theartofmichaelwhelan:

spiralotic:

theartofmichaelwhelan:

MUTANT HUNTER: THE SLICKS (2012) by Michael Whelan, cover for the book by Stephen R. Cox

I found not only the cover illustration for THE SLICKS in the studio but also a few studies as well. Here we get a good shot of the protagonist Leon Miller in a figure study and in a detail from the finished painting.

Functioning aircraft are rare in the world of Mutant Hunter. The Screamer was originally built as a weapons platform that could also haul troops and cargo. The author imagined it as a cross between a V-22 and an A-10.

Interesting, the aircraft was added in digitally?

I must have been on autopilot when I posted this yesterday. I didn’t notice the Screamer wasn’t in the final painting! Checking with Michael for further details.

Yes, Michael confirmed that he added it digitally. He had this to say:

“Yeah. I never was happy about my visualization of the thing, even to this day. I felt I had let Steve Cox down, though he professed to like it well enough.”

(via theartofmichaelwhelan)

Source: michaelwhelan.com

spiralotic:

theartofmichaelwhelan:

MUTANT HUNTER: THE SLICKS (2012) by Michael Whelan, cover for the book by Stephen R. Cox

I found not only the cover illustration for THE SLICKS in the studio but also a few studies as well. Here we get a good shot of the protagonist Leon Miller in a figure study and in a detail from the finished painting.

Functioning aircraft are rare in the world of Mutant Hunter. The Screamer was originally built as a weapons platform that could also haul troops and cargo. The author imagined it as a cross between a V-22 and an A-10.

Interesting, the aircraft was added in digitally?

I must have been on autopilot when I posted this yesterday. I didn’t notice the Screamer wasn’t in the final painting! Checking with Michael for further details.

(via spiralotic)

Source: michaelwhelan.com

MUTANT HUNTER: THE SLICKS (2012) by Michael Whelan, cover for the book by Stephen R. Cox

I found not only the cover illustration for THE SLICKS in the studio but also a few studies as well. Here we get a good shot of the protagonist Leon Miller in a figure study and in a detail from the finished painting.

Functioning aircraft are rare in the world of Mutant Hunter. The Screamer was originally built as a weapons platform that could also haul troops and cargo. The author imagined it as a cross between a V-22 and an A-10.

Source: michaelwhelan.com

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...
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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.

(via theartofmichaelwhelan)

Source: michaelwhelan.com

BLINDER by Michael Whelan, week 24 in his LEFTOVERS & PALETTED GREMLINS gallery project. “Blinder” began as a splash of sepia acrylic ink that I turned into a character in one of Steve Cox’s Mutant Hunter books. If you look into the paint, so to...
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BLINDER by Michael Whelan, week 24 in his LEFTOVERS & PALETTED GREMLINS gallery project.

“Blinder” began as a splash of sepia acrylic ink that I turned into a character in one of Steve Cox’s Mutant Hunter books. If you look into the paint, so to speak, you can see drippy marks and spots of sepia paint, some of which I turned into moles or radiation scarring or his left eye.

When I’m applying a textured glaze of acrylic on a panel, I usually put a piece of scrap paper under it to catch any overspill. In this case, the “paper” used was a unique artificial substrate that doesn’t allow water-based media to soak into it. Any fluid paint or ink beads up and makes interesting patterns.

Seeing a suggestive smear on one side of the scrap paper, I cut off the messy part, turned it sideways and realized that it could become the basis for a “portrait” of Blinder. When I came across the scrap later, I gave myself the time to go into it and develop it into a simple monochrome rendering.

Though I had fun with it, I decided that I was getting bored with umber colored sketches. I glazed some colors into the piece after protecting the first layer with a coat of clear acrylic medium.

Source: michaelwhelan.com

Last bit of Halloween fun. A re-imagined portrait of author Stephen R. Cox by Michael Whelan.

The source material was an unused author photo that I’d worked up for a recent redesign of Steve’s website. Michael wasn’t content leaving it on the cutting room floor and transformed the author into a rad leper from the Mutant Hunter series.

Source: michaelwhelan.com

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