Donato Giancola has spent more than two decades painting scenes from The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion. Unlike many fantasy illustrators, he works primarily in oil on panel or canvas and builds his compositions using real models, costumes, and physical sets before he begins painting.
His vision of Middle-earth led to two books dedicated entirely to his Tolkien-inspired work: Middle-earth: Visions of a Modern Myth (2010) and Middle-earth: Journeys in Myth and Legend (2019).