Here is the text of the Larry Elmore's profile from Dragon Magazine 107.
The gruff, bearded, hardened ex-con
vowed to change his life when
he was released from the Kentucky chain gang. "Ah have paid mah debt to
society," said Cool Hand Larry, "and now ah want to devote mahself to
mah art." His murder conviction was recently overturned by the Kentucky
Supreme Court, Larry set out to become an artist.
"Well, it
didn't happen that way," said Larry Elmore, "but it makes a good story.
In reality, I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, Aug. 5, 1948, and grew
up in Grayson County, in the midwestern part of the state.
As a child, I was fascinated by old people telling ghost stories. From them, I became interested in fantasy.
"You'd think that people who live nearest to nature would be least scared of it, but the opposite is true. They create mystery about it."
As a teenager, Larry was into hot rods and the Beach Boys. "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. If I didn't bring home any D's on my report card, it was okay, but when I did, look out! 'D' stood for Dead in my household," Larry said. "I was always getting into trouble for drawing in class. I wish I had a quarter for every drawing of mine a teacher destroyed.
"After school, I played around with hot rods, and was once grounded for three months for drag racing. I didn't know it at the time, but my future wife, Betty, used to watch the boys drag race on Sundays."
After graduation, Larry went to Western Kentucky University. "I majored in art, because I didn't think I could do anything else. My first art class was a shock. The instructor took a piece of newspaper, crumpled it into a ball, threw it on the floor, and told us to draw it. All semester long. It was awful."
True to form, Larry got A's in art, and worse grades in everything else. But by his senior year, he was selected as one of the top ten students. His senior show was a sensation, and several pieces were stolen.
"The art department had to keep guards at the show all day," he said.
A month after graduation, Larry was drafted and assigned as an illustrator with the U.S. Army in Germany. "There wasn't much art to be done, so I did a lot of girlie pictures to decorate the offices, and did party invitations. We were participating in wargames, and I was an APC driver in the field." After Larry got out of the service, he got a job as a civilian artist for the Ft. Knox Training Aids Department, and married Betty.
"We were working in the same building as the print shop, so I learned a lot about printing, photography, and all the mechanics of the trade. It was a valuable experience."
After three years with the government, Larry turned to freelance work. His first published work was in National Lampoon, and shortly thereafter he sold some work to Heavy Metal. "Then I started selling work at science-fiction conventions in Louisville,"
A friend introduced Larry to the D&DⓇ game around this time. Larry's friend was planning to send in some art submissions to DRAGON® Magazine, and badgered Larry to submit something as well. "I had enough freelance work at the time, and wasn't really interested, but the guy kept it up, and finally I sent a few pieces along with his submission. Well, they took mine and didn't take his. He was kind of
annoyed. Then TSR offered me a job, but I had just bought a house in Kentucky and said no. They flew me up for an interview, but I said I'd still rather freelance. "But they kept asking me, and I decided I
was pretty bored with what I was doing. The government kept trying to get me to do supervisory work, which I hated, so finally I agreed to come to TSR. And you know, coming here was the smartest career
move I ever made."
Larry joined the TSR staff in November 1981, and has done module and game covers, posters, book covers, calendar paintings, pen and ink work, and much more, including the Snarfquest saga currently
running in DRAGON Magazine. He was the artist in charge of creating a look for the DRAGONLANCE® saga, and did much of the early sketches for the series. "I want to say something special to all the people who have written me letters. I really want to answer all the mail I get, and I
feel bad when I don't, but this job keeps me too busy. I really do enjoy hearing from you, though, and I'm sorry that I haven't written back," Larry said.
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