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Description
another sketch the front gate of Erebor, part of my weekly Tolkien Sketchblog.

This one was largely inspired by the Geghart monastery in Armenia, which I had the great pleasure of exploring while backpacking in '09 [link] . large portions of the monastery (as well as the dozens of ancient hermit caves in the hills nearby) were carved out of the mountainside rather than built. The first thing that strikes you about 'rock cut' architecture ('hewn from the living stone' as Tolkien always puts it) is the tremendous mass and solidity of it; even 'stone built' structures like castles or cathedrals look light and fragile by comparison.

It's a pretty "no frills" take on the Gate, I was trying to draw it just like how Tolkien described it with no additional parapets or windows. I envision that the headwaters of River Running that issue out of the gate were not simply routed that way by the dwarvish engineering, but rather that the cave and rushing water were part of the original primeval structure of the mountain, and would have been the dwarves' first point of entry into the mountain when they first came to erebor and started mining there. Years later, after they'd become rich with gold and jewels, the dwarves built their great gate around, and incorporating, that natural structure; widening the cave into a broad, carved tunnel, and cutting a deep, narrow channel for the water to flow through, as a way of honoring the river and cave that had led them to such prosperity.

Alan Lee's geometric 'no-curves' aesthetic for dwarven architecture is one of his most brilliant design ideas, and (as always) a real pleasure to riff on.

see also: On the Doorstep [link]

Description
another sketch the front gate of Erebor, part of my weekly Tolkien Sketchblog.

This one was largely inspired by the Geghart monastery in Armenia, which I had the great pleasure of exploring while backpacking in '09 [link] . large portions of the monastery (as well as the dozens of ancient hermit caves in the hills nearby) were carved out of the mountainside rather than built. The first thing that strikes you about 'rock cut' architecture ('hewn from the living stone' as Tolkien always puts it) is the tremendous mass and solidity of it; even 'stone built' structures like castles or cathedrals look light and fragile by comparison.

It's a pretty "no frills" take on the Gate, I was trying to draw it just like how Tolkien described it with no additional parapets or windows. I envision that the headwaters of River Running that issue out of the gate were not simply routed that way by the dwarvish engineering, but rather that the cave and rushing water were part of the original primeval structure of the mountain, and would have been the dwarves' first point of entry into the mountain when they first came to erebor and started mining there. Years later, after they'd become rich with gold and jewels, the dwarves built their great gate around, and incorporating, that natural structure; widening the cave into a broad, carved tunnel, and cutting a deep, narrow channel for the water to flow through, as a way of honoring the river and cave that had led them to such prosperity.

Alan Lee's geometric 'no-curves' aesthetic for dwarven architecture is one of his most brilliant design ideas, and (as always) a real pleasure to riff on.

see also: On the Doorstep [link]