Illustrationintheworld

  Alan Lee (Middlesex, 20 August 1947) is an English illustrator and painter, best known for being the first to illustrate The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien; in 2004 he won the Academy Award for best art direction with the film The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King by Peter Jackson. He graduated in graphics and design at Ealing School of Art. After graduation he worked as a freelance illustrator, mainly creating covers and illustrations, drawing inspiration in part from his interest in mythology and folktales. In the mid-1970s he left London for Dartmoor, Devon, with colleagues Marja Lee Kruyt (to whom he was married for many years) and Brian Froud. He quickly established himself as a world-renowned illustrator, painting delicate watercolors for many well-known books, including The Mabinogion, Castles, Merlin Dreams and Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Illiad, which earned him the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal. In 1978, together with Brian Froud, the...

He is a full-time painter and graduated from Falmouth College of Art with a BA in Fine Art. Visitors can view his paintings in his Bathford studio by appointment, where work in progress and all current paintings are on display. His main interests are the pictorial themes of still life, 'en plein air' painting and self-portraits.