Cover to Dragon #310 [wow!]

[PowerWordDumb]

Please read my other post. The problem is as much that it's Elmore doing Elmore as the content itself. I am tired of Elmore's portraits. They are technically quite good, but they are all the same. I've seen this picture a hundred times from Elmore, a hundred and one isn't going to make me stand up and applaud. Even masters of an art (which many seem to think Elmore is, at least given the ammount of scorn heaped on other artists) need to do something different after a while, it just gets stale otherwise.

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Considering the level of heat on this thread before I ever hit "post" I don't see your philosophy at work at all. Apparently if you like the other newer covers your opinion is only paid lip service.

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For the record: I like Elmore... I like his backgrounds. I do not like his cheesecake women - fantasy or not. They are all alike. I would have preferred something else on the cover.

And that's really all that needed to be said, not obvious inferences that the only reason for the "fantasy" elements in fantasy art is to allow us undersexed horndogs something to drool over when we should be attending to our wives. Regardless, water under the bridge. (See? Rational discourse! )

Another post mentioned that Elmore paintings brought up a lot of bad memories of the "bad old days" of 2e... that I can completely understand, and it's a very reasonable point. For me, I always harken back to the painting of the knight on a hill with scarred armor and a glowing magical sword standing off against a dragon. (the cover of the Companion boxed set, maybe?)

That image to this day speaks to what my personal definition of D&D is all about. I haven't followed Elmore's recent career, so if he has gone completely cheescake I'm unware of the fact. My opinion of him was forged back in the old days of Dragonlance book covers and images like the one I mentioned.

As for Erol Otus' art and the claims of "ugly"... yeah, certainly compared to more picturesque artists I can see that, but it epitomizes for me the early days feelings of awe and mystery that I associate with my first ventures into AD&D. His images were always interesting and bizarre, and very inspirational - for me at least. I know people who don't like them and that's fine - it's probably more the emotional baggage which makes me still liek them more than anything if I can self-psychoanalyze for a moment.

 

[Spatula]

What the heck is dungeon punk, anyway? The word gets tossed around a lot by the people who don't like Lockwood, Wood, or WAR but I wonder if they even know what it means.

If this is dungeon punk, then I guess I'm all for it. Whatever it is.

 

[Spatula]

Elmore does one thing - pinups.

He also did a comic strip back in the day, which was enjoyable from what little I recall. Of course, the main female character looked pretty much like what you'd expect from Elmore.

 

[rounser]

If this is dungeon punk, then I guess I'm all for it. Whatever it is.

It looks very similar in style to Lockwood's Storm Silverhand from the FRCS. The artwork in that book is significantly better (and more dreamy in general, thanks partially to use of pencils at times I think) than that in the core books, IMO.

 

[TeaBee]

I liked the cover. A lot. I looked at it and thought it was one of the best since 3e. I like Elmore art.

Also, the words on the cover weren't in the way of the art as much as they have been sometimes in the past. The black border made the cover look more classy, too.

My favorite artists that I love to see in Dragon (or Dungeon/Polyhedron) are Todd Harris and Kalaman Andrasofszky.

Different styles, I just know what I like...

 

[Knightfall]

Elmore rules! Although I like Lockwood and WAR as well.

Ok, I'm not going to get into the bruha-ha going on her but am going to post the following link...

http://www.larryelmore.com/LarryElmore/Previews/P.thepp.html

... to the Dragon #310 cover image sans text on Larry's website. It is called The Power and the Protector.

The image is so much more than what you see on the cover.

Cheers!

KF72

 

[PowerWordDumb]

Thanks for the link, Knightfall!

Courtesy of that site, here's the image to which I was referring. I forget which product it was the cover for (edit: duh, it says Companion right on it), but it's stuck with me through the years as definitive of DnD. Your mileage may vary, but it's always been special to me - and look ma, no skin!

I always like Elmore's dragons...

DragonBlade

 

[Desdichado]

Yeah, PWB, that's always been a favorite of mine too. Along with this one: http://www.larryelmore.com/LarryElmore/ZGallery/Color/zzPages/AIRATTACK.html Those early boxed set pictures were D&D to me. But his later 2e stuff didn't do much for me; ironically I don't think he's all that good at dragons anymore, even though his earlier ones were so iconic. Nowadays I haven't seen an Elmore dragon I really liked in more than 10 years, while Lockwood's dragons have become the new standard.

 

[PowerWordDumb]

Looking through the gallery at the site, I can see why someone might dislike some of the more obvious cheesecake images, but I still think the good outweighs the bad by a significant margin. I don't have any inherent problem with cheesecake imagery, but the classic stuff like the one I posted and the one Joshua Dyal linked are far more meaningful. Some of the racier images were born out of Snarfquest and other humorous projects though, so I can understand some of it. It'd be interesting to rearrange the gallery chronologically and look for trends.

*shrug* I guess we all have periods where we're not at our peaks.

On the whole I'll still take Elmore and Otus over the current crop of artists, though some of them are very talented indeed. Different strokes...

 

[Kirowan]

I love this one. It reminds me of what I always thought D&D was about - teamwork & friendship. Also, the featured female is clothed respectfully.

Nick