Justin Gerard Paints The Hobbit

I follow several artist blogs. Usually of the illustrator variety if only because illustrators seem to be the most prolific bloggers. There are so many talented artists out there producing some fantastic work.

Justin Gerard is one such artist. He's been working on a series of paintings based on The Hobbit. As far as I can tell, he's doing this series out of a love of the story. Gerard says he's attempting to capture his own visions of this story before the upcoming movie comes out and replaces his visions with its own. Here's a detail from his latest painting of Smaug, which should be more than enough to entice you to click through to see the rest.


I'm not exactly certain of his method, but it appears he starts with a pencil sketch which he paints over with watercolor. He then scans the watercolor image into a computer for further digital painting treatment. Regardless of the method, the results have been absolutely stunning. The paintings have a depth of light and color that I seldom see with digital paintings.

You can click on the image above or follow this link to see a list of posts that shows the progress and his thinking behind several of the paintings in this series. Even if you aren't familiar with The Hobbit, you should indulge a few minutes to appreciate Gerard's work.