Michael Whelan is my favourite Fantasy/Science Fiction artist. It’s not even close. This painting, depicting Roland of Deschain and the long road he travels in his search for the Dark Tower, is another example of why. Whelan has stepped away from the cover art business in recent years, but is currently working on a painting for Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings, which is released next year. I can’t wait to see it.
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Many artists who have been in the business as long as Michael Whelan have long-since lost their touch, but Whelan only seems to have reached new levels of mastery. Bravo.
Yeah, Whelan just keeps getting better and better. He’s truly one of the masters of Fantasy and Science Fiction artwork.
I think it speaks to his work ethic and how he organizes his creative life. He does what he wants to now but he still always tries to capture it perfectly. Even when he was doing many covers for the industry, he would step away, get himself into a sensory deprivation tank, and come out of it revitalized.
This painting, for instance, is one he tried once before. He spent two weeks trying to make it work and failed. He then just started over. The first try was unacceptable, by his standards, and I think many artists working for a living producing numerous covers get stuck into, “I have to deliver this on time otherwise I don’t get paid” syndrome. That means less time is spent on a piece.
I really hope he can produce reproductions of this so I can buy it. It will go nicely with my other two.
I’m truly loving the look of this one. I’d love to have it as a painting.
Even if I wasn’t a fan of the series, I’m sure it would be one worth having. Whelan delivers.
Whelan is certainly one of a small handful of cover artists who sit at the very top of my list of favorites, and this is an excellent example of his work. I finally got around to reading the Foundation series last year, in large part because for years I have been a fan of Whelan’s cover for Second Foundation and I wanted desperately to get to that novel to find out who the girl on the cover was. I’m also a big fan of his work on the John Carter books. But really, it is all great.