Elmore cover art for final issue of Dragon

[The Grumpy Celt]

I always felt Elmore's work was always dated, always aged if not poorly than at least not as well as the art of others, like Whelan, Lockwood or Brom. Elmore's work always feels like fantasy art from 1985 or so to me, while others manage to achieve a greater degree of timelessness.

Still, it's a nice piece.

 

[vrykyl]

Larry Elmore

I'm completely biased.

The first D&D books that I owned was the early-80s red boxed set with the Elmore red dragon versus fighter cover. I moved on to other sets and, of course, Dragonlance. My imagination into the world of fantasy was viewed through an Elmore lens. Dragons were graceful and deadly creatures and all women were beautiful. The many times he graced the cover of Dragon I spent a long time gazing at the cover art before diving in to check out Roger Moore's latest hilarious editorial.

I was such a geeky fan-boy that I met up with Larry at Dragon*Con and later Gen Con as well. I hung around his booth so much we were on a first-name basis long before I worked in the game industry.

Many years later I could not believe that I had a chance to work on a property created and illustrated by Larry, something called Sovereign Stone. (I also got to work with my favorite authors, Weis and Hickman.) Over the years, between Sovereign Stone and Dragonlance I have had the amazing chance to hire Larry and give art direction on a number of cover paintings.

Perhaps my favorite piece that Larry ever did for me was the art for the Dragonlance Dungeon Master's Screen. I had this vision in my head -- one that was not connected directly to any of the novels or adventures, but was so strong I had to see what he could do with it. We were on the phone and Larry got excited. The sketch came my way in record time and the painting delivered before we expected it.

Larry nailed it. Somehow he got inside my head and gave me exactly my vision from Solace and Crystalmir lake and Flint's rock to the flight of dragons coming in from the right. Okay, so my evil wizards was a bit sexier than I imagined, but it was still a winner.

As I said, I'm biased. Larry and I have worked together and become good friends over the years. I'm so happy to see him on the final cover of Dragon. I'm an old codger, I guess, because the magazine got away from me. The new-style covers just have not excited me the way the old covers did.

I hear the arguments from the "don't like Elmore" crowd and I respect your opinions, but I'll take static Elmore poses over the others any day of the week. On this last cover, the dragon looks graceful and the woman is beautiful. Yay.

Jamie Chambers
Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd.

 

[johnnype]

Ehh. Not my cup of tea. All I see is a baby dragon. Snore.

Elmore has a fascination with poorly dressed women and dragons. That's so 1985. There is so much more to fantasy than that.

Different strokes and all that.

 

[Ghendar]

I really like it. I've always liked his stuff, and *nothing* says D&D to me more.

Yeah, that's it for me as well. Unlike much of 3rd ED art.

I feel the opposite. This feels like a Dragon magazine cover to me (or, perhaps like a cover for The Dragon), unlike the covers in the fast few years.

Yup. Brings back the "old school" feel for me.

 

[Seeten]

I like some of Elmore's art, but most of it never quite captured me.

That said, he's a brilliant choice for the final issue, for nostalgic reasons.

I don't like this piece, though, the girl, and dragon, both look carved from wood.

 

[woodelf]

I know I'm in the minority here but I can't stand Elmore's art.

I like his artwork. I generally can't stand his dragons--way too humanoid in proportions and articulation, to my eye. Though this one looks okay.

edit: I should be clearer. (1) I think that Elmore is an exceptionally talented artist, and generally love his artwork. (2) Except the fact that the women are all under-dressed and the men usually covered up kinda rubs me the wrong way. (3) But his dragons never looked like dragons to me--they look like humans in dragon suits. This one, by virtue of lying down as it is, is acceptable, however. (4) Elmore is, nonetheless, a perfect candidate for the final issue. He's part of D&D, and was helping form it back when it was still being formed. I'd've maybe preferred Robin Wood, Erol Otus, or several other artists whose names escape me, but whose Dragon covers i still remember--like the series of chess paintings in the #70s-90s. But Elmore's definitely on The List, so a great choice. (5) And, unless they clutter up the image with too much text, this'll be one of the few actual covers i've liked on Dragon in quite some time. While i can't really put a finger on it, Dragon hasn't looked like Dragon--or like D&D--to me in quite some time. Then again, D&D3E doesn't look like D&D to me, either (speaking in terms of both art and layout).