Update: This contest has now closed. Thank you to all who entered.
Update: This contest will remain open until December 31st – so if you haven’t yet entered for your chance to win a Lyra print, make sure you do so! 
Update: This is now extended worldwide. If you haven’t already entered for the chance to win your own Lyra print, make sure you do!
Update: We have now extended this give-away to cover Europe too. Anybody may enter for a chance to win their very own beautiful Lyra print!
Author of Discovering The Golden Compass: A Guide To Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials George Beahm has very kindly offered BridgetotheStars a number of signed prints of Lyra by illustrator Tim Kirk to give away to fans worldwide. You can see below a sample of the exquisite artwork. To get your hands on one of these brilliant pieces of artwork for free, simply send your name and full postal address to this address: podcast@bridgetothestars.net . We’ll be picking names out of our magical hat over the next few weeks to receive the free print.
The “Lyra in Oxford” print is by artist Tim Kirk and was originally published in George Beahm’s recently released book, DISCOVERING THE GOLDEN COMPASS, which is now available in all good bookshops.
Its lovely!
I especially like cittagazze in the sky
dam thats annoying……it looks really cool but its only in america
I thought I’d share a little about this print and the artist, Tim Kirk. … Tim is a veteran illustrator who has done a mountain of fantasy-related illustration over the years, BEFORE he set out on a Disney career as an Imagineer for over two decades. He’s won five Hugo awards for best artist and is a huge fan of Pullman’s, which is why I wanted him specifically to illustrate this book. The print is 11 x 14 inches, signed by Tim, and is a museum-quality print: We use high end Pro Epson printers for our work here. I’m including a little bonus with each print (it’s a secret), but people who get a print will be chuffed (as the English say). … I just shipped off a quantity to England to the folks at BRIDGE TO THE STARS and they will be picking names out of a hat to give them out to European fans–and probably have to charge a tiny amount to cover the cost of a mailing tube and shipping. (Here in the U.S., I’m paying for the tube + shipping out of my own pocket.) … So I hope that, soon, European fans will get a chance to get a print, which is lovely indeed.
I think Tim Kirk has captured Lyra in all her wonder.
We are also giving away some prints on which Tim is drawing original sketches–there’s only a few of these, but I’ll divide whatever Tim sends so that half go overseas. (These are larger prints, I think, and are 13 x 19 inches.)
U.S. fans who are fortunate enough to attend one of our book signings in California in December (at Barnes & Noble, or Borders) will get a special treat: Tim will be drawing your daemon in the copy of DISCOVERING THE GOLDEN COMPASS.
It is an honor and rare privilege to work with an artist of Tim’s caliber, and I’ve been fortunate in having him grace several of my fantasy-related books. Of all his recent work, however, I am absolutely SMITTEN with this particular painting– the original is on my wall, framed, so I can appreciate it daily.
And we’ve made prints because the reproduction in the book itself is muddy (the printer didn’t coat both sides before running the cover stock) and wanted fans to see just how beautiful an image it is.
“Tim will be drawing your daemon in the copy of DISCOVERING THE GOLDEN COMPASS.”
-drools-
Jealous. So jealous.
that sucks……… i come from england!!!!!!!! can’t they send some to the UK………..
George, the prints are great, but what is Lrya doing on the roof by herself, did`nt she climbe onto the roof with her best friend. Did he fall off the roof and that is why he has been left out of the picture.
No, Hope, Lyra sat on the roof by herself and screamed with frustration when no-one was helping her to find Roger, remember? Then Mrs Lonsdale called her in and she reluctently cloimbed back through, and had her knees scrubbed as she was going to dinner with the master, and then she meets Mrs Coulter for the first time…
We’re working on it drama_queen. Hopefully we should be able to launch the give-away in Britain and Europe very soon!
It’s really lovely. But you can only send in your name and address once for the picture, right? I only put mine in once, but I was just wondering…It’s really a very good picture. I wonder what the media of it is, though? Could it be a watercolor?
When I read “North America only at present”, I thought you meant you’re working on possibly sending it to anywhere else. Is it really North-America-and-potentially-Europe only? Can you please please please send a few (or at least one) to non-Western nations? Pullman’s work is read all over the world after all. If you can make it possible to send to Europe, why not Asia/Africa/ME/Australia/South America as well? Please?
Ron: Basically the reason it is possible to send to the UK is because one staff member is receiving a bulk number of prints to distribute to the lucky people picked out of our magical hat on this side of the pond, but we may have to ask for contributions towards postage (this is all in the process of being figured out).
In theory it should be possible to send on the prints anywhere if you are chosen, but obviously the staff member can’t be expected to pay to ship prints all over the place out of his own pocket!
We are working on a fair way to make this available to as many people as possible though, so it may be worth sending in your address anyway and if you are one of the chosen few something may be able to be figured out, just bear in mind you may have to pay something for the postage cost.
Tim’s out of town for a week, but when he gets back, I’ll have him write something about the media he used to paint it. Tim’s the artist, of course, and can provide more detailed information than I can, but Tim uses mixed media: pencils and ink and watercolor and paints, which gives the art a unique look. It also allows for subtleties in color that aren’t otherwise possible.
Tim works from photographs and can probably use a digital photo of you and then use his imagination to draw your daemon in an appropriate setting. I’ll talk to Tim about it and we’ll see what we can do to get fan portraits with daemons out to the world at large.
Tim’s pretty busy, though, and when he’s not working on book art, he’s designing theme parks worldwide. So I’m always grateful when he takes the time to do sketches for me and Pullman fans worldwide, who really appreciate his work.
I should also add that Tim has written ABOUT his painting, which is on my website. Go to http://www.georgebeahm.com and click on the header that says “Tim Kirk” and you’ll see what he has to say about the piece–far more eloquently than I ever can.
yay…… no, she is not screaming in frustration because she got the alethiometer the morning after the frustrating scream………….
Sorry for the delay in sorting it out – the contest is now open for everybody else worldwide. Look out for other give-aways and competitions coming soon…
Hi, all. Let me just say that Ian and I have been working very hard to get prints distributed in as democratic a fashion as possible.
Please keep in mind that these essentially are gifts from myself and TIm Kirk; we have paid all the costs on the printing, which are Giclees–printed one at a time, not cheapo posters. And Tim has hand-signed each print after approving it.
We are not selling them; we’re giving them away because we want Pullman’s fans to have them.
The ONLY cost will be for some people in Europe who will have to help defray the costs of shipping and a mailing tube. (Those of you in the U.S. or Canada get me digging into my own pocket to cover that cost.)
**
The Pullman talk was professionally videotaped by its organizers. I have been told that photos of the event itself will be made available through me to this website and another website, but those are still photos. I don’t have any word as to when the videotape will be available–if indeed it becomes commercially available. But when I get further information, I’ll pass it along to Ian, the webmaster here.
Rather than rush something to print about the talk, which offered a lot of food for thought, I’m going to take my time and write a proper piece. As soon as it’s done, by early next week, I’ll let you know when it’s out.
It will have a half-dozen photos of Pullman signing books, too. (The photos were taken with Pullman’s explicit permission.)
Thanks to Ian and the gang at this website for helping me and Tim get the prints out to everybody in the world. I shipped him 40 signed prints and he should have them within a week (they were sent airmail) and then he can start giving them out to the fans.
This is very sound (as in decent, as in kind and generous) of you guys! Thanks for giving us the chance to own one!
Thank you all guys for this great generous gifts :).
The New York talk by Pullman was videotaped by MTV. Clips have been shown on the Internet, but there’s no word on whether they plan on releasing this commercially. It runs approximately two hours. I’ll be querying them and update you when I find out.
The “Lyra” prints go out in a mailing tube, along with a little something extra I found to add in. We hope each hand-signed print finds a place on the winner’s wall!
To add to George’s remarks, I should add that those who are lucky enough to win a print, but reside outside North America, will now receive the print absolutely free. It won’t cost a penny! So get your entry in!
done it………. it was just name address and post code………… wasn’t it???????
Wow… that’s magnificent. Really good work.
My name and full postal address have been sent in. I just hope that my Email doesn’t mess up or something. I think it worked.
-Aidan.
I’ve got all the prints shipped out as of today, except two Canadian ones: I’m having problems with my online postage meter but will do these manually if necessary.
The prints are rolled up in a plastic sleeve and inserted in a very sturdy mailing tube, and mailed first class via the U.S. Postal Service. Delivery is about a week.
These are 11×14 inches, in full color, and signed by the artist, Tim Kirk. When the promotion ends on December 31, these will NOT be available for free giveaways on this website. So, please, if you want one, get your name in NOW before the big rush hits when the movie is out and people outside our little community storms the gates.
Is this print is different than what is offered in the other give-away listed on your website, George?
Gosh, I suppose I really did win the poster (if Ian isn’t playing horrible e-mail pranks). Now that I came back and read Mr Beahm’s comments on the picture… I’m waiting for it twice as eagerly! Not to mention that Tim Kirk’s name was well-known for me already beforehand, as I’m also an avid Tolkien fan. Luckily I just moved and have a lot wall space still to cover – not to say that space couldn’t be cleared for such a poster even if there was no inch left.
Hopefully it arrives for Christmas!
Dear Julianna, YES, the print offered on this website is DIFFERENT from the one that I have on my own website, which is the book giveaway on http://www.hisdarkmaterials.org. The difference is that on my website the “print” is actually 5.5 x 8 inches, and it was printed by a company that specializes in oversized postcards. So the colors are a little bright.
What THIS site is offering–and it’s hard to see, unless you have someone hold it up for comparison–is the 11×14-inch print that was individually produced by me, on a high-end Epson Pro Printer. These are called giclees, which (translated from the French) means: “Expensive art produced by ink sprayed on expensive coated paper.” Or at least that’s my poor translation. Anyway, Tim Kirk (who dutifully signed BOTH) said that the 11×14-inch print is pretty faithful to the original art, and it’s the one he prefers to all others.
What I’m doing is rolling these up in a custom-fitted plastic bag, and then putting it in a mailing tube (the kind used by museums to ship art) with plastic endcaps that are nearly impossible to dislodge during shipping. So the print will arrive intact.
I will TRY to see if I can roll up the smaller print, too, so that people who are fortunate enough to win will get one of each. But it depends on whether the smaller print, on heavier stock, will roll up without creasing. I’ll try it tomorrow and see.
I hope to insert an original 35mm film strip from the trailer of THE GOLDEN COMPASS as well, since I’ve got a good supply of them. These were cut up in sections of 5-7 frames each and put in see-through bookmark sleeves.
I may post here or on my own website the two items side-by-side, so you can get a sense of their respective sizes. BOTH prints are signed by Tim Kirk, by the way.
Hope that answers your question.
George, It would be nice to see Lyra and Roger on the roof like the book and film.
I think it’d be nice to see Lyra and Roger on the roof, too, but the idea in this picture–which was intended for the cover, actually–was to focus solely on Lyra, to emphasize the notion that in many ways she is truly alone and must carry the burden of multiple worlds on her small shoulders. (Keep in mind that when THE GOLDEN COMPASS opens, she’s around 11 or 12 years old.)
His Dark Materials is so rich in subject matter that it’s an illustrator’s dream. Tim Kirk could easily have rendered a dozen full-color paintings and 60 black-and-whites per book, plus chapter heads, other designs, etc., had he illustrated each book. And in that event, he surely would have illustrated the scene you had described, though he would not have merely mimicked what we see in the movie because he likes to re-imagine things and provide a different perspective.
George and Tim,
I just received my print in the mail today and I just wanted to thank you so much for this generous gift!! The detail and the colors are just gorgeous, especially the brilliant city in the sky–it will be my window to another world on this rainy, gray day in New York.
P.S. You are right, the endcaps were nearly impossible to dislodge! =)
I got mine a few days ago…
It’s very nice.
Thank you.
π
I had been wondering why the postman had tried to deliver a tube to my house last Tuesday!
It was a lovely suprise to open the tube and find the signed print and film cells.
It will be framed ASAP!
Many thanks.
An update to everybody: The EASIEST way to get the plastic endcaps off is to use a pair of pliers and grip one of the plastic “lips” on the endcap–once it pulls off, it’s easy to get the print out. (This is the easiest way to get the print out, by the way. Using your bare fingers is workable but tedious and time-consuming.) These mailing tubes are used by museums to ship art prints, so they are designed to make it through the postal system without damage to the tube or contents.
I’ve got more prints at Tim’s right now, and am waiting for him to sign them and ship them back to me. So there’s a bit of delay, right now. Not to worry; if Ian has sent your name and address on to me, you will get a free print. (I’ll try to remember to put in the bookmark with each print, too.)
Best, George Beahm
got one the other day. Thrilled!! I had completely forgotten.Thank you
Just received my print. I had almost forgot that I had entered this contest.
I’m taking it to be framed today. This is going to have a place of honor in my study.
Thank you very much for the generous gift!
I was wondering… if I sent my address today, do I still have a chance to get a print?
Thanks very much! Yesterday the postman delivered one of these prints. He woke me up by ringing the doorbell in the early morning and I was very surprised getting a packege from Scotland, but when I opened it I was amazed. π
Thanks so much, i’m going to get it framed! The film strip is great, too. Yay π
Salmairion – it’s open until the end of the month, so definitely send your address in π
Ok, thanks! π
Just got mine today, thank you!
I have a question about the “original 35mm film strip”. I’m not a collector and don’t know about these things, so how “original” is it exactly, if you know what I mean.. π
Just want everybody to know that I just got a batch of the final prints back from Tim Kirk, and I’m spending the next day or so getting them out.
The “original 35mm film strip” means that the 7 frames that were cut came from an actual movie trailer that was shipped to the movie theatres worldwide, for them to show prior to the actual film release.
I had a friend give me a complete roll — it’s from New Line Cinema — and then i went through and cut up the frames as a souvenir.
As for rarity, it’s somewhat rare, but there were a lot of these film reels that went out. However, most people are not going to be cutting them up to give away.
So it is 100% original and not a copy, and in that sense it’s a true collectible.
So if we win, will we be notified? Or will it magically appear in the mail? π
At least for me it just magically appeared. Took awhile to realize what it was :p
We’ll generally just drop it in the post if you are a winner, and it’ll show up sometime. If you don’t hear from us and don’t get anything then you’re sadly not a winner… =(
I have been notifying a few people about the posters, if they are resident outside of UK, USA & Canada, as I ship the posters surface mail and they take a while…
The tube arrived yesterday here in Germany and I tried to find out what the content could be (did I order something from the UK?).
Finding out what was inside it without remembering thos promotion was like unpacking a Christmas gift. And the content really is such a great gift :).
Thank you so very much for this promotion, George and Tim, the picture is so very beautiful and it was such a thrill to realize I have indead won it :). I will find it a good place in my room ad window to this world :).
Cheers
Max.
Oh, and, as I just forgot to mention, thanks to Ian especially who sent the tubes from the UK all over Europe and to me as well:).
π π π
Max
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This print is – really – beautiful.
OH MY GOD! I JUST GOT THA MAIL THE DAY AFTER MY 20TH BIRTHDAY AND THE PRINT WAS IN THERE! I HOPE EVERYONE ELSE WHO HAS ENTERED CHECKED THEIR MAILBOX TODAY!
π
I got mine! Thank you Mr. Beahm, BTTS and Tim Kirk!