Illustrator whose character-centered paintings became inseparable from Dungeons & Dragons, Dragonlance, and the shared visual memory of tabletop role-playing.
After military service and commercial illustration, Elmore joined TSR in the early 1980s and helped define its visual identity.
His heroes feel like a party rather than isolated icons: distinct people, gathered around a shared danger, in worlds that invite the viewer to enter.
Why the work endures
Elmore made epic fantasy approachable and social—an especially important contribution to a game built around friends imagining together.