Many people seem familiar with Lord of the Rings via the Jackson movies, but there's a much longer tradition of artists depicting scenes from the books. Plus of course, two TV / movie series that bring some great voicework & songs (Rankin-Bass' version) and fascinating animation (Ralph Bakshi's), despite their overall flaws.
But in terms of alternate illustrators, check out the Brothers Hildebrandt, for example.
Personally, I'm enjoying this Argentinian master's version because the characters are no longer as wholesome-looking as in other depictions, giving the scene slight horror overtones. The ammonite is a nice bonus, too!
Some more Chichoni art here:
https://lemm.ee/post/27712402
The movies aren't perfect, but they were too good in some ways. The movie aesthetic has dominated artistic conceptions of LotR since they came out.
I pretty much agree with that. Somehow they got 'locked in' to cultural consciousness, which is cool in some ways, but deleterious in others IMO.
It's different for me though, since I'm a middle-aged guy who's been seeing various adaptations of The Hobbit & LotR for years, even if it's just fan-art stuff. Frodo does not necessarily look like Elijah Wood. Frodo looks like Frodo!
Another problem I had with the films (despite their quality) is that there were a few too many cheesy moments for me. For example when the cave troll speared Frodo, it was as if time stopped. Everyone in the party telepathically "knew," and swiveled their heads to look over in shock & horror, and of course the orcs all started moving in slow motion. Just show the damn event and follow-up with the aftermath, please. This isn't The Matrix, featuring "bullet-time," lol.
For me it's that Gimli gets done dirty in terms of comic relief.
Sam gets hit with it too, but he's not falling over himself to call Frodo "Master" and defer to everything he wants, so he comes off as more dignified overall which I like.
I was just thinking that Sean Astin did a lovely job with Sam, but then I had the thought that pretty much *everyone* in the Fellowship was really strong. Some of the secondary actors maybe not so much, but then... not such a big deal since they're secondary roles.
"It still only counts as one!" Oh, and the dwarf-tossing thing.
So you think Gimli was portrayed a little farcically? I guess he did seem a little 'caricature-ish' at times, and maybe not as grim and deadly as he should have been as a great dwarf warrior. OTOH I think everything I've ever seen John Rhys-Davies in has been a little tongue-in-cheek, not unlike Brian Blessed.