THE GHOUL WITH THE PEARL EARRING by Michael Whelan

Oils - 20” x 16”

This began life as a drawing in one of my sketchbooks while reading MUTANT HUNTER: THE SLICKS. I was trying to get the feel of one of the mutant characters in the book, but it fell short of the mark. I liked the thing’s grin enough to want to try to paint it, however, so I devoted a little time one morning sketching the head out in oils. Later I came into my studio and noticed for the first time how similar the head position was to that of the girl in the famous painting by Vermeer…so I put some more time into it and brought it up to a full color rendering.