Before I was a
fan of Larry Elmore and his artwork, I was a fan of Dragonlance. I’m sure that series was the gateway drug to Elmore
for many other fans. For several years I would regularly think of his artwork
for the series and look for some of it online. Some of his paintings simply
amazed me. I remember having the urge to see more and I got my chance once I
found out online that he had run a very successful Kickstarter campaign for an
art book, entitled The Complete Elmore.
This is the review of that book.
The Complete Elmore is more than an art book. It is part
biography, part career retrospective, and, of course, part art book. Elmore
also finds the time to share some of his thoughts on his philosophy of art,
creativity, and personal perseverance in life. When I sat down with my copy of
the book I was expecting to discover many paintings I had never seen before in
addition to reading some behind-the-scenes information on the creation of some
of the paintings. In other words, I was expecting an art book with a short
introduction by a colleague or friend of Elmore and pages of pages of art with
little or no text. In other words, I was expecting a quick yet satisfying read.
Elmore delivered on all those points but he did one better by adding pages and
pages of information detailing his life, career and personal aspirations. I was
expecting to discover the art of Elmore, famed fantasy and science fiction
painter but I also met Larry Elmore the man. I’ve always thought that Elmore’s
paintings lack a bit of emotion or gravitas. But it’s not true of all his work,
some of his best paintings completely embody the emotion of his characters or
the landscapes being depicted. One particularly good example is “Death of
Sturm” which is an emotionally charged painting. It’s hauntingly beautiful.
After reading The Complete Elmore I
discovered that my thoughts on the lack of emotion in his paintings are
partially true. Working over 40 years as a professional illustrator Elmore’s
had to work under strict deadlines and countless time he’s had to do rush jobs.
Few of his paintings show a distinctively rushed quality to them but his
working conditions explain the occasional lack of emotion in his work. Some of
his more personal works or those which you can clearly tell he enjoyed working
on have that extra something that
elevates them beyond the rest.
Whatever real or
perceived shortcomings Elmore’s work has, his writing in this book completely
made up for it. It’s in a conversational style and it works well for this kind
of project. Elmore really seems like the kind of guy you could talk to for
hours on end and never get bored or run out of things to talk about. The book
begins more like an autobiography than a book about art. Elmore writes about
his parents, his early life, his love of drawing and his formative years. He
goes on to talk about his growing interest in making a career in art and his
first foray into fame while working at TSR, Inc in the 80s working on table top
gaming modules, the Dragonlance series,
calendars, and paperback novel covers. Near the end of the decade he left TSR
and started to work as a freelance illustrator which he continues to do today.
He ends the book by writing about his personal works and his philosophy of art.
This is but a tiny snapshot of what Elmore writes about. Truly, there are pages
full of text and while the art remains the focus of the book the additional
commentary is what makes this book so special. I knew next to nothing about Elmore
before I started to read The Complete
Elmore but now I feel as though I really know the guy, almost as if we’ve
been friends for years. I used to really like his art and respect the artist,
now I love his art and respect the man who for so many years was and continues
to be one of the most distinctive and skilled fantasy artists.
I’d like to keep
going on about why I enjoyed this book so much but I think it’s time to let
Elmore’s art speak for itself. All of the images below were taken from his website
which you can visit here (http://larryelmore.com/). I’ve added some commentary of my own but
if anything in this post has picked your curiosity in Elmore’s work or
reintroduced you to it, I urge you to purchase a copy of this book. They’re
limited in number and although they’re pricy, it’s an expense I didn’t mind
saving up for especially since the book is so enjoyable and informative. Don’t
be fooled by the fact that this is an art book; there is plenty of substance
within this oversized hardcover.
01-Circle of
Death
This painting
was done specifically for the cover of The
Complete Elmore. Elmore wanted to take one of his most well-known paintings
and draw something that is more akin to the way he feels about his art today.
The other painting is the one below which he did for the cover of Basic Dungeons & Dragons. It’s a
young man attacking a dragon head on, fighting for glory and riches. The
painting above is about that same man but he’s much older now. He’s been
through rough battles during his life and this latest battle isn’t one for
glory, it’s strictly for survival. He’s not as brash as he used to be but he’s
doing his best to survive. It has become one of my favourites.
02-Basic
Dungeons & Dragons
03-The Arena
There is a lot
going on in this painting and I quite like it. It depicts Caramon Majere from Dragonlance during his time as a
gladiator during the Legends trilogy.
I mostly put it here for comparison with the painting below.
04-Island of
Minotaurs
This is one of
my favourite Elmore covers. It is the cover for Land of the Minotaurs written by Richard A. Knaak. Just look at
that beautiful scenery. It looks and feels like a real place. It also looks
rather tranquil except for the two minotaurs who are about to clash blades.
When I think of minotaurs this is the image I think of. Simply put, they’re
superbly drawn. With this painting Elmore put his above painting of a minotaur
to shame. It’s also notable for being one of the relative few paintings he’s
done that has characters in action. One of them is even leaping into action! He
truly did an excellent job with this one.
05-Next
Generation
This is yet
another Dragonlance painting. I just
don’t tire of these. If I’m not mistaken it was used for the cover of The Second Generation. I like how the
image has room to breathe. It really does look like scenery you would see in a
fantasy world.
06-The Last
Ingredient
Dragonlance once more. I wanted to show this painting
for a couple reasons. The most obvious being that Elmore did another bang-on
job with it. I particularly like the clutter and the character’s body language.
The other reason I put this painting here is that in his book Elmore shows the
step by step creative process for this painting, from photographing models (his
son and a friend of his son), working out the angles and placing the furniture
inside the room, to illustration and finally to painting. That’s one thing I
would have like to see more of in the book but it’s difficult to show your work
when dealing with original hand-painted illustrations and the level of
technology Elmore used throughout his career.
07-Dragons of
Mystery
This is a
painting of characters and a scene that were supposed to be part of the early Dragonlance novels. While the scene
never made it into the final novels, the image was used, I believe, for a Dragonlance calendar. I quite like the
elf maiden’s mace.
08-Floating City
A great looking
floating city with its lower edges touching lightning filled clouds. What more
would you want? A dragon? Sure thing, Elmore put on in there just for you.
09-Heroes of
Fantasy
Heroes of
fantasy! Can you name them all? From left to right, Gandalf, Conan the
Barbarian, Drizzt Do’Urden, Elric of Melniboné, King Arthur and (I think) Robin
Hood.
10-Death of
Sturm
As I mentioned
above, this is another one of my favourites. Not just favourites of Dragonlance
but favourites overall. From Sturm’s superbly detailed armour, the cold and
indifferent battle field, Laurana’s quiet moment of suffering and her banged-up
armour and clothes. I can’t find anything to criticize. I really wish Elmore
would have drawn more scenes from the series but if we’re only to have a few of
them, I’m extremely pleased that this is one of them.
11-Larry Elmore
on his Harley
This obviously
isn’t a painting. It’s a photograph of Larry Elmore on one of his Harley
Davidson motorcycles. A lifelong fanatic of old cars and motorcycles, Elmore
continues to ride to this day (despite his wife’s dislike of his hobby). Just
look at him all rebellious and full of attitude.
On that note,
I’m ending this review. I could go on and on about Elmore and his art but now
that we have The Complete Elmore there really isn’t a need for me to do so.
I’ll finish by offering my thanks to Larry for hundreds of illustrations that have
fired up my imagination and helped to further immerse myself in my favourite
genre. It’s been fantastic.
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