Q: I am not a member of the Official Lord of the Rings fan club. May I still enter the contest? A: If you are a member of Decipher’s Lord of the Rings message board, you may still enter. If you are not a member of either the Fan Club or the Decipher message board, you may not enter the contest.
Q: If I join the Fan Club or the message board before the contest ends, may I enter the contest? A: Yes.
Q: I am a member of the Fan Club, but I have never registered on the message boards. What should I include as my ‘user handle’? A: You can register a handle on the message boards at any time. Go to the Fan Club’s registration page and follow the Registration instructions. If you do not want to register a handle, provide your membership number, your real name (for confirmation of membership) and the name you wish to appear on the Gallery in lieu of a user handle.
Q: I live in Australia/Japan/Poland/other country. May I enter the contest? A: Anyone who is a member of the Fan Club or Decipher may enter, regardless of where they live.
Q: I am 13. I would like to enter, but I’m not as good as the adults. What do I do? A: We have added a Youth category this year. Indicate in your e-mail that you wish to enter in the Youth category, and your entry will compete against entries from other young artists.
Q: I’d like my e-mail address to appear with my entry. What do I do? A: Indicate in your entry e-mail that you want your e-mail to appear.
Q: All of my artwork is posted on my personal site. Can I promote this site? A: If you have artwork posted on a personal or other site, you may have this site’s name and URL appear in your entry. Include the site’s name and URL in your entry e-mail.
Q: I photographed my watercolor painting, and used my computer to crop the picture and remove smudges. The contest rules say no computer art is eligible. Can I still enter this piece? A: Yes. Completely computer/digital art is not eligible, but using a computer for standard formatting (cropping, resizing), appearance (contrast, brightness) and repair (dust/scratch removal, etc) is perfectly legal. The original piece must be a traditional art or craft, however.
Q: I can’t figure out how to resize my photo. What do I do? A: Send it to
and ask for help. We’ll do what we can to help you fix it. Please don’t send us anything over 500 KB in size, however, our e-mail inboxes just can’t handle it!
Q: How will the entries be judged? A: There will be a seven judge panel, which will select winners based on originality, technique, color and other artistic criteria.
Q: How do I know if I’ve won? A: We’ll e-mail you. You can also check the contest site for winners.
Q: I would like to submit artwork for display after the contest closes. May I? A: Any work submitted after March 31, 2003 is ineligible for the contest; however, we do intend to keep this gallery open for display purposes for the foreseeable future. We will post the instructions for posting artwork for display after the closing of the contest.
Q: I want to submit more than three entries. Why can’t I? A: We’re trying to keep this as fair as possible for all entrants, so we’re limiting the number of entries.
Q: What is the Official Lord of the Rings Fan Club? A: The Official Lord of the Rings Fan Club is a paid membership club sanctioned by New Line Cinema/Tolkien Enterprises and run by Decipher, providing a community and other benefits for Lord of the Rings fans. For more information, see their web site at http://www.lotrfanclub.com.
Q: What is LotR Fan Art? A: LotR Fan Art is a fan-run organization dedicated to promoting the arts and creativity among Tolkien fans. Visit their web site or their Yahoo discussion group for more information.
Art Reproduction Information
Many people have requested information on how best to pursue making reproductions or prints of their own artwork. So here are some steps that might be useful...
1. Find a good photographer (preferrably one who has photographed a lot of art) who can take a color transparency shot of your work. The larger the transparency (8x10 should suffice) the better.
2. Determine what size (dimensions) you want reproduced (try and stick to standard sizes to make framing easier/more affordable).
3. There is a relatively new printing process (a form of inkjet) called Giclee (pronounced zsh-clay, see links in the Links section) that was developed specifically for fine art reproduction prints. Find a printer in your area that offers this type of printing and call for information. Tell them that you have a color transparency that you will need DRUM scanned, retouched (color corrected) and proofed (for your approval). Ask about costs for this process and for printing number of pieces at size. Be sure to include the size dimensions of your transparency as well as how many prints you plan on ordering.
4. Have the printer show you samples of stock/material that you can have your piece printed on. Ask about cost differences.
CAUTION Read up on copyright infringement (and protection) before reproducing and selling your artwork! Since all artwork submitted in this contest are representations or interpretations of work by JRR Tolkien and New Line Cinema, you tread in murky waters when reproducing and selling your art. So please be copyright savvy and read up on the laws or consult with an attorney.
For some useful copyright information, check out the Legal section.
Disclaimer: This web site is created by and produced for fans of Lord of the Rings, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Official Lord of the Rings Fan Club, New Line Cinema or Tolkien Enterprises. All artwork shown is the property of the artists and subject to copyright laws.
