective. Among the ones I am most proud of are The Kinslaying at Alqualondë; The Wrath of the Ents; Fangorn Forest; Boromir's Last Stand; White Ships From Valinor; The End of the Age; Túrin Bears Gwindor to Safety; The Incoming Sea at the Rainbow Cleft; Turin Discovers Nienor at the Mound of Finduilas; The Willow-man is Tamed; Éowyn and the Nazgûl, and several others from various tales.
Andér:
7) I have grown to just love your work! I have many of you scenes on my computer's hard drive and utilize them as my desktop wallpaper alternatively. Anyway, I would just like to tell you that my copy of The Silmarillion you illustrated is one of my most prized pieces of literature. How did you narrow all your fabulous 1st and 2nd age prints down to what was finally published? That must have been a tough decision indeed...
Ted: The selection was dictated by consultations with Christopher Tolkien, the editors at HarperCollins, and by the limits to how many illustrations could be bound into the book (18). The new expanded edition allows for more illustrations and we've taken advantage of that. In that case, a process of consultation again was involved, so as to select the final list of works that we all favoured, and that I felt I could produce in the year or so available before publication. Eliminating some subjects in favour of others was at times difficult, to be sure.
Imbealcariel:
8) I would ask you how often you have read Tolkien's works, and if you constantly refer to them while creating your wonderful pieces of art; or if you read them once and the pictures have just stuck in your mind in such a way that you don't need the books for clarification? In other words, do you paint/draw from your first impression or do you alter to make it fit the text as much as possible?
Ted: Good question. It's a process which runs roughly thus: I read a passage to refresh my memory of it, since I have found that going on the pure impression of a scene well after reading it leads to inaccurate results (interesting as they can be). I will create a small thumbnail drawing, and that (or variations of it) serve as the basis for a set of more detailed drawings, and on to a painting eventually. I might also write a list of the major details Tolkien describes, using it as a guide to artistically incorporate his specific descriptions as skilfully as possible. In cases where the cause of art and the author's text are at odds, in my mind, I will attempt to use license with as little obvious discrepancy as I can.
Firerose Arien:
9) I have thoroughly enjoyed looking at my wall each month and seeing the TTT and RotK calendars, but if you don't mind, I was wondering if there's any particular reason you chose not to portray Aragorn in your RotK calendar, despite Aragorn being possibly the most important character aside from Frodo and Gandalf?
Ted: It was inadvertent, I have to admit. Aragorn rightly should have been included, I agree, being central to the book. I have of course portrayed him in other illustrations in the past. For the calendar I had as my self-assigned criteria (mainly) scenes I had not previously done, and among those, I split them roughly between major scenes and ones less often (if ever) depicted. Comfortably illustrating any volume of LotR would involve about 20 illustrations I should think. Aragorn does of course appear in some works from the previous two calendars.
Lady Stormcrow:
10) After you saw the films (if you did) did it change your perception of the appearance of the characters and places, and if so , did it change how you illustrated them?
Ted: I have seen them, yes, though only a couple of times each film (incl. DVDx). Seeing them showed me how they could be interpreted when a team of artists/artisans is brought to the task, and I was intrigued at times by the interpretations, plus Jackson's sincere attempt to incorporate the substance and spirit of Tolkien as well as he did, particularly in FotR. I also marvelled at the imagination brought to costume or sets (mostly agreeing, or at least allowing that it was a fair interpretation). In a few minor cases it has clarified how costume might be more knowledgably approached, but by and large I think my own interpretations are as faithful as the films, or arguably closer to Tolkien's descriptions, in certain instances.
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Gwaihir:
And now some things I really really need to ask, forgive me.
First of all, I adore and love your Tolkien inspired art work, I really do. It is fabulous. The use of colours, the brightness; the use of light … It is magic. It helped me to visualise a world I wanted so much to live in from time to time. So a big thank you for that.
Ted: You're welcome!
And… I just want to know: What 'did it' for you in the books? There is so much passion and detail in your work. Is it a world you secretly wished it was real from time to time? What sucked you in when you first read the books?
Ted: Sometimes you open a book from an author you aren't familiar with, and quite immediately decide that they absolutely understand your expectations; that you just adore their style of narrative. Tolkien accomplished this straight away for me, and as I suddenly realized that this story was placed in a mythically English setting, I was hooked. Prior to reading it I had no idea what kind of book it was, though I knew it was trendy for some reason (I had vaguely sci-fi notions I recall); it was just 'recommended' by my sister. Otherwise, the aspects of how Tolkien delights in nature (something modernism has alienated us from, to our collective impoverishment), well-being, fellowship, and an assumption that the world is essentially beautiful, despite being subject to evils. His sense of faerie comes through as well, and to the extent he plays 'realism' against 'faerie', the world of Middle-earth becomes imbued with tremendous resonance. It truly seems to be able to contain our most noble passions and spirit; we feel Tolkien's essential decency and consuming passion for his world, and it's a powerful antidote to the weight of uncertainty ever-present in our complex modern lives. I think most of us fantasize about Middle-earth being 'real' on some level, but I'm not someone who seriously wishes I could replace this world with his (beyond a passing daydream), since arguably, a little bit of Middle-earth can be found near us each day, if we look carefully…
You have any favourite Tolkien character? Many of us on the Plaza have an "idol". I do not think I have to tell you that Legolas and Aragorn are very favourite.
Ted: I guess I like Samwise best, who in many ways is 'us', a wide-eyed mortal who takes us into the great world of Faerie with him. For a female character, it's got to be Éowyn, the passionate, fatalistic, melancholy heroine who finds love so unexpectedly.
And: Why didn't Peter Jackson ask you? When I see the Shire and Bag End in the movies I see your work...or am I wrong?? So.. and that is my really burning question: Did Mr Jackson ask you? And if you have seen the movies: Were you ok with what you saw, did things look familiar to you?
Ted: Big questions, some of which could involve pages…! Bag End and the Shire may have been partly influenced by me, but the design of BE is clearly John Howe's paintings come to life. The Shire is pretty universally clear with any familiarity to English rural landscape, which is my source also, as it was Tolkien's.
Jackson's producer did ask me (I've spoken/written on this point a number of times, actually). I carefully weighed it up, but several factors made me decide to pass it up. They involved sensitive personal issues (I was going through a very bad time), as well as professional considerations (abandoning my free-lance clientele in favour of relocating to NZ for an indefinite period). Along with the artwork of various other illustrators who have helped establish the look of M-e, the films have 'borrowed' from certain of my paintings anyway, though not always those people assume. (Jackson's Minas Tirith is not at all as I painted it, despite repeated assertions by others.) Lastly, to describe what aspects of the movies I agreed with and those I didn't would take much too long to list. By and large I was not displeased with the way things were handled, but in some cases I thought such and such was wide of the mark (eg: Lothlórien-could've been much more ethereal and less massive and 'architectural'.) Sometimes less would've been more.
I know these questions I ask are very bold, I know.. and please do not answer them if I am crossing a line here. If we would talk to face to face, if that would ever happen, I would probably step up to you and fired them away no matter what the consequences. .
Alright, again, forgive me for being so bold and personal. I hope I have not offended you, just think these personal notes in this e-mail are written by a 40 year old that loves Tolkien's stories and books ever since she was 5.
Ted: Thanks for your wonderful appreciation and recognition of my contribution! I'd say this: I wish to be associated with the books, by and large, and they cannot really be replaced by any cinema treatment for me. With the films, I vaguely sense a too-intense engagement with the audience, upsetting a balance of being inspired by the books and delighting in things 'faerie' or Tolkienian, as opposed to the cult-like trends inspired by interest in the movies, the actors and other creative talents, the making of them, the merchandising and marketing, and etc.. That's just me, and I have a peculiar position, needing to stay a slight distance from the fray in order to keep my sense of the material fresh and sustaining. I completely recognize the way the movies have extended the readership and appetite for Tolkien and Middle-earth for many millions now, and it has brought many new fans to my own work, as well!
Kind Regards,
Ted
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