Why Larry Elmore?


"Waiting for Shadamehr"

Image Copyright 1988 Larry Elmore
All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.


It is my dear hope that when I get published I will have the good fortune to have Mr. Larry Elmore create the cover artwork. Mr. Elmore's work has been an inspiration to me on quite a number of levels. As I photographer, I appreciate the qualities of light. Mr. Elmore's use of light is astoundingly good. As a painter, he has complete control of his media. Other artists paint contrast levels that are high in one area and lower in others. This is one huge flaw in 90%+ of fantasy artwork. Mr. Elmore does not do this! The contrast from one side of an object to the other is very consistent from object to object in a painting. If a painting is high contrast and dramatic, then it is consistenly of high contrast on every object in the painting. If the painting is low contrast and soft, then the contrast is again consistent. His use of the direction of light is consistent as well.

Every Larry Elmore painting or drawing leaves me wondering what is going on, or leaves me with a story. That is an exceptional gift. I have a framed copy of Waiting for Shadamehr (see above) hanging above my computer desk in my cave (my office). It forever leaves me wondering what marvelous journey the characters are about to take, and too, I wonder who Shadamehr is.

Larry is an inspiration in another way, too. He has worked hard and hustled diligently over the years to put his passion to work. That is what I want to do with my writing. I am blessed with a wife who understands this. I park myself in my cave for hours at a time. If I could get away with it, I would spend every Saturday and Sunday in my cave, wearing out my keyboard, writing. I have been known to take a week off from work to spend it writing. Only rarely does my wife object, and she could very easily object more often.

Regardless, I have several Larry Elmore prints, and will continue to purchase more.

I have a theory I would like to test. Normally, in a commissioned artwork, the copyright goes to the person who paid the bill. Contractually, this can easily be changed. When I get published, I would like to attempt something a little different for the cover artwork. I would commission Mr. Elmore for the work, and then license the use of that artwork back to him. Alternately, if Mr. Elmore retains the copyright, I would want a permanent and exclusive license to use that artwork on the cover of every present and future version of the book that is published. This way, Mr. Elmore would get to distribute his artwork in posters and prints, and in doing so, will be promoting the book. I would also dearly love to include in the book a link to Mr. Elmore's web site, where people who buy the book can also buy the posters. It would be on the fly leaf or some-such. As long as I do not intend to produce posters, and as long as he does not use the artwork for any other book, we would be fine, and would be promoting each others' works. I could even see a display in the local book store that promotes both the book and the poster. Besides, I would love to have a copy of the poster on the wall of my cave. I would want the original, but I would want to have it hung in the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, on loan so more folk can see the quality of Mr. Elmore's work.

Another reason I appreciate Larry Elmore is that he has a similar hobby to mine. My cars do not look nearly as good as his Ford coupe (see below), but I will continue working on them.

"Larry Elmore's 5-Window Coupe"

Image Copyright Larry Elmore
All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

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