Russian Tolkien illustrations: some inspiration for Middle Earth miniatures ...

[Hobgoblin]

I came across these Russian LotR illustrations yesterday. They're rather refreshing, and I thought they might be of interest to the forum's many Tolkien gamers.

There are lots of interesting oddities in there - a balrog in a Sutton Hoo helmet, and Rohan vs Isengard Bayeux-style. And there are also some nice takes on Red Eye heraldry:

[wolfkarl]

Very cool, thank you for posting this.

[FramFramson]

Remind me a little of the Cor Blok illustrations.

[Hobgoblin]

Remind me a little of the Cor Blok illustrations.

Yes! There's a nice level of stylisation and abstraction that still leaves plenty of room for the imagination.

[Cubs]

I love the bottom one with the two hobbits cowering in the corner whilst Gollum gets ready to nibble a frog.

[Charlie_]

Love those Ents!

[Neunfinger]

Thanks for sharing, these illustrations are quite something else, very inspiring.

[Sunjester]

Great stuff, thanks for that. I like the Orthodox Icon style of some of the images. Interesting to see a take on some LOTR scenes that do not usually appear in illustrations.

[monkeylite]

Wow, it's like they were drawn by the people of Middle Earth about their own history.

[DivisMal]

Brilliant! In recent years I have come to get bored (maybe even started to despise) the traditional Tolkien illustrations which I collected since I found my first Tolkien calender as a kid.

This is the first refreshing innovative stuff I’ve seen for a long time. Thank you for posting it!

[area23]

Those are amazing!!!

[FramFramson]

Wow, it's like they were drawn by the people of Middle Earth about their own history.

This is literally what the Cor Blok series of illustrations were supposed to be. They were made while JRRT was still alive and he was quite tickled by them, feeling they were a very faithful execution of such a concept. Look them up if you like! Here's a couple of samples:

[adventure_85]

I sort of want to print tiny copies out and make tiny 28mm paintings using these to hang in my house and castle terrain. Pieces.

[Doomsdave]

I didn't know about these or the Cor Blok images.  Thanks so much.  I really like these.

[Too Bo Coo]

Very interesting! As a Moscovite I can say they're very reminiscent of classic Russian folk lore art.