Larry Dixon (born July 28, 1966) is an American fantasy artist and novelist.

Background

Dixon, the son of a

Delta Force The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (1st SFOD-D), referred to variously as Delta Force, Combat Applications Group (CAG), Army Compartmented Elements (ACE), "The Unit", or within Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), Task Fo ...

career commando, studied at The North Carolina School of the Arts and at

Savannah College of Art & Design Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is a private nonprofit art school with locations in Savannah, Georgia; Atlanta, Georgia; and Lacoste, France. Founded in 1978 to provide degrees in programs not yet offered in the southeast of the Uni ...

. In 1992, he married fantasy author

Mercedes Lackey Mercedes Ritchie Lackey (born June 24, 1950) is an American writer of fantasy novels. Many of her novels and trilogies are interlinked and set in the world of Velgarth, mostly in and around the country of Valdemar. Her Valdemar novels include i ...

; they live in the

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...

area. Dixon, a sports car enthusiast, is also a

storm spotter Storm spotting is a form of weather spotting in which observers watch for the approach of severe weather, monitor its development and progression, and actively relay their findings to local authorities. History Storm spotting developed in the ...

and volunteer firefighter.

Writing

Larry has collaborated with his wife, Mercedes Lackey, on a number of her books, including: *''Storm Breaking'' (illustrator) *The ''Mage Wars'' Trilogy (DAW) **''The Black Gryphon'' (co-author) **''The White Gryphon'' (co-author) **''The Silver Gryphon'' (co-author) *The ''SERRAted Edge'' Novels (Baen) **''Chrome Circle'' (co-author) **''Born to Run'' (co-author) *The Owl Trilogy (DAW) **''Owlflight'' **''Owlsight'' (co-author) **''Owlknight'' (co-author)

Artwork

Dixon has contributed artwork to

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. It is currently a subsidia ...

's ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...

'' source books, including '' Oriental Adventures'', '' Epic Level Handbook'', and ''

Fiend Folio ''Fiend Folio'' is the name of three separate products published for successive editions of the fantasy role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). All three are collections of monsters. The bulk of the material in the first edition ca ...

''. His skill with depicting birds of prey has often led to commissions with the

United States Military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...

and with Save Our American Raptors, an organization devoted to

raptor rehabilitation Raptor rehabilitation is a field of veterinary medicine dealing with care for sick or injured birds of prey, with the goal of returning them to the wild. Since raptors are highly specialized predatory birds, special skills, facilities, equipment, v ...

Other work

As a birds-of-prey

rehabilitation Rehabilitation or Rehab may refer to: Health * Rehabilitation (neuropsychology), therapy to regain or improve neurocognitive function that has been lost or diminished * Rehabilitation (wildlife), treatment of injured wildlife so they can be retur ...

specialist, Dixon, along with Lackey, has returned over four hundred

hawk Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. This subfa ...

s, owls,

falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene. Adult falcons ...

s and

corbie Corbie (; nl, Korbei) is a commune of the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography The small town is situated up river from Amiens, in the département of Somme and is the main town of the canton of Corbie. It lies ...

s into the wild. He is currently working toward his

falconry Falconry is the hunting of wild animals in their natural state and habitat by means of a trained bird of prey. Small animals are hunted; squirrels and rabbits often fall prey to these birds. Two traditional terms are used to describe a person ...

license with a

horned owl The American (North and South America) horned owls and the Old World eagle-owls make up the genus ''Bubo'', at least as traditionally described. The genus name ''Bubo'' is Latin for the Eurasian eagle-owl. This genus contains 19 species that ar ...

. Dixon's wildlife rehabilitation led to a minor role in the creation of the digital effects for the giant eagles in the '' Lord of the Rings'' movies. Dixon took digital photographs of a stuffed

golden eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird ...

he is currently keeping for its owner, a local tribal elder. These photographs, along with castings of the beak and talons, were sent to Weta Digital in New Zealand to provide texture mapping for the digital model for Gwaihir and the other great eagles of J. R. R. Tolkien's

Middle-earth Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the '' Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is ...

Appearances

Guest of Honor appearances include CrackerCon (1992), ICON 17 (1992), ConFurence 4 (1993), Odyssey-con (2001), CONvergence (2005), FenCon II (2005), Swancon (2006), CAPEday (2007),, Lunacon 2009,

GenCon Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing ...

2013, and InConJunction 2017.

References

External links

Official homepageDixon's blog
*
Official CAPEday website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Larry 1966 births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists American fantasy writers American male novelists Fantasy artists Living people Role-playing game artists