Community: John Howe of LotR Fame Featured at Fargoth.com
Posted by: Gruudock
|
Fargoth.com Turns Potential Intellectual Property Nightmare into Win-Win Situation...
It must have been a brutal ordeal, but, with characteristic generosity and grace, John Howe tackled the task of answering a barrage of questions from fans at Fargoth.com, a fantasy
world-building community. It's another lump of wax on the candle he has made such a valiant effort to vaporize with a wicked schedule of interviews, forthcoming documentaries, and
re-enactments with the Company of St. George, a medieval troupe of which he is a member. Completing such tasks has become part of the countdown toward the anticipated release of 'The Return of the King,' the third and final movie in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy.
More ...
Apparently, though, his late night ritual was
worth it. Feedback already received said the answers to the interview's intriguing questions are "insightful," "witty," "full of an artist's wisdom," and provide an interesting perspective on
the Gothic nature of Howe's illustrative work.
Howe's interview is part of the 'Artist of the Month' collection at the Fargoth World Building Project, where Howe's illustrations declare this mammoth task of building a new world of fantasy to
be firmly rooted in the tradition of Tolkien. David Freeman, Fargoth's webmaster, selected the images, which some Howe fans have characterized as "The Top Ten Howe Illustrations." You can
see them, along with many other interviews and a growing collection of fantasy art, at http://www.Fargoth.com
When Fargoth's founder, Paul Pishnak, was asked how Fargoth managed to pull off this coup, the answer turned out to be a story in itself, and it just goes to show that not all intellectual property stories have an horrific ending. "Mr. Howe contacted us about the use of his art in the headers of our web site, and rather than turn it into some suit-wielding foray into the courts, we came to a mutually beneficial arrangement where
everybody wins."
It turns out that Fargoth has been addressing the issues of intellectual property since their editor joined them a couple of years ago. NDK, who bemoans his "anonymous" moniker by wailing,
"I've been disemvoweled!" is a keen student of intellectual property law and an as-yet unpublished writer of fantasy and sci-fi himself. "Soon! Soon!" he offers, while Pishnak says "Watch Fargoth. NDK's wife, Marcelle La Cour, is an amazing fantasy illustrator, and we have some very cool things coming to Fargoth in the New Year and beyond."
Fargoth, an international creative collective since 1994, "is always looking for writers, artists, illustrators and programmers who are fantasy and gaming enthusiasts to participate and
contribute," says Jay Stidolph, Master of Fargoth Lore. Belandir (the world the project is creating) is an extensive and detailed fantasy gaming world to which Stidolph has contributed a
phenomenal amount of written material. Fargoth's main group has an editing team, language group, and regular contributors from every conceivable walk of life. It is arguably one of the most
professional and long-lived group collaborations of its type in the Internet world of RPG Gaming. "We still have a few organizational bugs we're ironing out," says Stidolph, "but we're
making great progress, because we have a multi-talented team who take our motto of excellence to heart."
With gratitude to John Howe for his grace and generosity, and in honor and respect of the accomplishments of J.R.R. Tolkien, Peter
Jackson, Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, John Rhys-Davies, and all the cast, crew, and staff of Weta and New Line in bringing the epic fantasy of
'The Lord of the Rings' to the screen, Fargoth's Artist of the Month will be John Howe until the end of December 2003. "We just wanted to honor this incredible achievement," said Pishnak.
"We're fans!" Fargoth is currently lining up new fantasy artists for 2004 and, according to Pishnak, "We have some unique and special events planned for the coming years." What's next?
"Well," says Paul wistfully, "We'd like to interview and host Alan Lee as Fargoth Artist of the Month in the New Year." We get the message: Fargoth is a place to watch.
|
|
| |
| Login |
|
Don't have an account yet? You can create one. As a registered user you have some advantages like a theme manager, comments configuration and posting comments with your name.
|
|
|
