Film director Ralph Bakshi is currently selling a variety of artworks and ephemera from his personal collection. Quickly snapped up, almost as soon as it was listed, was comic artist Mike Ploog’s one of a kind, rough, preliminary drawing of the famous promotional image of The Fellowship for the animated The Lord of the Rings, released in (1978).

The art, featuring Gandolf, Bilbo Baggins, Golem and other characters from J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantastic universe, from director Ralph Bakshi’s personal collection, sold on eBay for $3950.

Other rare Lord of the Rings artefacts are currently for sale.

Mike’s pencil and charcoal art, used for the final poster, was sold by Heritage Auctions in 2017, for $18,600. The poster art was subsequently used on calendars and other items.

Perhaps best known for his work on Marvel Comics’ 1970s Man-Thing and The Monster of Frankenstein series, and as the initial artist on t Ghost Rider and Werewolf by Night, Mike Ploog worked on numerous aspects of Ralph Bakshi’s fondly-remembered Lord of the Rings project, including concept art and storyboards. (Mike also worked on two other Bakshi film projects, Wizards, and Hey, Good Lookin’). Some of his work was included in the hard to find The Art of Ploog: Volume One, published back in 2015.

The director of animated and live-action films, Ralph Bakshi established an alternative to mainstream animation in the 1970s, through independent and adult-oriented productions.

Bakshi began his career at Terrytoons Cartoon Studio in 1957, and made his debut feature film, Fritz the Cat, in 1972. Over the next eleven years, he directed seven additional animated features, including Hey, Good Lookin’ (1982), American Pop (1981), Coonskin (1975) and Heavy Traffic (1973). He is well known for his fantasy films, which include Wizards (1977), The Lord of the Rings, part 1 (1978) and Fire & Ice (1983).

Bakshi returned to television work in 1987, producing the series Mighty Mouse, The New Adventures which ran for two years. He’s since been involved in numerous television projects as director, writer, producer and animator. After a nine-year hiatus from feature films, he directed Cool World (1992), The Cool and the Crazy TV film (1994), and Spicy City HBO TV series (1997).

After painting for more than 15 years and having art shows around the world, Ralph returned to animation to create and animate Last Days of Coney Island, which was successfully funded on Kickstarter in March 2013.

• Check out Ralph Bakshi’s official web store on eBay

• Follow Mike Ploog on Facebook

• Ralph Bakshi is online at ralphbakshi.com

• Tolkien Visual Collecting Guide: Tolkien Musing – Mike Ploog

• Tolkien Collector’s Guide – Mike Ploog Drawings and Bakshi’s Film Storyboard

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John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.

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Categories: Animation, Art and Illustration, downthetubes News, Film, Other Worlds

Tags: downthetubes News, Film News, Lord of the Rings, Mike Ploog, Ralph Bakshi