Cockshaw studied Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University, earning an MA in Art and Design in 2003. His paintings have been exhibited in the North of England since 2007. As an artist and fan of Tolkien, he set out to create a collection of original artwork inspired by the extensive mythology of Middle-earth as found within The Lord of the Rings and the author’s wider “It’s realism that sits comfortably alongside the fantastic and the forbidding.”