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.