I think it’s possible to set down roots in places that have little relationship to country but reach down through the topsoil into strata of history and culture. Otherwise, I’m quite happy to remain a stranger in a strange land, which is an apt metaphor for fantasy illustration anyway. In Canada, I appreciate the landscapes most of all, especially the Pacific Coast. Most of the things I feel I need for my work are on the opposite side of the Atlantic to where I was born. To tell the truth, it’s a little late to go back. All those deep woods and endless forests, you know. I think I might be a little lost in Canada if I went back. From there one thing just led to another.
After that, I ended up enrolling at the bona fide art school downtown, where I really didn’t understand very much for some time, as my grasp of French was tenuous where it wasn’t inexistent. It was an academic disaster, I might add, but quite exhilarating just to spend that time in Europe, even if on something of a shoestring. I went to France for a year to an American college near Strasbourg. My plan was to combine the two, largely due to generous scholarship money hard won in high school. It’s seen as a kind of reward for graduating high school and often a slightly unfocused attempt to seek out some family roots. It’s quite common for English Canadian teenagers to make a “European trip” before settling down and going to university or entering the workplace. John, what took you from Canada to France to study? And why have you adopted Europe as your home? Tolkien, and his formative involvement with films such as Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. There is a lot more information on his website: Interviewing John for Festival in the Shire, Colin Duriez asked him about the techniques and content of his work, magical creatures and dragons in particular, the background of his remarkable interpretations of the writings of J.R.R. Fantasy Art Workshop (Impact Books, 2008), Fantasy Drawing Workshop (Impact Books, 2009), and illustrated the map books, The Road Goes Ever on and on: The Map of Tolkien's Middle-Earth (HarperCollins, 2009), West of the Mountains, East of the Sea: The Map of Tolkien's Beleriand and the Lands to the North (HarperCollins, 2010), There and Back Again: The Map of Tolkien's ‘Hobbit’ (HarperCollins, 2010). He is author of several books, including Forging Dragons (David and Charles, 2008), and Lost Worlds (Kingfisher, 2009). He studied at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs de Strasbourg, and lives in Switzerland as a freelance illustrator, with his wife Fataneh (also an illustrator), and son Dana. John Howe is an outstanding and well-known Tolkien artist, who was born in 1957 in Vancouver, Canada, growing up in British Columbia. “Here be dragons”: Festival in the Shire interviews John Howe
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