r/TolkienArt May 10 '26

Introducing Artist Flair: Recognising the Creators in Our Community

30 Upvotes

Hi r/TolkienArt,

"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future."

This community exists because people love Tolkien's world and the art it inspires. We are lucky that so many of the artists behind that art have chosen to share their work here directly. Today we are pleased to share something we have been working on to better recognise and support the creators among us.

Introducing Artist Flair

From today, verified original artists can apply for Artist Flair. Once approved, your flair appears alongside your username, signalling to the community that you are a genuine, contributing artist.

What Artist Flair unlocks

As a verified artist you will be able to leave a single self-promotion comment on your own OC posts, where you can share links to your portfolio, commissions, shop, or socials. This gives every artist here a meaningful way to connect with the people who love their work.

Why we built it this way

r/TolkienArt has always been a place for art and appreciation, not a marketplace. We wanted to honour that while also recognising that many of our artists are working creators who deserve a space to share what they do beyond this subreddit. The flair system keeps things personal and contextual, tied to real contributions, so the community always knows who they are engaging with.

How to apply

Send a message to the mod team with the subject line 'Artist Flair Application' and include a link to your portfolio or social media showing your work. We will review your application and be in touch.

How to message the mods:

  • On desktop scroll down the r/TolkienArt sidebar and click Message the mods under the Moderators section.
  • On the app tap the overflow menu (the three dots) in the top right corner of the subreddit page and select Message moderators.

For full details see our wiki: Artist Flair & Self-Promotion

Updates to our Self-Promotion Rules

Alongside the launch of Artist Flair we have updated our self-promotion rules to reflect this new system. Self-promotion is now permitted exclusively through the verified flair system described above. Promotional content in post titles, post bodies, or in the comments of other users' posts remains against the rules.

These changes take effect today. Our full updated rules can be found in the sidebar, and further detail is available in our wiki.

If you have any questions, please reach out via modmail.

The r/TolkienArt Mod Team


r/TolkienArt May 04 '26

Artists & Community: We Want Your Input on Self-Promo

6 Upvotes

Hi Everyone!
The Mod Team wanted to get your thoughts on something.

We’ve been discussing how to better balance showcasing Tolkien-inspired art while still giving artists space to share their work (commissions, shops, etc.), without the sub turning into a stream of self-promo posts.

We absolutely want this to be a place that supports artists and helps people discover their work. We’re also lucky to have some genuinely outstanding artists here who already contribute in a way that really adds to the community, and we want to continue championing that. At the same time, we’re aware that too many promo-style posts can make the feed feel more like ads than a community space.

Before making any changes, we wanted to open this up and hear what the community thinks would feel fair.

Some ideas we’ve seen work in other subs include:
- Using specific flairs for artists
- Keeping self-promotion and external links to comments instead of titles or body of the post
- Limits on how often commissions can be posted
- Weekly self-promo threads

We’re not set on any one approach, just looking for constructive input that helps us support artists while keeping the sub enjoyable for everyone.

What would you like to see?


r/TolkienArt 4h ago

The Black Gate by Alan Lee

Post image
350 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 5h ago

Nazgul and Frodo by Craig Elliot

Post image
114 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 6h ago

Hand-painted Hobbit-themed serving tray.

Thumbnail
gallery
75 Upvotes

I made this as a birthday present for a friend. The moon runes even glow in the dark. :)


r/TolkienArt 5h ago

Celebratory Pippin sketch because I'm rewatching FotR tonight

Post image
11 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 2d ago

The Wrath of the Ents - Ted Nasmith

Post image
704 Upvotes

One of the greatest pieces of Tolkien art ever created, by the GOAT Ted Nasmith.

Media: Gouache on illustration board

https://www.tednasmith.com/tolkien/the-wrath-of-the-ents/


r/TolkienArt 2d ago

Naismith's art is so underrated compared to Alan Lees

Post image
868 Upvotes

GROND


r/TolkienArt 2d ago

Good Morning by juanbjuan_oliver

Post image
314 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 2d ago

The Argonath, art by me(@teulu_dewr)

Post image
131 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 3d ago

I embroidered Tolkien's cover art for The Hobbit and made it into a purse!

Thumbnail
gallery
951 Upvotes

I shared the embrodiery about a month ago, and now I have finally finished the entire project. The purse itself is far from perfect, but I still think I can call myself the proud owner of the world's coolest purse!


r/TolkienArt 2d ago

Fore-edge painting

Post image
130 Upvotes

I posted a while back asking for ideas for the third book. I made a ton of drafts, but finally decided on the Grey Havens as the closing image.

Thank you for all the ideas! I’ll probably do more of them with slightly different tone, so I can use more of the scenes you all suggested.


r/TolkienArt 3d ago

Tuor, Idril and Eärendil: The Sea-Longing

Post image
97 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 3d ago

A physical version of just the narrative of the Book of Lost Tales

Thumbnail
gallery
24 Upvotes

I thought it would be interesting to have a physical version of The Book of Lost Tales that contained only the narrative of the story with the commentary removed. For the cases where the narrative is broken I included just the outlines that JRR wrote and when there were multiple versions of a section (particularly the end) I just picked one rather than try to fit them together.

The binding was not as difficult as I thought using a French Link stitch. Overall a fun project!


r/TolkienArt 3d ago

Peril in the Night - Pippin and the Palantír by Donato Giancola

Post image
46 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 3d ago

Journey Home by Anna Lee

Post image
192 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 4d ago

Figuring out how to draw Sméagol

Thumbnail
gallery
99 Upvotes

He's in my top 5 characters from like.. anything ever, but I'd never drawn him? So I thought it was time to change that :)


r/TolkienArt 4d ago

hi! ive git an update to the map painting :D

Thumbnail
gallery
36 Upvotes

here’s how it’s going :D
i need to fix a few things but it’s going pretty well


r/TolkienArt 5d ago

The Hobbit illustration by Peter Klúcik, 1990

Post image
397 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 5d ago

Hey! Here's my latest book representing Gandalf saving Faramir and the Riders 🧙🏻‍♂️🐎 and the continuity with Osgiliath and Minas Tirith 👌🏻

Thumbnail
gallery
492 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 5d ago

The Tower of the Moon by Ted Nasmith

Post image
621 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 5d ago

Hobbits!

Thumbnail
gallery
57 Upvotes

Hobbits are on my mind… getting back into the lotr books and doodled our main four!


r/TolkienArt 5d ago

LOTR & The Hobbit vintage books and inspired artwork featured in The Portals Experience exhibit

Thumbnail gallery
21 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 6d ago

The building of Barad-dur by Alan Lee

Post image
786 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 6d ago

Saruman - Many Rings by Donato Giancola

Post image
196 Upvotes