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
SKYCHILD’S FALL (2006) by Michael Whelan
A trip to Australia in 1992 inspired several of Michael’s paintings. Specifically the orange textured stone of Ayers rock shows prominently in WING (1992) and WAYFARER & THE EVENING STAR (1997).
But here we have Michael diving deeper into that setting with his inclusion of the aboriginal people of Australia and a beautiful representation of their art rendered on that same orange stone.
I always thought this was a personal work, but Michael explained that it was actually a commissioned piece. A Japanese company had different illustrators depict native legends for a calendar.
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.
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
VOLKHAVAAR (1977) by Michael Whelan, cover for the book by Tanith Lee.
Some of my favorite Whelan covers are his illustrations for the late Tanith Lee: DELIRIUM’S MISTRESS, THE NARROW WAY, NIGHT’S DAUGHTER and RED AS BLOOD. This is one of his early DAW covers, and I believe it was his first for Lee.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
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.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?
(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
MISSILE COMMAND: ALPHA WAVE by Michael Whelan (date uncertain).
Here’s another curiosity found in the studio, one so obscure I had to ask Michael for background and even he wasn’t sure of the details.
His initial response was that it was an unpublished advertising piece done in the ‘70s for Neal Adams’ studio. The style suggests that but the date written in the margin of the painting is clearly after his arrival in New York when he worked with Neal. Further, the arcade version of Missile Command was released in 1980 with console versions hitting in 1981 for the Atari 2600 and 1982 for the Atari 5200.
After some back and forth, here’s what Michael thinks:
When I first started out, there was a couple who offered to sell my sketches at their dealer table at conventions in the late '70s. They sold several sketches and prelims I otherwise would have tossed out. The Missile Command piece may have been one of those. I’m thinking that perhaps the date was in reference to when I gave it to them, or when they gave it back to me, rather than the date it was painted. Hard to say.
It was a quickie of a job done via Continuity Associates, which was the name of Neal Adams’ studio then. It’s not the sort of assignment I would ordinarily have taken, but I owed Neal for helping me land my first book cover assignment with Ace Books, so I was happy to do it.
Maybe someone like DC was trying out the concept of publishing comics with stories and characters inspired by different video games? That kind of tie-in might have been an attractive proposition, but one that eventually fell through? I’m just guessing.
A pair of preliminary concepts for VICTORY (1984) by Michael Whelan.
Earlier in the week, I noticed the original art for the album by the Jacksons hanging in the printing room. I’d seen it before, of course, but when I was digging through storage I found a couple of preliminary concepts that were new to me.
Coincidentally the prelim labeled “5” happened to be chosen for the final cover image, and as you can see some of the Jacksons clearly worked out a ton before the painting was finished.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
Tons of Hokas by Michael Whelan…
The large Hoka drawing was one of the real surprises I dug up in my time in the studio. Michael talked about his Hoka obsession—err, I mean collaboration—with David Wenzel in The Art of Michael Whelan, and here we see an actual example of it.
Of course, I also found various Hoka studies around the house. Please forgive amateur photography. Many of these were taken in tight quarters and odd angles. I should have just pulled the frames down and shot them more deliberately…but y'know, kid in a candy store. There was a lot to take in and a lot of other “work” to do.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
THE DEVIL’S BRIDGE (2017) by Michael Whelan painted for Lucca Comics & Games.
I found this painting in studio for a different reason than most. It wasn’t in storage; Michael just finished it earlier this year for his appearance in Lucca, Italy in November. There he will be exhibiting 35+ of his painted works. Obviously this presents a great opportunity for European fans to see his originals in person.
The bridge that lends the painting its title is a famous landmark. Like similar bridges found in Europe, there’s a legend behind it that involves tricking the devil to get across. Here we see kids and a teenager tricking skirting around the bridge on their way to the comic festival.
Michael was asked to add another detail to the illustration…a maze. Cleverly he added it to the girl’s shirt.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
New Prints Available
Top
