Elmore cover art for final issue of Dragon

[Richards]

I like it. I think it makes a fitting last issue cover.

Johnathan

 

[KingCrab]

I love Elmore's art. He is the artist that defined what "fantasy" looks like when I see it in my head.

Well said. Not the best of his works, but still a great decision for the cover.

 

[Jakar]

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

I am there with you. to me it is a tad boring.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Really, if we are going down the "I'd rather have seen..." road, I would rather have seen a Trampier cover. That had no chance of happening, however.

If I were EIC of Dragon, I would have gotten a new Wormy comic, by hook or by crook, and advertised it as the beginning of a new storyline.

After I made sure I had an unlisted phone number, of course.

 

[Glyfair]

If I were EIC of Dragon, I would have gotten a new Wormy comic, by hook or by crook, and advertised it as the beginning of a new storyline.

After I made sure I had an unlisted phone number, of course.

Bah, the EIC can't even arrange to get the rights to Niall of the Far Travels

(I kid, but I'm serious as well. I really wish they could.)

 

[Felon]

I am there with you. to me it is a tad boring.

We actually haven't gotten much in the way of vistas in recent years, with the decided preference being for depicting battle imagery. Elmore's illustration reminds me of a time when D&D wasn't pitched to its audience as a nonstop series of pointless combats. The idea of journeying to a fantastic world is what attracted me to D&D, not endless carnage. I've always been a sucker for the poignant scenes of heroes stopping to appreciate the world they're fighting for.

Wow... looking at what seems to be the bulk of this thread, it looks like the days of respect and appreciation for strong technical skill and solid layout are truly dead. I never imagined there was so much no-love for Elmore.

I don't know much about Emore myself, but I agree that folks seem to favor "BAM-POW" kneticism over attention to detail that you have to linger over to appreciate.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I love Elmore's work but I'm not too fond of this particular piece. I think the artwork for the last Dungeon magazine is more iconic.

 

[JustKim]

I don't know much about Emore myself, but I agree that folks seem to favor "BAM-POW" kneticism over attention to detail that you have to linger over to appreciate.

I can't speak for any of the other people you're making this assumption about, but I actually prefer DiTerlizzi. It is perfectly possible to dislike Elmore's art without having a preference for illustration where someone is being punched in the face.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Like a lot of people, I'm not a big fan of Larry Elmore's work, but I completely agree that he's an appropriate artist to help bring the print era of Dragon to a close.

We actually haven't gotten much in the way of vistas in recent years, with the decided preference being for depicting battle imagery. Elmore's illustration reminds me of a time when D&D wasn't pitched to its audience as a nonstop series of pointless combats.

I'm not sure this is really fair.

The cover for Dragon #358 technically features, hmm, the surprise round before the battle proper begins? Adventurers have come upon a fire giant, but their foe is still working a sword on his anvil.

#357 is simply a portrait of Demogorgon surrounded by demonic subjects. #356 is two dragons fighting, a traditional Dragon cover subject if ever there was one. #355 is just . . . some guy. #354 is a modron. #353 is Malcanthet enthroned. #352 is some guy. #351 is Lord Soth standing amidst a pile of skeletal corpses.

#350 is a sorcerer on a black dragon - okay, the forest behind them is on fire, but "someone on a dragon" is a classic Elmore subject, to say nothing of a traditional Dragon cover. #349 is an elf aiming a bow out towards the reader, but it's not a fight scene. #348 is Vecna. #347 is a four-armed elemental sorceress. #346 looks like the aftermath of a deadfall trap. #345 is a warrior followed by a frost giant. #344 is Tiamat.

You have to go back to #343, with a red dragon confronting some adventurers, to get a real "battle scene". #342 is a white dragon, but it's not fighting anyone. #341 looks like a golem being constructed by several wizards. #340 is a sorceress and a phantasmal dragon-creature. #339 is the Lady of Pain.

#338 is a wizard. #337 is Zuggtmoy. #336 is a female mummy. #335 is some elven fighter or rogue entering a room through the open window. #334 is a kraken. #333 is Fraz-Urb'luu. #332 has a battle scene, for once - a guy throwing a spear at a red dragon on its hoard. #331 has an over-equipped adventurer exploring a dungeon room by torchlight. #330 has a mind flayer about to proceed to round 4 of its tactical procedures. #329 has a very satisfied medusa and her latest victim, but it's not a battle scene. #328 has Soveliss and Tordek back to back, but they're not fighting anyone - they're waiting for enemies to approach through the trees. #327 has a thief gazing at a gem while a huge spider approaches from behind.

#326 has a real fight scene - three adventurers versus a couple of goblinoids. #325 is a wizard using his spellbook. #324 is a death knight in the snow. #323 is a red dragon clawing through the cover. #322 is a creepy assassin or something. #321 is a paladin (or "infused") fighting a devil. #320 is a silver dragon. #319 is a barbarian slavedriver about to a whip a fallen man. #318 is a ninja. #317 is a tiger-man. #316 is an improbably modern spy stealing scroll from beneath a throne. #315 is Strahd von Zarovich lunging forward as Lord Soth and others rise from their graves.

There are no "vistas" in these covers - they tend to be portraits of individual characters or creatures - but it's completely inaccurate to say that there is a "decided preference . . . for depicting battle imagery" in the last few years.

Even in Dungeon, where you would expect more fight scenes, you don't see that many. #150 is Demogorgon beating the hell out of the eleven Dungeon iconics, admittedly. #149 is Iggwilv playing chess with the heroes and demon lords. #148 is Charon transporting a corpse in his boat. #147 is Vanthus Vanderboren, a half-fiend death knight, standing over a dead warrior. #146 is Harliss Jarvell, a female swashbuckler, being attacked by tentacles, but it's not really a fight scene. #145 is a colossal crocodile chomping a boat full of adventurers. #144 is adventurers exploring a dungeon, the last one having just been snatched into the floor by tentacles. #143 is a sorceress and her imp familiar ready for a fight, but again it's not really a battle scene. #142 is a priestess by a firepit. #141 is a beholder. #140 is Mephistopheles. #139 is a tyrannosaurus attacking some adventurers on a beach.

Again, three out of twelve covers is hardly a "decided preference". In fact, it's quite clear that the decided preference is for single-subject illustrations - a monster, a villain, sometimes a PC-type adventurer.

 

[Erik Mona]

Bah, the EIC can't even arrange to get the rights to Niall of the Far Travels

The hell he can't.

--Erik