Ted Nasmith (born 1956) is a Canadian artist,

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

and architectural renderer. He is best known as an illustrator of

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

's works ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ...

'', ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...

'' and ''

The Silmarillion ''The Silmarillion'' () is a book consisting of a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited, partly written, and published posthumously by his son Christopher in 1977, assisted by G ...

''. Tolkien praised and commented on his early work, something that encouraged him in his career.

Biography

Early life

Nasmith was born in

Goderich, Ontario Goderich ( or ) is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario and is the county seat of Huron County. The town was founded by John Galt and William "Tiger" Dunlop of the Canada Company in 1827. First laid out in 1828, the town is named after ...

, Canada. As the son of a

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...

officer, Nasmith's childhood was characterized by a series of moves, chiefly when his father was stationed in eastern France when Ted was 2 years old, until the family returned to Ontario 3 years later. By the time Nasmith became a teenager, they had settled in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. Nasmith's public school guidance counselor encouraged him to enter a high school which featured a 4-year commercial art program. During his third year of high school, however, Nasmith's sister introduced him to ''

'', and it quickly became a huge inspiration and focus in his life. Nasmith writes: In 1972, Nasmith mailed photographs of some of his paintings to

, including his

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouach ...

of ''The Unexpected Party''. Tolkien responded by letter a few weeks later, both praising the work and making the comment that the rendition of

Bilbo Baggins Bilbo Baggins (Westron: ''Bilba Labingi'') is the title character and protagonist of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel ''The Hobbit'', a supporting character in ''The Lord of the Rings'', and the fictional narrator (along with Frodo Baggins) of m ...

seemed a little too childlike. Still a teenager at the time, this early feedback from Tolkien encouraged Nasmith to strive for a more literal interpretation of Tolkien's works.

Career

After graduation, Nasmith aspired to follow in the footsteps of automotive illustrator Art Fitzpatrick. However, since photography was replacing illustration in the business of car advertising, he instead found employment as an architectural renderer, showing a particular flair for the intense realism such illustrations often demand. Nasmith's Tolkien artwork, which echoes the luminist landscapes and

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

neoclassical styles, eventually caught the attention of Tolkien's publishers, who included four of his paintings in the 1987 Tolkien Calendar. His artwork has appeared in many of these calendars, including several where he is the sole featured artist (1987, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010). In October 1996, Nasmith was asked by Tolkien's publishers to provide the artwork for the first illustrated edition of ''

'', during which time Ted developed a strong working relationship with

Christopher Tolkien Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (21 November 1924 – 16 January 2020) was an English and naturalised French academic editor and writer. The son of the author and academic J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher edited 24 volumes based on his father's P ...

. The illustrated edition was published in 1998; in 2004, a second edition was published featuring many more paintings by Nasmith. In early 1999, representatives for

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand filmmaker. He is best known as the director, writer, and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy (2012–2014), both of which ar ...

and

New Line Cinema New Line Productions, Inc., Trade name, doing business as New Line Cinema, is an American film production, film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, a division of the Major film studios, ...

invited Ted Nasmith to join John Howe and Alan Lee to work as a concept artist for ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy. According to Nasmith, Nasmith is considered a Tolkien

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

, well-read in

ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian language, ...

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

, and other areas. He has been a prominent member of two Tolkien-related organizations—

the Tolkien Society The Tolkien Society is an educational charity and literary society devoted to the study and promotion of the life and works of the author and academic J. R. R. Tolkien. It began informally in 1969, and held its inaugural meeting in 1970. It ho ...

, and the

Mythopoeic Society The Mythopoeic Society (MythSoc) is a non-profit organization devoted to the study of mythopoeic literature, particularly the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and C. S. Lewis. These men were all members of The Inklings, an informa ...

—and has long subscribed to Mensa's Tolkien journal, ''Beyond Bree''. Nasmith is a songwriter, guitarist and tenor. Much of his musical work is likewise inspired by Tolkien's writings. His first commercial album, ''The Hidden Door: Songs in the Key of Enchantment'', was released in 2007. He has worked on a musical project entitled ''

Beren and Lúthien ''Beren and Lúthien'' is a 2017 compilation of multiple versions of the epic fantasy Lúthien and Beren by J. R. R. Tolkien, one of Tolkien's earliest tales of Middle-earth. It is one of what he called the three Great Tales in his legendari ...

: A Song Cycle'', with his friend Alex Lewis, and has a close friendship with one of the founders of

The Tolkien Ensemble The Tolkien Ensemble (founded in 1995) is a Danish ensemble which created "the world's first complete musical interpretation of the poems and songs from ''The Lord of the Rings''". They published four CDs from 1997 to 2005, in which all the Poet ...

. In latter years, he has illustrated a deluxe 2-volume limited edition of

George R. R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948) also known by the initials G.R.R.M. is an American author, television writer, and television producer. He is best known as the author of the unfinished series of Hi ...

's ''

A Game of Thrones ''A Game of Thrones'' is the first novel in ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin. It was first published on August 1, 1996. The novel won the 1997 Locus Award and was nominated for both ...

'' novel. It took about three years to complete the set of over 80 illustrations, most in pencil, with six in colour. He is among the illustrators of the book ''The World of Ice and Fire'', an encyclopedia of the fantasy realms of George R.R. Martin's epic novels. Ted worked closely with the ''Ice and Fire'' author to design castles according to the author's specifications. They were featured in the 2011 ''Song of Ice and Fire'' calendar. Nasmith was commissioned by the video game developer

Turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical ...

and later the spin-off studio Standing Stone Games to create the 'key art' of the major updates for the online game based on Tolkien's work, ''

The Lord of the Rings Online ''The Lord of the Rings Online'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows and previously for OS X, set in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, taking place during the time period of ''The Lord of the Rings''. ...

'' in 2015 and 2017. His artwork is being used as promotional materials, on the website and within the game as loading screens, notably for the Mordor expansion in 2017.

Personal life

Nasmith lives near Toronto. He is married with three children.

References

External links