Recounts legends, folk stories, and fairy tales dealing with castles from the traditions of England, Norway, Germany, and other countries.

In this beautifully illustrated book, the artist combines photographs, paintings, and poems that span his artistic output from 1978 to 2002. Over 50 full-color reproductions are featured.

This long awaited second publication by the highly recognized film actor and artist/poet, Viggo Mortensen melds his acutely sensitive ability to intertwine words, paintings and photography into one lyrical conceptual landscape. Working like a personal diary, SignLanguage, takes us on a visual journey into the soul of Mortensen's creative forces. His diary-based photographs, taken while filming 'The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Rings' become dream-like landscapes shrouded in mystery and suspense while his multi-layered paintings entwine themselves around stanzas of poetry. The melding of all three forces allows the reader to become acutely aware of the details surrounding the artists existence, a multiple of split-second images burned into the mind of a thousand different places.
SignLanguage exquisitely features extensive color and black and white reproductions of both his photographic works and his intensely personal collage based paintings, partly intertwined in an informative essay by international critic and poet, Kevin Power. Special highlights also include unique photographs by Mortensen while on location during the filming of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'.

★跟随奇幻插画大师、电影《指环王》《霍比特人》六部曲艺术指导、17项奥斯卡奖幕后功臣约翰·豪，踏上壮美中洲旅程
★约翰·豪绘制的甘道夫形象让彼得·杰克逊从好莱坞获得支持，成功开启我们这个世代的中洲影像之旅
★收录逾300幅素描、彩画及设定图
★中文版更有约翰·豪全新创作绘制的中文版序，并随机附赠1枚精美明信片，共2款
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让备受赞誉的托尔金艺术家约翰·豪带你穿越中洲，从袋底洞到魔多……在这本充满丰富插图的素描集中，你将看到前所未见的中洲艺术、奇闻轶事和冥想沉思。
中洲早已被探索、绘制成地图，比尔博和弗罗多的旅程也被细致标绘，尽管如此，它仍然可说是一片荒原。即使到今天，未经之地也远远超过了托尔金在他的著作中曾带我们走过的。
中洲旅人约翰·豪展示了托尔金中洲的徒步漫游，不仅目睹了他故事的中心，而且还欣赏了那些刚好在山后或地平线以外的地方。托尔金书中的事件被一一检视：魔戒大战时已成传说的不同时代的战争，失落的王国和古代神话，以及那些仅仅暗示的地方：遥远北方的王国和海洋以外的土地。
临场感十足的素描与艺术家从托尔金的文字、绘画中观察所得交织在一起，约翰·豪还记述了他和彼得·杰克逊在《指环王》《霍比特人》电影六部曲中共事的时光。结合为电影制作的概念设计、现有的中洲艺术以及本书独有的数十幅全新绘画和草图，约翰·豪——这位中洲旅人将带领读者踏上穿越托尔金神奇景观的独特而难忘的旅程。

◆ 托尔金创造的世界 艾伦•李让我们看见
◆ 文学插画大师、电影《指环王》《霍比特人》艺术指导、奥斯卡奖得主的灵光汇集。
◆ 从绘制《魔戒》插画到电影《指环王》三部曲的艺术设定。
收录逾150幅素描及设定图，包括从未面世的《指环王》电影概念原稿、专为本书创作的新画。全页幅画稿重现壮阔，展示画作从创意到定稿的全过程。
我们画了这么多素描，一点一滴设定全盘。到最后，它化为绝对真实：碧草漫过屋顶，家家户户炊烟四起。这就像目睹梦幻成真。
——艾伦•李
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《纸上中洲：艾伦•李的〈魔戒〉素描集》是托尔金作品最为著名的插画师艾伦•李的素描作品集锦。作为彼得•杰克逊执导的电影《指环王》三部曲的艺术指导之一，艾伦•李在本书中描述了他和维塔工作室的其他成员如何完成导演和制片人给出的“创造与还原中洲世界”的任务，并配以他亲手创作的素描稿。内容充实详尽，语言优美，是《魔戒》原著及电影爱好者必读之作。