Spasiba, Gaspadin Baggins!

[serai]

.
Here's something wonderful:


Pages from a Russian edition of The Hobbit.


The illustrations are great! Certainly far better than that illustrator they've got doing the next LOTR calendar. (Never liked his pictures at all.) These have a very old-world feel to them; they remind me of Pauline Bayles's pics that Tolkien liked so much.

At the bottom of the page is another treat: three scenes from a low-budget Russian TV production of The Hobbit. Now before you screw up your face like you're sucking a lemon, I'll tell you that they're actually pretty good, keeping in mind that they are low-budget. But Bilbo is quite good, given that he's a Russian Bilbo. There's also Gandalf, Thorin and Gollum. Think of it along the lines of what you might see in a traveling wagon version put on for schoolchildren, and you'll get the picture. (I'd love to see what they did with Smaug!)

Comments

[kayrey.livejournal.com]

Those are charming. They look like woodcuts, don't they?

I also like them better than the artist lined up for the calendar.

[serai1.livejournal.com]

Yes, they do look like that. Charming is the right word, indeed.

I've seen that other artist's LOTR pictures before, and GAH. I'm shocked that Tolkien actually liked his stuff. To me it has the same kind of fake-kid style that I find so annoying in Paul Klee, except that Klee's stuff isn't quite as ugly.

[jewelsong.livejournal.com]

These are GREAT! Thanks for posting!