Interesting issue...
Art (illustration), within a book, is (still) an artist imposing their view/interpretation of a given subject, on you e.g. John Howe's iconic Gandalf, modelled on himself. And a lot of people think of Howe's Gandalf when thinking of Gandalf, I've no doubt. (Although many will now think of McKellan.) Along the argument that I previously stated, I should regard this as derivative; which I do, of course. However, the history of book illustration (which isn't just about putting an image in a book) is long & interests me greatly, with it being connected to book publishing generally. For this reason I often (quickly) look past the fact that the artist is imposing their "take" on something, on me. I certainly give book illustration more leniency. And there is often collaboration between the writer (or their publisher) & the artist/illustrator. This gives the illustrations more legitimacy; something Jackson's films lack. (Rowling's Potter movies on the other hand clearly have more legitimacy, because of her involvement.) But I have such a poor opinion of the film world (as opposed to the book world; certainly historically) that I do not give film this same leniency. I don't really like, as I've said, the medium generally --because my literary tastes are narrow & film fails to translate my interests imaginatively to the big screen. So when film imposes images, characters, etc -- this has the potential to pollute the imaginative images the literary original invoked. I don't like this. It dilutes & corrupts...
So... what do I think of Howe & Lee's involvement? Well, it was a once in lifetime opportunity for them, that's for sure; & they both have to make a living. But Lee's Tolkien art has certainly suffered. All his character drawings now have this kind of film polished look about them. Howe's work seems to have been effected less. Oddly, there are clearly scenes in the film that draw on Ted Nasmith's Tolkien art; no doubt at all about that. I'm not sure how much more Tolkien illustrations (of a non-film nature) either of them will do; at least in the immediate future. It was a pretty smart move to get them on board I think.
