Larry Elmore

Larry Elmore (born August 5, 1948 in Louisville, Kentucky) is an American fantasy artist whose work includes creating illustrations for video games, comics, magazines and fantasy books. His list of work includes illustrations for Dungeons & Dragons, Dragonlance, and the comic strip series SnarfQuest. He is author of the book Reflections of Myth.
==Early life and education==
Elmore was born August 5, 1948 in Louisville, Kentucky, and grew up in Grayson County in midwestern Kentucky. Elmore describes his schools days by saying "The rural school I attended didn't have any art program, so I spent my time drawing - and daydreaming. I was a pretty bad student. ... I was always getting into trouble for drawing in class. I wish I had a quarter for every drawing of mine a teacher destroyed." He majored in art at Western Kentucky University.
==Career==
A month after graduating from college, Elmore was drafted into the U.S. Army and stationed in Germany. While in the army, he drove a tank. After getting out of the service, Elmore worked as an illustrator for the United States government for the Fort Knox Training Aids Department. Three years later, Elmore turned to freelance work, getting his art published in National Lampoon and Heavy Metal magazines.
One of Elmore's friends introduced him to the Dungeons & Dragons game while he was freelancing. Elmore joined the staff of TSR, Inc., the producers of Dungeons & Dragons, in November 1981 and created art work for adventure modules, game books, and novels, as well as paintings for posters and calendars and more. Elmore created the SnarfQuest comic which appeared in Dragon, and was also in charge of creating a look for the Dragonlance saga, and did much of the early sketches for the series.
Elmore was a staff artist at TSR Inc. and contributed to product development and design. He left TSR in 1987.Lynch, Bill (October 22, 2009). "Larry Elmore out of the Dungeons: But artist remains in fantasy realm", The Charleston Gazette, p. D3. Elmore has illustrated cards for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game. He also provided cover art for the MMORPG EverQuest.
In 2003, Jan McRae was accused of plagiarizing Elmore's work for tracts printed by Family International, to which she later admitted having done.Over the years, Larry has sold the majority of his published artwork but he has retained the copyrights. His work appears in the book Masters of Dragonlance Art.D'Ammassa, Don (January 2003). "Masters of Dragonlance Art", Chronicle 25 (1): 30.
Elmore's paintings have been purchased by collectors throughout the United States, and in Europe. One collector, Joshua Wilton, owns more than 100 pieces of work by Elmore.
== Personal life ==
In 1971, before leaving for his Army service in Germany, Elmore married his wife Betty. He has two children and currently lives with his wife in Leitchfield, Kentucky. He attends fantasy and science fiction conventions held in the United States, and in Europe.
==See also==
*Jeff Easley
==References==
==External links==
*
*Interview with Elmore
*Samples of Elmore's art work
*Bibliography of Elmore's work
Category:1948 births
Category:Dungeons & Dragons artists
Category:Fantasy artists
Category:Living people
Category:Magic: The Gathering artists
Category:Video game artists
Category:Western Kentucky University alumni