r/TolkienArt May 10 '26

Introducing Artist Flair: Recognising the Creators in Our Community

29 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

7 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 7h ago

Figuring out how to draw Sméagol

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64 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 22h ago

The Hobbit illustration by Peter Klúcik, 1990

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288 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 7h ago

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

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13 Upvotes

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


r/TolkienArt 1d ago

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

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367 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 1d ago

The Tower of the Moon by Ted Nasmith

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499 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 23h ago

Hobbits!

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37 Upvotes

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


r/TolkienArt 1d ago

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

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8 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 2d ago

The building of Barad-dur by Alan Lee

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721 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 2d ago

Saruman - Many Rings by Donato Giancola

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183 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 3d ago

i’m currently working on a painting of a map! here’s how it’s going ;3

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119 Upvotes

i have a sketch, paints, brushes and a dream lol

i’ve already painted Barad-dur (it’s not finished but i was excited and i wanted to share it with you) and Smaug (or more like half of the Smaug, also not finished) but it’s going pretty well!

It’s on a HUGE canvas, it’s 2.40m x 1.60m and it’s my first big project, so i’m both scared and excited!

i’ll be posting updates regularly! :3


r/TolkienArt 3d ago

The First Song

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464 Upvotes

Acrylic on canvas

50 × 70 cm

Some paintings ask for time.

This one asked for two years.

Today, it is finally here.


r/TolkienArt 3d ago

But Finrod walks with Finarfin his father beneath the trees in Eldamar

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362 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 3d ago

Hobbit art - what have you got?

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44 Upvotes

A former colleague decided he wanted to do some art for me. It's a passion of his and he enjoys doing them for other people.

I told him I wanted something lord of the rings or hobbit themed and he came up with this.

I don't know if he got inspired by something online or what but it's hand drawn and I think it is amazing.

What have you got?


r/TolkienArt 3d ago

Tolkien's bench

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83 Upvotes

My mum customised a paint by numbers set to look more like Tolkien's bench, which we visited together earlier this year in Oxford.

This means so much to me, and I have it proudly displayed on my wall for all to see.


r/TolkienArt 4d ago

Bought from artist at Renaissance Fair

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402 Upvotes

I was ecstatic to see the one with the fox, as it is such a neat scene from The Fellowship of the Ring book


r/TolkienArt 4d ago

Angrist by Sergio Artigas

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75 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 5d ago

Saruman's Nasty End by Valera Lutfullina

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751 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 5d ago

I was so excited to paint this commission, waiting to hear if they are happy with it!

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83 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 4d ago

Aragorn and Arwen

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36 Upvotes

My dear friend sketched this as a birthday gift for me 😊


r/TolkienArt 5d ago

Balrog and Gandalf this time ;3 what do you think?

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58 Upvotes

yesterday i’ve tried to draw Shelob and Sam and today i’ve tried to draw Balrog and Gandalf, what do you think? :D i was drawing this shi instead of working lol


r/TolkienArt 5d ago

Rivendell by Serena Malyon

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448 Upvotes

r/TolkienArt 6d ago

hi! i drew Shelob and Sam :3 what do you think?

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534 Upvotes

tbh i’m not really happy with how it has turned out but someday i’ll try to fix that


r/TolkienArt 6d ago

High Elf of Arda - By Douglas Silva

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75 Upvotes