More often than not, however, the person who flatly states 'Elves aren't like that!' is hard pressed to describe how they really look.... as if Tolkien has summoned archetypes from so deep in our minds that we can only recall them incompletely.

All in all, Tolkien fans are as varied, remarkable and marvelous as the books and the worlds that they share. They make me feel a little like a Hobbit who glimpses colourful strangers passing but has never left the Shire.

I initially moved to Switzerland for work on an animated feature film, and have been here ever since.

I have been illustrating Tolkien's books ever since I first read them, long before illustration became my profession.

Dragons and bridges are very much something out of fairy tales and fantasy.

Character is power; it makes friends, draws patronage and support and opens the way to wealth, honor and happiness.

I think I was interested in history without knowing it and that became very clear when I arrived in France. Everything that I was really interested in was there, but I knew nothing, no education, no art education, no education beyond high school. It was extremely overwhelming and it still is.