MICHAEL WHELAN

Michael Whelan’s covers for Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series:

IN DAI CHIKIZA (1988)
STONE OF FAREWELL (1989)
GREEN ANGEL TOWER (1993)

(via theartofmichaelwhelan)

From our in the studio feature from last summer

GREEN ANGEL TOWER (1993) by Michael Whelan, cover art for the book by Tad Williams

Michael knows I’m a huge fan of the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series. I’ve asked him a number of times for the paintings of the original swords that decorate the spines only to be disappointed time and again.

After my first dive through the studio recently, Michael subtlely inquired whether I’d found anything from the series in storage. It wasn’t until my second day that I found what he was hinting at.

I had no idea the swords were part of the jacket art. I always figured they were separate paintings. It was quite a surprise when I stumbled across these designs.

(via theartofmichaelwhelan)

From our in the studio feature from last summer.

IN DAI CHIKIZA (1988) by Michael Whelan, cover art for The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams.

The jacket art for the first volume of the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy features Jingizu (the Sithi word for “Sorrow”), a blade forged by the Storm King.

I’ve always loved Tad’s description of the sword, and he painted it so ominously in just a few passages:

“…in a sheath at [King Elias’] side was the sword with the strange crossed hilt…there was something queer and unsettling about the blade…[It] had a strange double guard, the cross pieces making; with the hilt, a sort of five pointed star.”

…[the blade] was no mere weapon, but a blasphemy against the earth that had yielded both iron and witchwood. It was a hole in the tapestry of creation, and life leaked away through it.

Don’t you think Michael channeled the text perfectly in capturing Sorrow? I doubt he changed anything from his original design when he painted it again for the recent DAW reissues of the trilogy.

(via theartofmichaelwhelan)