Monday, August 29, 2011

Elmore love

So there have some posts recently about people's love (or general like) of Larry Elmore's art:
http://monstersandmanuals.blogspot.com/2011/08/larry-elmore-and-utter-ridiculosity.html
http://rolesrules.blogspot.com/2011/08/light-fantastic-and-eight-other-fantasy.html
http://jrients.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-favorite-elmore-cheesecake.html

I even posted about it last year:
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2010/01/elmore-art-for-old-school.html

I know there are some of the "old guard"  that don't like Elmore's art or associate it with a change at TSR and in D&D they are/were not happy with.  Well to quote my youngest "Balderdash and Poppycock!" (he heard me say that in a game and now he uses whenever he can).

Elmore art can be cheesecake, but it is also quite a step up from the art we had up to that point.  Nothing against those old-school artists, but Elmore had a vision of the D&D world and it was a vision I liked.

But let's be 100% honest.
I love his witches.


This witch appeared in the famous Dragon #114 version of the witch class and she was the "face" of my witch character ever since.

Later when I was looking for some new art I found this one:
I liked it so much that last Gen Con I bought the mini from Dark Sword and a signed print from Larry himself.



Of course those are not the only witches he has done. (linking instead of adding the pics of these)
http://larryelmore.com/white-witch/art
http://larryelmore.com/the-green-witch/art (have another mini of this one)
http://larryelmore.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/EYES_OF_.jpg

He explains it a bit in an interview he did in 2010 with Casey Philips:
http://fyi.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/feb/19/q-larry-elmore/

CP: You've illustrated so many different things over the years. Do you have a favorite character you've depicted?

LE: No, not really. I've sort of been plagued with the image of a dark-haired, woodsy kind of woman - a witchy woman. She's always been on my mind, starting when I was about 22 or something. That's why I do a lot of witchy looking women, especially in drawings, but I don't have many paintings of it. It's funny, I just laid out a painting of a voodoo woman I'll be doing for myself.

The biggest thing when you're making a living as an illustrator, which I've done for my whole life, is that you don't get to do what you want to do. You're always illustrating a book or a game or somebody's image of a creation. Finally, after 25-30 years of it, I just got tired of it. Now, I'm doing more private contracts and my own work. I like to paint people and landscapes. With people, I like to paint women more than men, of course. I'm a red-blooded man. (Laughs.) This witchy woman thing still plagues me - this mysterious, dark-haired woman.

I totally get that.  Maybe he can join the Witch Lovers Anonymous I am planning to start with Paul Dini.

6 comments:

  1. I love that witch in the snow picture. 1st time I saw it I thought 'what is that about?'

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  2. I've always liked his black and white work better than his color stuff. That first witch image is one of the main reasons.

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  3. I like Elmore, its what I grew up on...

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  4. I am SO with you on Elmore's witches. I'm not as groggy as some folks (Class of '81), but my first reaction on seeing Elmore (& Co's) art after cutting my imaginary teeth on the old stuff was, "Wow, we have real art now." I guess the main thing I dislike about his work are his dragons.

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  5. You missed one of my favorite witchy women from Elmore: "Eyes of Autumn" from the cover of Dragon #150.

    http://larryelmore.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/EYES_OF_.jpg

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  6. That is a really good one. I still have that issue of course!

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