Greg Hildebrandt, the
surviving half of the illustrating team of the Brothers Hildebrandt, passed
away on Halloween last Thursday at the age of 82, and I would be remiss if I did not note his
passing. The Hildebrandts’ 1977 Tolkien
calendar had the first substantial series of Middle-earth interpretations that
I had ever seen (my Drama teacher Mr. Daryl Fleming had it hanging in his
classroom; at my begging he even let me borrow it for a while). It was trying
to draw in the Hildebrandt style (particularly the swirling folds of clothes
and cloaks) that caused the first serious development in my own drawing. Ever
after I was always on the lookout for their work; I bought the next years’
Hildebrandt Calendar (their last of three) and would always give books with
covers by them close consideration. Their pictures were often the icing that
sold less satisfactory offerings like The Sword of Shannara or Urshurak.
After the brothers split up and pursued their own careers, I must admit I
always admired Greg’s work more, although their style was almost identical; he
was more prolific, I have to add. Here is a slightly edited article about them
from Wikipedia; what follows that is a collection of some (but not all) of the
Hildebrandt items I actually own.
Greg (January
23, 1939 – October 31, 2024) and Tim Hildebrandt (January 23,
1939 – June 11, 2006), known as the Brothers Hildebrandt, were
American twin brothers who worked collaboratively as fantasy and science
fiction artists for many years, produced illustrations for comic
books, movie posters, children's books, posters, novels, calendars,
advertisements, and trading cards.
Career
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Greg
and Tim Hildebrandt studied at the Meinzinger Art School and began painting
professionally in 1959 as the Brothers Hildebrandt. The brothers both held an
ambition to work as animators for Walt Disney, and although they never
realized this dream, their work was heavily influenced by illustration style
of Disney feature films such
as Snow White, Pinocchio and Fantasia. They were also influenced by the
artwork in comic books and science
fiction books, notably the work of Norman
Rockwell and Maxfield
Parrish.
The brothers are best known
for their popular The Lord of the Rings calendar
illustrations, illustrating comics for Marvel
Comics and DC Comics, original oil paintings for a limited edition
of Terry Brooks's The Sword of Shannara, and
their Magic: The Gathering and Harry
Potter illustrations for Wizards of the Coast.
In 1977 the brothers were
approached by 20th Century Fox to produce poster art for
the UK release of Star
Wars. A promotional poster had already been produced in the US by the
artist Tom
Jung, but Fox executives considered this poster "too dark". The
Brothers Hildebrandt had established a reputation working on the Lord
of the Rings calendar and a concept poster for Young Frankenstein, and Fox commissioned
them to rework the image. The twins had to work to a very tight deadline and
worked together in shifts to produce a finished product in 36 hours.
In 1981, the Hildebrandts
had another film poster commission, for the Greek
mythological heroic fantasy film Clash of the Titans. Together,
the brothers developed a concept for a fantasy movie, Urshurak;
although this never went into production, the Hildebrandts collaborated with
author Jerry Nichols to
publish Urshurak in the form of an illustrated fantasy novel
in 1979.
The lack of success
with Urshurak may have contributed to their decision to work
independently of each other, and in 1981 the brothers began to pursue separate
careers.[12] Greg
painted cover artwork for the magazines Omni and Heavy Metal, and illustrated a number of
books including Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Aladdin, Robin Hood, Dracula,
and The Phantom of the Opera. Tim
also created cover art for books such as The Time of the Transference and The Byworlder, as well as for Amazing
Stories magazine, along with illustrated calendars based on fantasy themes such
as Dungeons & Dragons.
After 12 years the Brothers reunited to collaborate on work for Marvel
Comics, Stan Lee, and numerous book projects.
Greg Hildebrandt Jr. also
made major contributions to the production of a book entitled Greg
& Tim Hildebrandt: The Tolkien Years, which gave an overview of
the Tolkien genre artworks produced by Greg and Tim in the 1970s.
Greg's solo work and family
Individually, Greg
contributed to the art for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's albums and
concert merchandise. He also provided the cover art for Black
Sabbath's 1981 Mob
Rules album.
During the 1980s and 1990s
Greg illustrated a number of classic books. These range from Greg
Hildebrandt's Favorite Fairy Tales, Alice in Wonderland, Peter
Cottontail's Surprise, Peter Pan and Robin Hood to Dracula, Poe:
Stories and Poems and The Phantom of the Opera. During
this time Greg also illustrated the holiday books Christmas Treasury and Treasures
of Chanukah.
Greg married his first wife,
Diana F. Stankowski, in 1963.Diana assisted in his art projects and was the
model for Princess Leia on the Star Wars movie poster. They
had two daughters and a son. In 1991 Greg began living with longtime
colleague Jean Scrocco. The couple married in 2009. Greg died on October
31, 2024, at the age of 85.
Tim's solo work and family
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