. In October 1996, Nasmith was asked by Tolkien's publishers to provide the artwork for the first illustrated edition of
The Silmarillion, during which time Ted developed a strong working relationship with
Christopher Tolkien. The illustrated edition was published in 1998; in 2004, a second edition was published featuring many more paintings by Nasmith. In early 1999, representatives for
Peter Jackson and
New Line Cinema invited Ted Nasmith to join
John Howe and
Alan Lee to work as a concept artist for
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. According to Nasmith, and has a close friendship with Caspar Reiff, one of the founders of
The Tolkien Ensemble. In latter years, he has illustrated a deluxe 2-volume limited edition of
George R. R. Martin's
A Game of Thrones novel. It took about three years to complete the set of over 80 illustrations, most in pencil, with six in colour. He is among the illustrators of the book
The World of Ice and Fire, an encyclopedia of the fantasy realms of George R.R. Martin's epic novels. Ted worked closely with the
Ice and Fire author to design castles according to the author's specifications. They were featured in the 2011
Song of Ice and Fire calendar. Nasmith was commissioned by the video game developer
Turbine and later the spin-off studio Standing Stone Games to create the 'key art' of the major updates for the online game based on Tolkien's work,
The Lord of the Rings Online in 2015 and 2017. His artwork is being used as promotional materials, on the website and within the game as loading screens, notably for the Mordor expansion in 2017. ==Personal life==