Con Nooga

Fantasy artist Larry Elmore among guests

IF YOU GO* What: Con-Nooga 2010.* When: 2 p.m. today through 6 p.m. Sunday.* Where: Chattanooga Choo Choo, 1400 Market St.* Admission: $20 today, $25 Saturday, $10 Sunday; $5 ages 6-13 each day. Three-day pass $35 adults, $15 ages 6-13. Exhibitor hall open Sunday at no charge.* Phone: 872-2529.* Web site: www.connooga.com.OTHER GUESTSIn addition to Larry Elmore:* B-horror film director/Troma Studios founder Lloyd Kaufman* "Dead Moon Rising" actress Tucky Williams* Comic-book artist Sanford Greene* Tribal-fusion bellydancer Amberetta* DJs Spider and Addambombb

Longtime fans of tabletop fantasy novels might not immediately recognize Larry Elmore's name, but they've probably owned many examples of his work.

In the 1980s, Elmore, a professional fantasy painter for almost 30 years, worked as one of four staff artists at TSR Inc., a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast and the original publisher of the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop role-playing universe.

Elmore is one of a number of special guests slated to attend the Con Nooga fan convention today through Sunday.

During his tenure at TSR, Elmore regularly contributed covers to "Dragon" magazine, but perhaps his most memorable contribution was as art director for the Dragonlance universe, a position that included developing the likenesses of the property's major characters.

QDo you remember the first work you did that would be considered fantastic?

AIt was in college, I guess. I was taking a second or third drawing class, and our teachers would give us an assignment like, "I want a figure (or figures) on a teeter-totter." I didn't want to draw that.

So I went home and did some thinking and drew this surrealistic thing that looked like it was in space with this wild-looking saw with a hand growing out of one end holding a watch. On the end up in the air, over space, there were a bunch of people crying.

QWhen you're doing fantastic paintings, is it difficult to contextualize without a real reference for the creatures to work from?

AWell, no, it's not too hard if it's within a certain time period or roughly a time period. If you know costume and clothing and the way armor and swords work ... then you can design your character to fit the kind of fantasy you're doing. Once you've got the base education about the time period, to draw a figure clothed that way is easy, and you can just go and add your own fantasy touches to it. That's why I like fantasy. You don't have to follow history exactly. You can divert any time you want to.

QWhen you were working on the Dragonlance universe, did you anticipate it lasting more than 25 years?

ANo, we didn't. By the time we started working on it, it was supposed to be a three-year project. A lot of the original (Dragonlance) stuff I sold off early on for almost nothing. We were trading these back in 1983-1985 ... when Dragonlance was first coming out. We traded a lot of art for nothing. (Laughs.)

QHow do you react when a book you designed the cover for is illustrated by another artist in a later reissue?

AI get a kick out of it. I like to see how the styles have changed over the years. Each generation gets bolder and wilder, more dynamic. Now, looking at some of the newer ones, I go, "Wow, they've changed," but that's good -- natural. Each generation interprets it their way. I think it's fun to see it.

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