The scene
Inspired by The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien (1955). The plain of Gorgoroth at night: the Dark Tower stands on the left with the fiery eye at its peak, Mount Doom breaks open on the right, and rivers of fire run across the land. Above it all, the most famous night sky in art keeps turning. An inspired-by print: nothing in it is taken from any film.
The style
Van Gogh's late brushwork: thick swirling impasto, a spiralling sky, haloed stars, a crescent moon and a flame-shaped spire where his cypress stood. I swapped his blues for black, grey and bone white, so the only warmth in the picture is Mordor's orange fire.
The inspiration
After Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night (1889), Museum of Modern Art, New York. I followed his composition on purpose: the sky, the moon and the tall dark shape in the foreground stay where he put them. His village has become the land of Sauron.
How it's made
I design each scene and refine it until it feels right. It's a print of a digital artwork in the style of Van Gogh, not a Van Gogh and not a hand-painted original. A typeset caption under the picture names the book, the scene and the painting it follows. Each one carries my printed "Chapter & Scene" signature in the margin.