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

 

[Zardnaar]

I don't mind Elmore's older stuff. Product of it's time etc.

But yeah not a fan of this piece. Lacks charm perhaps. Older stuff may have aged badly but it has an excuse to when it was painted.

This doesn't have that excuse or compare well with the older stuff.

It's not so much the 4 women of Dragonlance more Kitiara and Skie plus three other women who may or may not be who I think they are.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

So much potentially exciting adventure skipped over and then rehashed in a paragraph of boring exposition

This is actually done where the "exciting adventure" happens in the tie-in D&D game module. It's done to avoid repetition/spoilers for the people who (at the time of writing) where playing Dragonlance as well as reading it.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I suppose standards have changed and I might be out of touch with more contemporary style, but I don't see anything particularly offensive about his "The Four Women of Dragonlance" painting.

Check out the whole debate about Lara Croft, a and her modern redesign. And more recently the redesign of Lola Bunny in Space Jam 2.

The "issues" surrounding Dragonlance are as much down to the art as the writing.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

This is actually done where the "exciting adventure" happens in the tie-in D&D game module. It's done to avoid repetition/spoilers for the people who (at the time of writing) where playing Dragonlance as well as reading it.

Oh, I know why they did it. My gaming group was playing the original modules as they released, at least until the whole thing turned into an obvious railroad and we gave up.

I just think it weakens the novels.

 

[Umbran]

Given that they still have inflated chests and skin-tight armour I think that failed.

Big hair was the least offensive thing about the 1980s.

Those were not elements of the 80s. Cheesecake in fantasy art is much older than that. See Frazetta as an example.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Those were not elements of the 80s. Cheesecake in fantasy art is much older than that. See Frazetta as an example.

Clarify: they were elements that still existed in the 80s (and 90s, when Lara Croft was created). Technically, it still exists today. But it's much more likely you will be called out for it. And WotC want to avoid it as they don't want to discourage female players.

I wonder who will draw the cover of the new Dragonlance book? A couple of the authors I know have been very unhappy about the cover art selected by their publishers.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Oh, I know why they did it. My gaming group was playing the original modules as they released, at least until the whole thing turned into an obvious railroad and we gave up.

I just think it weakens the novels.

And tying into the novels weakens the modules. But that's what Dragonlance was all about. A "multimedia event" as we would say now.