John Howe was born in 1957 in Vancouver, Canada. He moved to France in 1976 and gained a Diploma in Illustration at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs de Strasbourg in 1981. He has illustrated many French children's books, but is best known for his Tolkien calendars, book jackets, maps and posters. In 1998 he spent over a year in New Zealand working as Conceptual Artist on Peter Jackson's acclaimed The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. In 2009 he returned to New Zealand to work on the The Hobbit movie trilogy.