Psychological depth in Tolkien's characters

[the phantom]

Whilst I agree with you that a writer who has to look into their characters' heads all the time in order to achieve depth probably won't make it into any list of great authors

Well said.

I don't think that describing a character's thoughts is inherently any less artistic

I believe that it can be artistic (if it's done at the appropriate time with artistic language) but I still believe that when an author says "Mike is shy" he's being less creative and masterful than an author who shows Mike's shyness without explicitly saying it.

Of course there are exceptions (as there always are) when the obvious, in-your-face approach can be used for a specific purpose such as to explain a minor character's actions (since we don't know them well enough to grasp their personality) or to create a certain mood.

But again, my point was mainly about those authors and readers who only develop character through the tell-all method (and think that it's the only way). As far as those authors (like JRRT) who can develope character in less obvious ways, they're welcome to use any method they want (including the tell all) because they use it better (due to the fact that they use it for both development and effect).