Dragonlance Elmore's 'The Four Women of Dragonlance' Painting Is Finished

Back in February I mentioned that iconic D&D artist Larry Elmore was working on a new 'Women of Dragonlance' painting. Well, it's now finished! And you can buy a print of it!

Larry Elmore · The Four Women Of DragonLance

www.larryelmore.com

 

[dracomilan]

This would have been so much better had the dragon been Silvart.

 

[Wrathamon]

Tokenesta

is that her real name or a joke?

 

[Gadget]

Ah. I was judging by the sort of underbelly garter he's wearing, but I guess dragons can wear whatever they want these days.

That is part of the harness for his saddle. Kitara, as a Dragon Highlord, rides him into battle.

I've always been a big fan of Elmore, and think his classic work holds its own against the best of today's (I agree it is a matter of taste). This picture is deliberately posed, which I normally don't care for, but it matches the style of the original book covers (See examples here, here, and here) so it doesn't bother me as much.

Having said that, this is not a favorite for me. Skie looks particularly emaciated and sickly, though I realize it was probably necessary to shrink him down to get him to "fit" in the frame (again, similar to the original artwork linked above), but this does look particularly glaring. I mean, he looks like a slightly oversized antelope that Kitara is thinking about riding.

 

[Alzrius]

is that her real name or a joke?

It's a joke, a play on tokenism.

 

[Dausuul]

That is part of the harness for his saddle. Kitara, as a Dragon Highlord, rides him into battle.

I've always been a big fan of Elmore, and think his classic work holds its own against the best of today's (I agree it is a matter of taste). This picture is deliberately posed, which I normally don't care for, but it matches the style of the original book covers (See examples here, here, and here) so it doesn't bother me as much.

Having said that, this is not a favorite for me. Skie looks particularly emaciated and sickly, though I realize it was probably necessary to shrink him down to get him to "fit" in the frame (again, similar to the original artwork linked above), but this does look particularly glaring. I mean, he looks like a slightly oversized antelope that Kitara is thinking about riding.

I have to admit I have never been much of a fan of Elmore's dragons, mostly because he subscribes to the "muscular dinosaur with feeble spindly wings hanging off the shoulders" style, and that style bugs me. I know a six-limbed vertebrate presents major anatomical headaches for the artist, but at least try to make it look like a creature built for flight. Its wings should be the most muscular limbs it's got.

I do love his best work though. "Heroes of the Lance" is one of my all-time D&D favorites.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I have to admit I have never been much of a fan of Elmore's dragons, mostly because he subscribes to the "muscular dinosaur with feeble spindly wings hanging off the shoulders" style, and that style bugs me. I know a six-limbed vertebrate presents major anatomical headaches for the artist, but at least try to make it look like a creature built for flight. Its wings should be the most muscular limbs it's got.

I do love his best work though. "Heroes of the Lance" is one of my all-time D&D favorites.

But why? Bat's have spindly wings. So do birds. It's the breast that is muscular with real life flying creatures, not the wings (arms/shoulders).

 

[Dausuul]

But why? Bat's have spindly wings. So do birds. It's the breast that is muscular with real life flying creatures, not the wings (arms/shoulders).

They certainly don't have Schwarzenegger arms, but if you look at pictures of large bats (e.g., flying foxes), you can see their wings are distinctly muscled both above and below the elbow. Elmore's dragon wings generally lack muscles, or elbows, or both.

Skie does have elbow joints on his wings, so that's good, but they are virtually devoid of muscle. It's all bone and skin, and while you can see a big muscly shoulder right below the wing joint, those muscles are clearly not attached to the wing at all--the shoulder belongs to Skie's front leg.

Contrast, say, this fellow, with a massive chest and shoulder joint sloping into a lean but well-muscled wing. The forelegs are modestly sized and well down on the chest, where they won't interfere with the connection of the wings to the flight muscles. You're always going to have to fudge the anatomy to put wings and forelegs on the same critter, but I think the artist on this one did a damn fine job:

https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/large/front/c/6/c66293df-a50e-4c64-9482-a2af68288d76.jpg?1592710764

 

[Mortty]

I thought Tika was supposed to have flaming red hair?

 

[Saxon1974]

I really like the Elmore art back in the 80ies, 90ies, but this whole picture looks seriously dated. Like it was painted 30-40 years ago... I know that it's been recently painted. But somehow it doesn't live up to today's art standards. Nice retro piece though. Though Laurana doesn't even look like Laurana. And I am really missing Chrysania here.

I don't think it looks dated, but then again I have never been one that follows the trends and decides if things are good or bad depending on what is currently in style. I think the art from TSR from this era is the best (Elmore, Parkinson, Easley) and IMO d&d art has been downhill ever since.

 

[Fiona]

It's a joke, a play on tokenism.

So a trans joke and a race-baiting joke. I think you're lost dear. This isn't /pol/.