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Michael Whelan is no longer here (see sticky) Profile picture
Michael Whelan is no longer here (see sticky)
@whelanmichael
Admin @StateOfGrays Find Michael at: 📷 🧵 theartofmichaelwhelan 🦋 https://t.co/oyO3lGofvu 🐘 @MichaelWhelan@mastodon.art
Dec 26, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
ELLIE'S DREAM (2010)
Acrylic - 40" x 30"

The vision came to me exactly as you see it here. I was thinking about the Moon Race and the clear cloudless skies of my childhood days in California. 1/4 A girl in pink shirt and blue jeans perches atop a hollow framework of metal that snakes upward. Most of the painting is clear atmospheric background as the metal structure twists and turns up into the blue sky, seemingly reaching where the gibbous moon hangs. Ellie has a perfect view propping herself at the top of the structure with arms locked so that her upper body reaches above the support. In the immediate foreground right we get the barest sliver of a rooftop, but it's not clear if the metal structure is supported by it or rises up just beyond it. The curving structure is shaped to resemble a wind-twisted rocket contrail something I witnessed many times living near Vandenberg missile base. 2/4 Closer view of ELLIE'S DREAM in which the metal structure that snakes upward toward a gibbous moon hanging in clear blue sky.
Aug 7, 2023 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
I hate to start the week like this, but admin 🧵:

Over the weekend, we received an email about copyright abuse that detailed how Michael's art was being used to produce computer generated images in his style. Screencap includes images that closely resemble NIGHTFROST and TRANTORIAN DREAM. The text caption provides details that include a statement from the platform that the model is being disputed as a copyright violation. There is an appeal to support the user on Patreon along with text praising Michael Whelan as an artist. First and foremost, this was done without permission—to be clear Michael will never authorize this kind of use—and it wasn't just "fine tuning."

Uploading copyright images without care or concern for the wishes of the artist is theft of intellectual property. Screencap caption reads, "A verified artist believes this model was fine-tuned on their art. We're discussing this with the model creator and artist."
Feb 10, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
FILED TEETH (1980)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 30" x 22"

Ace Books contacted me about doing a cover painting for one of a two-book series: DRAGONS OF LIGHT and DRAGONS OF DARKNESS. My art was to be for the second volume. FILED TEETH, 1980, Acrylic on Watercolor Board, 30" x 2 The book was an anthology, but I chose to depict a specific scene from a story by Glen Cook because it was appropriately gloomy and lent itself to the suggestion in the title very well.

I completed the painting, delivered it, and bent my mind to the next task. Interior illustration for "Filed Teeth," a story b
Dec 12, 2022 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
THE WHITE DRAGON (1978)

Acrylic on Masonite - 20" X 30"

Although this is the third book in the series, it was my first Pern cover, and I was determined to create the dragons as faithfully to Anne McCaffrey's description as possible. THE WHITE DRAGON, 1978, Acr... Even with her rather specific description of her dragons, I found plenty of room for individual interpretation. Image
Sep 10, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
A 🧵of fun illustrations I did for the "What if" section of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PICTURE ATLAS OF OUR UNIVERSE by Roy A. Gallant (1986).

1). Jellyblimps and Swordtails of Jupiter What if Jupiter: Jellyblimp... 2). Oucher-Pouchers of Venus What if Venus: Oucher-Pouchers