FIRESTARTER (1980) by Michael Whelan, cover for the book by Stephen King
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Source: michaelwhelan.com
LORD OF DISCORDIA by Michael Whelan
An experimental pastel drawing loosely based on the Crimson King, a character in Stephen King’s Dark Tower story cycle. I splattered red acrylic gesso on watercolor paper and then worked within the spaces created by the accidental blots of paint.
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Source: michaelwhelan.com
RED AS BLOOD (1982) by Michael Whelan, cover for the book by Tanith Lee
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Source: michaelwhelan.com
Sepultura covers (albums and singles) by Michael Whelan. Michael’s comments are in italics.
NIGHTMARE IN RED (1981) - Cover for Beneath the Remains, the band’s third studio album. The image was originally the cover illustration for Tales from the Nightside by Charles L. Grant.
ARISE (1990) - Original painting for the band’s fourth studio album. The single Dead Embryonic Cells and Under Siege use a detail from the painting for their covers.
CACOPHONY (1992) - Original painting for Chaos A.D., the fifth studio album. The cover of the single Territory was an early digital piece.
I took a class in NYC to learn how to use Photoshop way back when [I think it was Photoshop 4 we were using!]. While I waited for some of the newbies to learn how to press cntl/alt/click or whatever, I stayed in the back and worked on this piece, which ended up being used for the “Territory” cover. I had painted the “S” logo and the rocks but then I scanned them in and fiddled around with filters and cloning and stuff to make the firey background.
ROOTS (1996) - A digital painting for the band’s sixth studio album.
The concept for ROOTS was largely Max Cavalera’s idea. He wanted me to paint the face off of a denomination of Brazilian paper money [I don’t remember what bill it was] and just put in some kind of background. I tried to digitally paint the face off the bill, then fooled around with some photos I had taken of tree branches and stuff till I came up with a background I thought might work.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
CACOPHONY (1992) by Michael Whelan, cover for Chaos A.D. by Sepultura
Mixed Media - 24" x 24
Michael Whelan did the cover of Chaos A.D.?!
Yeah, he produced original paintings for Arise and Chaos A.D. Roots, I believe, was a digital piece. His art was also used for a handful of singles as well. I’ll post the covers I have.
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Source: michaelwhelan.com
CACOPHONY (1992) by Michael Whelan, cover for Chaos A.D. by Sepultura
Mixed Media - 24" x 24
(via theartofmichaelwhelan)
Source: michaelwhelan.com
LAST TRAIN FROM PERDITION (2016) by Michael Whelan, cover for the book by Robert McCammon
This is for the sequel to I TRAVEL ONLY BY NIGHT published by Subterranean Press. Never saw it before until I stumbled across it in storage. I thought it might be an alternate cover for that first book, but nope. It was a published cover from 2016 that I didn’t even know about. Pretty sharp painting too.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
MEATLOAF ASCENDANT (1997) by Michael Whelan
Along with the science fiction and fantasy cover art I was sorting through in the studio, I stumbled on album artwork as well. Here’s Michael’s original painting for The Very Best of Meatloaf.
Thematically, the painting follows Michael’s iconic cover for Back Into Hell. You can see an echo of that cover in the clouds above the bat demon.
Michael sent me a note regarding the MEATLOAF ASCENDANT feature we ran here on Tumblr.
After all the changes and additions he’d been asked to do in the painting, he inserted a “kitchen sink” in among the debris (see the zoom of the foreground) as his own wry commentary on the difficulties experienced trying to please all of the parties involved.
Art direction by committee is never a good idea, and I think he found a good outlet for his frustration.
(via theartofmichaelwhelan)
Source: michaelwhelan.com
MEATLOAF ASCENDANT (1997) by Michael Whelan
Along with the science fiction and fantasy cover art I was sorting through in the studio, I stumbled on album artwork as well. Here’s Michael’s original painting for The Very Best of Meatloaf.
Thematically, the painting follows Michael’s iconic cover for Back Into Hell. You can see an echo of that cover in the clouds above the bat demon.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
ALEX (1977) by Michael Whelan cover for Dying for Tomorrow by Michael Moorcock
(via theartofmichaelwhelan)
Source: michaelwhelan.com
