Lord of the Rings Calendar - First Stroke of Lighting: Helm's Deep

"For a staring moment the watchers on the walls saw all the space between them and the Dike lit with white light: it was boiling and crawling with black shapes, some squat and broad, some tall and grim, with high helms and sable shields."

Back in the 70s, when Michael Kaluta was in the Studio, he created Lord of the Rings illustrations which wouldn't be published in the Ballantine Calendar until 1994. At the time, the calendar had a double page spread between the center months which allows the artist to really go wild with the scope. This Helms Deep illustration was meant to be that image which would be the centerpiece of the calendar.

In 1986, Kaluta was asked to do the wraparound cover for the Encyclopedia of the Conan Universe, and he used this as the layout, although he added Conan on Horseback of course.

When he finally painted the pieces for the 1994 calendar, he used only part of the Conan painting for the Helm's Deep illustration, since there was no double page spread at that time.

The intricacies, the action and the details are really something on this piece. I'm very lucky indeed.

25" x 17"