You can't have Tolkien or Tolkien fandom without art. Tolkien himself was an artist and cared deeply about the art chosen to accompany his books. This isn't surprising: Middle-earth practically begs for its otherworldly landscapes to be translated from the imagination to the page, and some of the first fanworks were artwork based on Tolkien's writings. In the decades since, Tolkien fan art has inspired the aesthetics of the films, which brought millions of new fans into the visual canon of Tolkien's world. Other fan artists have brought The Silmarillion and other works to life, and in recent years, Tolkien fan art has been used to elevate marginalized characters, populating Middle-earth with people of all genders and skin colors. In other words, Tolkien fan art isn't just transformative but often formative, driving how we see the people and places of the legendarium.
With that not-insignificant role in mind, we are excited to introduce a new column to our newsletter rotation: Tolkien Fanartics, helmed by our brilliant art editor Anérea. For the inaugural article, Anérea had a chance to chat with ArlenianChronicles (Cassandra) about her luminous, emotionally wrenching work, her creative process, and how she became an artist. If you've been in the #silmarillion tag on Tumblr, you know Cassandra's work, which brings to life some of the most emotionally complex scenes and relationships in the legendarium. If you're not familiar with Cassandra's work, Anérea showcases more than a dozen of Cassandra's pieces, along with the interview. You can find the interview with ArlenianChronicles here.
Like most of our newsletter columns, Tolkien Fanartics is open to contributions from guest writers, and if you know of an artist (yourself or someone else!) that we should feature, contact Anérea to share your ideas.
Note too that we've begun a new challenge in the past week: Middle-earth Is Multitudes, which seeks to include more diverse characters in fanworks. While the challenge is set up with two daily prompts (that don't have to be used together) for people who enjoy this type of format, you can also use the challenge as a prompt menu and pick and choose and mix and match however suits you.
SWG News
A Sense of History: Straight Road
The next in a series of articles about ships passing to and from the West, Simon uses "The Fall of Númenor" to attempt to arrive at Tolkien's reading of the exordium to "Beowulf."
Fandom Voices: Comments and Feedback
Our Fandom Voices project tackles the fraught questions of feedback: what it is like to leave and receive feedback in the world of Tolkien fanworks.
20th Birthday Event Feedback Needed
Answer one small question to help us plan an even to celebrate our 20th birthday next year!
Call for Contributors: Themed Collections
Are you passionate about a topic related to Tolkien or fanworks? Do you have an impressive collection of bookmarks and favorites? We are looking for contributors who want to put together themed collections on the topic of their choice.
New Challenge: Bollywood
This month's challenge offers songs, films, and tropes from Bollywood, the world's largest film industry based out of India, as prompts for fanworks.
New Fanworks
Meeting the In-Laws by by awwyeah107 [Writing]
Caranthir is nervous about meeting Haleth’s father and brother for the first time. Haleth is sure everything will go well.
Read more ...Morgoth's prisoner by by elennalore [Artwork]
Maedhros in Angband
Read more ...Tumult by by StarSpray [Writing]
After the chaos of the War of Wrath, Uinen smooths the way for the ships of the Edain to sail to their new home.
Later, she does what she can at its fall.
Read more ...Coincidences of Fate by by cílil [Writing]
Sometimes Eönwë wonders if his life is just like Manwë's romance novels. Sometimes he even thinks the One may be laughing at him from above.
A story told in exactly 4 1/3 drabbles.
Read more ...Updated Fanworks
Tengwar Drabbles by by cílil [Writing]
A collection of Silmarillion-centric drabbles written for the Tengwar Challenge. Short and sweet!
Read more ...Around the World and Web
Teitho August/September Contest: Do you remember ...?
For the contest theme for August and September, characters will look back to the past.
August challenge at tolkienshortfanworks on Dreamwidth
The August challenge has been posted to the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth. The thematic challenge is: magic trees. The formal challenge is: call and response. New participants welcome.
Tolkien Pinup Calendar 2025 Sign-Ups Open
The Tolkien Pinup Calendar is an 18+ event for creating a calendar of risque fan art of your favorite Tolkien characters! Sign-ups are open for main commissioners, artists, and pinch hitters.
August 2024 Call for Papers and Proposals
Calls for papers and proposals for conferences and publications that are open during the month of August 2024.
Innumerable Stars 2024
Innumerable Stars is a Tolkien fandom gift exchange for all works by Tolkien or associated with Middle-earth.
Forgotten Ground Regained: Call for Submissions
Forgotten Ground Regained is looking for alliterative poetry on the themes of love, devotion, and desire for their upcoming fall issue.
Eönwë Week 2024
Eönwë Week is a Tumblr event for creating fanworks about Eönwë.
Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang (TRSB) 2024
Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang is an annual event where authors create a story of at least 5,000 words in response to an artwork created for the event.
Acorns and Oak Leaves: A Year of Bagginshield
Throughout 2024, the Bagginshield community Acorns and Oak Leaves offers monthly prompts to encourage new creations of all kinds.