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    "text": "WETA Lord of the Rings concept art!\n\nWestern euro artists saw Easterlings as The Other: \"tribal, savage, not us\"\n\nBut Thai artist Sourisak Chanpaseuth designed them as LotR's \"COOL NINJA SAMURAI!\", as that's what Asians like him grew up loving. Got down sincere culture direction for Falconer & co.",
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          "alt": "EASTERLINGS\nDesign sketches\nJohorny Brough (far left and\nWarren Mahy (left)\n\"The great thing about the Easterlings, because they were on the had side in an alliance with Sauronis that you could make them more tribal, they could be a bit more raw and a bit more savage. I loved the idea of having exposed skin, a hare chest-he's almost tempting you: 'Come on! I'm armored to a point, but you know, my heart is open! Just try it!\nQ\nEASTERLING Pencil sketch\nSourisak Chanpaseuth\nI really went off at a tangent for this one. I think it was just a wild idea at the time-a lot of movement, but I gave him the appearance of being like an assassin, a ninja. With a bit of a samurai look about him, too.\"",
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          "alt": "EASTERLINGS Color sketches\nDaniel Falconer\n\"Sourisak did a great drawing [previous page) that included a fantastic helmet with the silhouette of two really big blades coming out of it, which Peter Jackson really, really liked. So I began trying different helmet designs that would employ that silhouette. It was some thing that none of the other races that we'd designed at that stage had. The look of the armor itself had been pretty much locked down and we also had a very strong idea of what the color palette would be-ochres, reds, browns, black and brass. The larger image here is a further exploration of the helmet design. Peter liked the shape, be\nthought it had quite an unusual look-especially the undercut. The final desigs, which we see in the top right pictare, was a combination of this helmet and Sourisak's, his silhouette mixed with the overall shape of mine. And a more open face-guard.\"\n\nEASTERLING\nColor sketch\nWarren Mahy\n\"This is one of the first Easterling designs. I think the first few days we just tried to bring out iconic shapes and colors. I can't remember who started it, but the idea came up of having interlacing panels of plates - similar to Japanese armor, but being metal instead of leather or laminated wood to give them a different shape. Definitely more Middle Eastern than European. There was quite a discussion over the crescent-shaped details on the helmet to ensure that it wasn't too obviously inspired by our own cultures.\"\n\nEASTERLING Pencil sketch\nDaniel Falconer\n\"This was one of the earliest Easterling sketches done. I was drawing upon what I thought Easterlings would look like as related in Tolkien's text and I came away with the impression that they were a desert people, quite fearsome. I used a lot of Bedouin and Saharan influences in designing their outfits. In this case I think some of the source material was showing through a little too strongly. It also used the upward-facing lames of armor, which sprang from a drawing that John Howe ha…",
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          "alt": "Color sketches\nDaniel Falconier\n\"t this stage, we were trying to estab It very strong iconic features for the Eacterlings is äfferentiate them from the ether armies, se ne of the things that played with was that they used afferest metals is their armbrass, bronze coppers. The kind of metals that we haven't seen a lot of in the varices other armies, together with sew shapes, is this care, 1 thought it would be interesting to add a strong grometric element to their desigs, so I anad lets of aguares and cirties. The one below on horse hach has a square shield which I liked a lot. They actually die becses is the finished fon, but i know that in parts of the books they'rs described an being horseback warriors.\n\"The large pictare was getting much closer to the fast design. This introduces the idea that they're actually quite a rich cultare, and that each warrior wears the kages of his office and the wealth of his family all over bin. They would feststems with either ar trophies that they've taken off people they've killed or famly heirlooms. He's abundetely covered in this sort of staff. The pattern for the armer is fairty close to what we finally west with, but there were a few changes. Peter felt that we seeded a helnet, whereas this one has a tarbas. He belesed that a telnet makes him mach more warriorlike and again less obviously from any recognizable caltare, which brings us to the growing at the bottom right of the page.\n\"He's wearing something between a helmet and a desert mask, and carries a bow with some really large arrows, foc. We thed the ides that they had stremely large longhous simest like the old lapiness ones, although this was dropped in the fin\nEASTERLINGS Color sketch\nWomen May The eth below was later down the track. Pete kad liked same of shat Ban and Ban had done and so we all started ing in little bits and pieces favored lots of colored drter than Mary armoc. The covered face gives it a WeLasters lak\n0\n45\nEASTERLING Color sketch\nBeit Wootten I came …",
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    "createdAt": "2025-05-07T15:08:00.939Z"
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