Larry Elmore – Artist Spotlight

Do you remember when you saw your first fantasy artwork? I do.

It was the summer of 1981. I was only seven years old at the time; probably playing with my Star Wars action figures while wishing my parents would take me to Kiddie City to buy more LEGO. Man, who didn’t love that original LEGO castle, the yellow one? That thing was so epic I nearly cried just thinking about it!

Yeah, well, on July 26th, the Sunday newspaper came with a special insert and on its cover was a huge, red dragon breathing fire on a large castle (not made of LEGO). The cover said, “Are You Safe From This Kind of Attack?” The painting was by Tim Hildebrandt, and it so ensnared my curiosity that I had to open the Inquirer Magazine to search for more pictures. What I found inside was the beginning of a love affair with fantasy art.

The centerfold of this twenty-eight-page insert showed a snowy scene. A white dragon was emerging from a cave, besieged by four people (five if you count the dead guy lying next to a spilled bag of gold). Directly in front of the dragon, being hammered by its freezing breath was a sword-wielding fighter. To the side of the beast was yet another soldier, this one creeping in with his shield raised.

Down in a gully, behind the protection of rock cover, was a blonde archer, her face out of view, but I always imagined she was beautiful by her long flowing hair. She is drawing an arrow from her quiver in preparation to fire upon the dragon, but an old bearded wizard, in dark robes, seems to be attempting to warn her; my thoughts were always that he was telling her to stop and flee. Lastly, at the bottom, in the left-hand corner, I discovered something even more interesting.

There was a signature: ELMORE.

I must have stared at this painting a hundred times, before a friend gifted me my first Dungeons and Dragons book, the Monster Manual. To my surprise, I found more work signed by ELMORE. I often say that I feel it was the art that drew me into Dungeons and Dragons. I truly believe, although unaware at that young age, that I was buying the D&D hardbound books, the basic set, manuals, etc. as a way to collect pieces of fantasy art.

As an original D&D Basic Set owner, I can proudly say this; I am one of those people who, to this date, remembers the tragic tale of the pretty, young cleric named Aleena. I would open my Basic Set rule book first and go directly to the weapons rack illustration on page B12 and then I would open the Players Manual and read through Aleena’s story again and again. Larry Elmore, I’m not sure how he did it, but he told a bigger story with his art, than the words that accompanied them. To a child, that is magical.

Over the course of the next seven to eight years, I found more of Elmore’s artwork in the bookstores attached to fantasy novels. I wasn’t an avid reader, but I had to have them all. I wanted to know who these people were in the paintings and when I began reading the Dragonlance Chronicles Trilogy, I fell further in love with Elmore’s art.

Who was this guy? There was no Wikipedia to search for him on back then. I had no idea who the man himself was, all I knew I learned from his work. Larry Elmore was talented, obviously intelligent, and he had to be empathic. I mean how could he not be, when the characters he drew and painted held such compassion in their eyes. I always came to the simple conclusion that this guy was someone special.

To this day, I can describe my favorite Elmore paintings from memory. There’s something natural about the way Elmore uses autumn colors: reds, yellows and oranges. I would never list these as my favorite colors, but some of the paintings of his I enjoy most feature them as the most dominant and vibrant hues.

My Favorite Elmore Paintings When I Was A Child

Dragons of Deceit

A painting of Lord Gunter and Fisban. This piece is a portrait of a knight sitting on an orange-red dragon, with a wizard at his side. As a kid, I wanted to be that guy more than anything. What could be cooler than riding around on a dragon, right?

Dragon’s Blade

This was the cover of the D&D Companion Rules, Set 3. (Wow, I can’t remember what all that means.) What I do remember is that I thought there was something so incredibly awesome about the size of the sword the knight had cocked back over his shoulder. The way the weapon was glowing with magical energy made it appear even twice as large. Seriously, that sword looks like its ten or twelve feet long, and that knight is going to need it because an angry, green dragon is swooping down on him. Can you hear it now, Def Leopard’s “Rock of Ages” blaring in the distance?

“I want to rock n’ roll, yes I do!”

Sorry about that…80s flashback. Good times. Good times.

Elmore’s Other Paintings I Loved Growing Up

Dragons of Winter Night

This painting is truly a soldier portrait, like the ones you see from the American Civil War. It feels like the fighters lined up in front of a camera and said, “Cheese.” Another reason why I love this painting so much is that it largely features Laurana, my favorite character in the Dragonlance books. In this painting, every detail of her armor, weaponry and hair fascinates me. I remember trying to trace this picture a few dozen times, wanting so badly to be able to draw her as well as the artist did.

Death of Sturm

I know I had this one in a calendar, because I remember tearing it out and tacking it up on my wall. It’s amazing how well Elmore captures this scene with Laurana standing solemnly over Sturm’s corpse. When I look at this, I see real people, because of Elmore’s ability to paint characters with genuinely emotional faces. Whenever I see this painting, I want to read the books again.

Granted my tastes changed as I grew up, and I became a hardcore Boris Vallejo fan, there’s no denying Elmore’s art was my foundation. (Fun fact, I was invited to Boris’s house once, when my wife modeled for him and Julie Bell back in the early 2000s.)

As an artist and a writer, I have no doubt that Larry Elmore’s art was one of my most prevalent influences growing up. I have stated in interviews before, that I carried The Art of Dragonlance Saga with me throughout all four years of high school. That thing was a permanent fixture of my backpack, and has taken quite a beating. At this very moment, it is sitting on my desk, next to the paper from 1981.

Yeah, I kept that too. Somehow, through all the years, and all the house movies, I kept that Inquirer Magazine insert. Sure, it has yellowed with age and smells like smoke, from my mom and dad, but that fragile collection of newsprint means something to me.

Some might say it’s my origin.

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