From our in the studio feature from last summer

THE PLANET SAVERS (1976) by Michael Whelan, commissioned by ACE for a reissue of the Darkover novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

The artwork can be found in Wonderworks, Michael’s first art collection, but the book just doesn’t capture the life of the piece.

When you see a Whelan painting in person, the colors jump out at you. It’s an experience you just can’t simulate on the page or computer screen.

Sure his sense of composition is exquisite, and his devotion to anatomy and texture grounds his work in realism. But man, the color…you just have to see that up close to appreciate his mastery.