I watched one of the production diaries from The Hobbit recently, and now I need your help: is this—that’s a link that will take you to about 8:30 in the video—for real?

It’s not a real technique that they use every day, right? I think it’s just a little tongue-in-cheek joke for the video. It has to be.

If it’s real, it is the greatest thing I have ever seen in a production diary. Not just for the technique, but for the Bert-and-Ernie banter between the two master Middle-Earth renderers, Alan Lee and John Howe, sitting side-by-side, peeking at each other’s picture, sketching… well, you’ll see.