Anke Katrin Eißmann (born 1977 in

Dillenburg Dillenburg, officially Oranienstadt Dillenburg, is a town in Hesse's Gießen region in Germany. The town was formerly the seat of the old Dillkreis district, which is now part of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis. The town lies on the German-Dutch holiday road ...

) is a German illustrator and graphic designer known for her illustrations of J. R. R. Tolkien's

legendarium Tolkien's legendarium is the body of J. R. R. Tolkien's Mythopoeia, mythopoeic writing, unpublished in his lifetime, that forms the background to his ''The Lord of the Rings'', and which his son Christopher Tolkien, Christopher summarized in hi ...

. She studied visual communication at Bauhaus University in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg an ...

and at the Colchester Institute in the United Kingdom. Eißmann has also made a number of short films. She is an art teacher at the Johanneum high school in Herborn.

Works

Eißmann's early inspiration was drawn from works by J. R. R. Tolkien, such as

The Silmarillion ''The Silmarillion'' () is a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, assisted by the fantasy author Guy Gavri ...

and

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 c ...

. In a 2009 interview she stated that her first encounter with Tolkien's theme was watching

Ralph Bakshi Ralph Bakshi (born October 29, 1938) is an American animator and filmmaker. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatri ...

's animated film version of Lord of the Rings in 1991. This inspired her to read the novel and initially made her draw illustrations. While studying in Weimar, she began to publish her illustrations on the internet, which gave her feedback by such artists as Ted Nasmith. As stated on her homepage, Eißmann was also influenced by: "the Pre-Raphaelites, book-illustrators like

Arthur Rackham Arthur Rackham (19 September 1867 – 6 September 1939) was an English book illustrator. He is recognised as one of the leading figures during the Golden Age of British book illustration. His work is noted for its robust pen and ink drawings, ...

, Edmond Dulac,

Ivan Bilibin Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin ( rus, Ива́н Я́ковлевич Били́бин, p=ɪˈvan ˈjakəvlʲɪvʲɪt͡ɕ bʲɪˈlʲibʲɪn; – 7 February 1942) was a Russian illustrator and stage designer who took part in the '' Mir iskusstva'', cont ...

and Alan Lee,

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Moder ...

, artists like

Edward Hopper Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realism, American realist painter and printmaker. While he is widely known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolor painting, watercolorist and printmaker in e ...

and

Jan Vermeer Johannes Vermeer ( , , see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately suc ...

". Apart from Tolkien themes, a lot of Eißmann's work is focused on mythological and historical themes. Other inspirations include the BBC television series ''Sherlock''.

Illustrations

Books and other writings illustrated by Anke Eißmann include: *''The Rejected Quarterly'' (Winter/spring 2004), a literary magazine sold in universities at the west coast of the United States, focusing on fictional works rejected by other publishers. * * * * * *Illustration, ''Throne of Jade''
Subterranean Press *''Beowulf and the Dragon'',

Walking Tree Publishers Walking Tree Publishers was founded in 1996 by members of the (now defunct) Swiss Tolkien Society with the aim of publishing the proceedings of the Cormarë conference held that year to mark the 10th anniversary of the Swiss Tolkien Society. T ...

(2009), (the dragon episode of ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English Epic poetry, epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translations of Beo ...

'', Old English text with the translation by John Porter, foreword by

Tom Shippey Thomas Alan Shippey (born 9 September 1943) is a British medievalist, a retired scholar of Middle and Old English literature as well as of modern fantasy and science fiction. He is considered one of the world's leading academic experts on the ...

) *

References

External links

Official site
on Elfwood 1977 births Living people German illustrators Tolkien artists {{illustrator-stub

Works

Illustrations

See also

References

External links