(Chinese version available here)

(Japanese version available here)

     From the very beginning of the Shanghai Disneyland project I was most fascinated with the goal to be “Authentically Disney, Distinctly Chinese.” What made me most passionate about being part of creating this park was the innovative technology and uniquely Chinese design. When I got a chance to interview Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings conceptual designer John Howe I asked several questions about Chinese design influences on these fantasy worlds. John Howe’s art is on display in Shanghai for a special gallery until August 31. Two of books Myth and Magic and A Middle-Earth Traveler have recently published Chinese editions as part of the Shanghai Book Fair.

John Howe: There is a form of syncretism now where everything is being mixed in together. You know, east meets west in the form of taking elements of dragons and exchanging them and all of that, but they are such different creatures. They have got nothing in common eastern and western dragons, so I am a little hesitant to go and sort of just pull out elements of eastern dragons and transpose them into something where I'm not certain they belong. As I am learning more and more, I am more tempted as I get to know more about eastern dragons. It is interesting that there is quite a fascinating evolution of the Chinese dragon from the very beginning were the oldest sculptures were about 6000 years old. I actually visited a Beijing tomb which they believe is a tomb of a shaman of some kind. There is a man's skeleton in the middle and on one side there is a tiger and on the other side is a dragon.

John Howe: The evolution of the Chinese dragon it's quite, well, not straightforward. You can tell it is one unique kind of creature not a varied sort of patchwork of dragons like in the west. They are very different. We call them both dragons, but I'm not quite sure that they are of the same family. I did a four part four half hour episodes on Dragons with a television company in Europe for the French/German cultural station. We came to Beijing to shoot. That was very interesting and fascinating. I think that the dragons don't really occupy much of a place in western culture except that they are part of fantasy. I realize that the philosophy behind the philosophy origin of Chinese origins is still very much a part of today. It was really enlightening I learned a lot.

What about the Song of Ice and Fire? That world certainly has dragons.

John Howe: It does! His dragons are quite different from the ones in Narnia or in Middle-Earth. I mean the dragon in C.S. Lewis’s dragon is very much a storybook dragon. It is kind of cute. In a sense it is almost cute. So he is really a book from childhood. I mean a dragon from childhood stores. Tolkien’s dragons are a lot darker, a lot more dangerous, a lot more serious, and directly inspired by the creatures from Beoulf or from the Nibelungen and Norse/Icelandic dragons. George Martin’s dragons are fully modern dragons. They are literally the Medieval equivalent of the atomic bomb because they are a weapon. An invincible weapon more or less in the hands of humans because you can control them, but not entirely. I quite admired his very slow use of dragons the patience he displayed in bringing them into the books first with the eggs and the tiny little dragons. It takes him hundreds of pages to bring the dragons right up to the front of the novels and then you realize why he called his saga The Song of Ice and Fire because it is this battle between the dragons and winter.

Do you enjoy Science Fiction? I just saw some steam punk pictures in the gallery.

John Howe: I worked on a steam punk, well a post-steam punk project, Mortal Engines about two years ago. I drew more of sort of a traditional Chinese city for that so it wasn't quite a steam punk, traditional steam punk, but I really like Science Fiction. I am not as accustomed to it as I am to fantasy.

In Mortal Engines you said that there were some Chinese elements. What are the things you draw inspiration from China?

John Howe: I had just returned from China two months before, so it was quite a coincidence that I ended up using a lot of what I saw here. I was at Wuzhen, so that was very helpful and had that sort of in my memory. I started working from that and then doing a lot of research. I am certainly not in any way knowledgable on the Chinese architecture.

Are there other things you have seen in museums or in your travels that have inspired you or influenced your art.

John Howe: Yes, everything does. I haven't seen very much of China (only Beijing). I have went a couple of times to the great wall, Wuzhen two times, and I know that it is a big country. I have seen photographs of some of the places I would really love to visit. I think it would be so enriching because the architecture is extraordinary. The sophistication involved in the art and the architecture is fascinating, so a lot to learn. The aesthetic choices are so different from what I am accustomed to. It is unique to become accustomed to a different idea of beauty and that takes a lot of work. You can't just sort of paste your own values over a culture that is so different you need to understand it from inside and adjust your point of view, so it will never be finished.

John Howe: I certainly would love to! There is so much and there are so many things, I mean, I have seen photographs. I have got lots of books on China and I keep saying to myself that I need to go there and see that. The sculpture in China is something that just doesn't exist in any kind of a parallel fashion in the west.

John Howe: I mean a lot of the decorative sculpture on traditional buildings. Older buildings and the way it is integrated. I went around counting the bats on the houses, all of the little little wooden bats are sculpted everywhere. It is amazing. It is not as if the west is empty at home. There is a lot to see many, many wonderful things. Once again it is so different. And you can't just go and take that and stick it in a picture. You need time to understand, so it is a lengthy process.

Read the full interview for more about his work on Narnia and The Lord of the Rings:

https://narniafans.com/2019/08/interview-with-narnia-conceptual-designer-john-howe/

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