@Stu wrote:
Looks awesome - nice touch with the reflective surface below.

Thanks, I used Imandix to render the images so it generated the reflection. First time I've done it for a "paperback", was surprised it was in the list of pre-built objects thought I was going to have to pass in my own dimensions. (Mine's a fairly old version I purchased years ago for some side-work, not sure what bells and whistles they have in their latest, online versions).

Anyway I actually really enjoyed the fairly mindless task of putting that together so I worked on a few others last night as well but hadn't completed their spines until this morning (guess that's what happens when you've got a meeting scheduled for an hour outside your normal work window and then it gets cancelled 15 minutes before it's supposed to start).

Made a tweak to the Unfinished Tales spine to fit in line with the rest but otherwise it's unchanged.
















Used John Howe art when I could, re-using artwork that had previously been on covers before.
I couldn't find anything suitable for Beren and Lúthien, well anything that hadn't already been used already. So I settled on a piece by Justin Gerard (or at least that's who was credited whenever I found a credit to the image, but it's not his portfolio so who knows...).

I have a paperback for all of these (though my UT is pretty trashed and useless after moving) but given that this style was my favorite of what HarperCollins has done, I'd drop cash to own the Middle-Earth books in a style like this.

Gosh these are beautiful. I have some of the HomE paperbacks in this series and I intend completing the set. I have the deluxe editions of the great tales but would totally buy the paperbacks if they were released in this format. ?

Why are your Lord of the Rings 75th Anniversary edition instead of 70th Anniversary editions in 5 years time, this was 70 years after the Return of the King was first published?

@Trotter wrote:
Why are your Lord of the Rings 75th Anniversary edition instead of 70th Anniversary editions in 5 years time, this was 70 years after the Return of the King was first published?

Had to put something up there -- that was actually the hardest part for me; figuring out what to put up there for most of them. The "Great Tales" books were easy since they could fit the pattern already established with HoME and HotH.

Figured, regardless of how unlikely this exercise was in principal, that HC wouldn't make a big deal about calling out the 70th Anniversary. They didn't call out the 60th on any of the covers, though they mention it in marketing materials and listings just not on the covers. It'd be pretty easy to change it though (would take more time to upload the new renders than anything else).

VERY impressive!! Those looks pretty sharp, and sure beats that National Geographic paperback editions that have come out recently. Nice imagery on those, but doesn't really say 'Tolkien.'

I'd thought of another request for you, if you are interested or have the time: The Silmarillion matching the recent Hobbit + Lord of the Rings set, the forthcoming Unfinished Tales, and the great tales in hardback.

You pretty much have 'free reign' though I wanted to bring up a few points:
- it's illustrated by Ted Nasmith
- the image on the cover and the spine is the same
- there's a different image used for the rear of the dustjacket
- There have been 3 illustrated editions, to serve as a 'guide' - it's up to you which of Ted's images to use for the book cover of course: 1998: http://tolkienbooks.net/php/details2.php?id=745 Maglor Casts a Silmaril into the Sea as the cover & spine, Beren and Luthien are Flown to safety on dustjacket rear. 2004: http://tolkienbooks.net/php/details2.php?id=759 features White Ships to Valinor as the cover, The Burning of the Ships on the spine, and Up the Rainy Stair on the dustjacket rear.
2008: http://tolkienbooks.net/php/details2.php?id=762 just uses Ships of the Faithful.

I also wish to point out that White Ships to Valinor or Ships of the Faithful may be too 'similar' to Alan Lee's dustjacket cover for the illustrated Unfinished Tales.

@insurrbution wrote:
I'd thought of another request for you, if you are interested or have the time: The Silmarillion matching the recent Hobbit + Lord of the Rings set, the forthcoming Unfinished Tales, and the great tales in hardback.

This took a bit "longer" because Ted has a lot more artwork for The Silmarillion than John does (and it's also a lot easier to find larger versions) but I ultimately settled on this for the front image and spine.

Guess it's also worth noting that while the new Illustrated Box Set re-uses the image form the front on the spine; that Unfinished Tales does not and it wraps from front to spine. So that's the method I went with as I liked the look of it better.
The artwork didn't strike as what I typically associate with Ted's Middle-Earth related work and actually reminded me a bit more of Alan Lee's work but I really liked how it worked with the rest of font/color options.



The back proved just as challenging as the limitations presented by the font (or more importantly the font color) weren't an issue on the back. In the end I went with this one, as it was the image I almost went with for the front.



One other back option, also debated using this on the front for a while as I t thought it might fit in a bit better with the recent Hobbit/LotR box set. I ultimately decided against it as I liked the other to artworks better.



And lastly, because can't really have a Silmarillion with out some boats :D

Most excellent, thank you for that :) I hope HarperCollins takes note haha.

Throughout the day, I was thinking of two images, that are quite different from what we've seen for the Hobbit + Lord of the Rings boxed set, great tales books, and Unfinished Tales: Turn and His Band Are Led to Amon Rudh (cover), and either Lamp of the Valar or First Dawn of the Sun on the rear.

I look forward to what else you might create, though I have no more requests - at this time!

Dovetailing slightly, anyone have any guess for what the 2022 Calendar will be? Had it not been for the surprise of the new edition of Unfinished Tales, my guess that the 2021 one would be themed after John Howe's Middle-earth Traveller. Maybe for 2022!

@insurrbution wrote:
Most excellent, thank you for that :) I hope HarperCollins takes note haha.

I agree! ?

Dovetailing slightly, anyone have any guess for what the 2022 Calendar will be?

I can’t say.

Túrin and his Band are Led to Amon Rûdh was actually the first piece I tried to use. I love that piece and I thought it would be a bit funny if that since Unfinished Tales had rendered a lot of Ted's great pieces unusable (for being too similar in tone) to use it here. It's a piece that I associate very clearly so it would be somewhat fitting to end up using it for The Silmarillion.

Unfortunately the light in the upper left corner proved tricky. This is the best I could do while keeping J.R.R. TOLKIEN in white to match the other covers. Though you lose almost all of the 'band'.



As for Lamp of the Valar and The First Dawn of the Sun I tried both out as covers and didn't like them and pretty much forgot about them as options on the back.

These are fantastic Velmeran!