Nerd Louisville Podcast

Episode 18 – Larry Elmore (Part 2)

Episode 18 – Larry Elmore (Part 2)

Nerd Louisville sat down with legendary fantasy artist, Larry Elmore, for the podcast. We visited him at his home and studio in Leitchfield, KY. Larry was born in Louisville and holds a very special place in many nerds’ hearts for his evocative and immersive fantasy paintings. Larry is an incredibly gracious and kind host. He’s also a natural storyteller. Joe and I chatted with him for close to two hours, so we decided it’d be best to break this interview up into three parts.

Larry Elmore
Larry Elmore in his home studio in Leitchfield, Ky.

Part One chronicles Larry’s upbringing and beginnings as a fantasy artist. We end right as Larry is hired to TSR, the company that created the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.

In Party Two, Larry tells us about his time at TSR and working to become one of the best-known fantasy artists in the industry. He also tells us about freelancing, the physical toll it took on him, and his obsession with art.

In Part Three, Larry explains how he figured out the trick to freelancing, his success with Kickstarter, and new project he has in the pipe.

We hope you enjoy!

Part II Highlights:

  • Getting Jeff Easley hired and meeting Keith Parkinson
  • The art department’s D&D campaign
  • Working with the game designers at TSR
  • How fun it was working at the place that made D&D
  • The woes of management at TSR
  • Doing freelance during Larry’s time at TSR
  • Designing Dragonlance!
  • The fight for Dragonlance when Greyhawk was the primary setting of D&D
  • Celtic influence on Larry’s work and Dragonlance
  • Character design and using character models
  • Preordained and fate
  • Playing in the woods as a kid; adventure and excitement
  • You can’t “out Frazetta” Frazetta
  • Not being able to do the AD&D covers
  • The slew of non-D&D freelance work Larry has done; Thundercats, etc.
  • Surviving on 3 hours of sleep and finally having a stroke
  • The heavy mental strain of freelancing
  • Being known but not rich
  • Being obsessed with art and painting

You can find some of Larry Elmore art at www.larryelmore.com.

The Crew:

  • Mike Pfaff
  • Joe Dunman

Intro / Outro music is The White of Noon by STRFKR, graciously provided by Polyvinyl Records.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:52 — 34.7MB)

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Mike Pfaff

Mike is the co-founder of Nerd Louisville and still volunteers from time-to-time. He's been a nerd since he was first introduced to Dungeons & Dragons when he was a wee lad and continues playing to this day. You can play games with him at Slur Your Role or other Nerd Louisville events.