Tim Hildebrandt Dies

Was sad to read that Tim Hildebrandt passed away yesterday. Having grown up with the artwork of the Brothers Hildebrandt (I still have those Tolkien calendars from the 70's tucked away somewhere), their images became my "illustrated version" of LOTR, not to mention their fantastic super hero paintings.


I still remember walking into a mall bookstore in 1977 and seeing the big poster for the Sword of Shannara when it first came out -- and immediately recognizing the artwork. That's why I bought the book. And remember their novel Urshurak? Maybe not, but I still have that one sitting on a shelf somewhere too. Don't even know if it's still in print, but I kind of doubt it. I chatted with Terry Brooks about that book last year, and he told me Urshurak was the reason the Brothers didn't do the cover art for any of the other Shannara books -- a sort of falling-out with the publisher.

The Brothers Hildebrandt had a way of capturing the dreamlike, other-worldliness of fantasy lit - brighter and more colorful than real life, sometimes more epic than it had a right to be. Tim's work, along with his twin brother Greg, will be remembered fondly.