Tolkien illustrator John Howe: "Fantasy needs an extra level of believability to work."

BarcelonaCanadian illustrator John Howe (Vancouver, 1957) began adding images to the stories of J.R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973), and he still continues. After working with Peter Jackson on the film adaptations ofThe Lord of the Rings and ofThe Hobbit, in recent years has been working on the animated film The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim, and this Friday he landed at the Comic Strip Show to meet the media following the publication of the book Travelogue of Middle-earth (Minotauro publishing house). "I particularly value Tolkien's ecological side, and the complexity of his characters' motivations," says Howe. "It seems easy to dismiss it as, 'Well, it's just fantasy.' But he was a man who went to war when he was only 20. And most of his comrades never returned. But even though he wrote fantasy, Tolkien was a very honest author, and I think this honesty is what grounds everything he writes."

Of working alongside Peter Jackson, Howe highlights his ability to look at images. "He's an extraordinary director. He has a very sharp eye, a phenomenal memory, he truly understands images. And he's very stimulating. This exchange is the most exciting part, when you show him a work and he comments on it, evaluates it, and makes suggestions. That way, you go back to the drawing board and you're really motivated to go further, to go deeper," she says.

For Howe, illustrating Tolkien has always been a "fascinating" job, regardless of the difficulties. "Young artists are very anxious to find a style, to find a voice. I think people try too hard, they think too much. You have to relax, let the images appear, and with Tolkien, that happens a lot," the artist explains. "You have to read the stories carefully, become familiar with the fact that everything is connected, the sources, the source, s. But maybe not be direct."

Apart from this, he warns against being too "literal" when illustrating an author like Tolkien, because each reader creates their own images, and says that he has taken liberties "all the time." "An author never tells everything," Howe warns. "An author suggests many things that they don't describe. And this is the gift that writers like Tolkien, who essentially write with images, offer to the people who create the illustrations. He writes, but he doesn't explain everything to you.

So, to get ahead, you have to go further: "Tolkien is a very complex author. You can't illustrate only what's in the book. What could have been the sources? What was his experience? What is he referring to?

The role of fantasy in a turbulent world

As for what power fantasy can have in a turbulent world like today's, he says it is much more than "entertainment." "Fantasy is the realm of what would happen if, of propositions, of ideas that aren't presented politically. It's the place where ideas can be transmitted through a story. Fantasy has, and always has had, a role to play in human society; that is, the first stories we know aren't everyday stories, but rather go beyond them, toward our understanding of the world and the universe," he explains. "It's not about conveying a message. All kinds of media are used. Everything becomes politicized. And this is inevitable. But what I mean is that fantasy is less linearly involved than politics. It's less anchored in the issues of today, but more anchored in issues that have always been with us," he says.