Leading off the September Q&A with a loaded question. “Have you ever had to do artwork for a book that you didn’t like?” Find out the answer to that and more in this week’s newsletter. Plus Stormlight original art coming this Wednesday. theartofmichaelwhelan.substack.com/p/september-...

I remember Frank Kelly Freas saying that he always painted illustrations as brightly as possible because he knew that much of the saturation would be lost in reproduction—but in seeing the originals on display sometimes he’d be concerned that he had overcompensated. 1/3

Dragonsbane is a gem! 🌟 Hambly weaves magic with her storytelling. "A tale of courage and heart" indeed! Can't wait to dive back into this one! 📚✨ #Dragonsbane #Fantasy

Definitely a plus seeing this one on the big screen.

It's pretty wild to me that investigators have uncovered that anti-trans campaigns are largely funded by the fossil fuel industry, and that the presumed motivations are pretty directly to redirect the public conversation away from climate change... and that this isn't bigger news.

LAST TRAIN FROM PERDITION (2016) Acrylic on Gessobord - 24” x 18” My only covers for master of horror Robert McCammon came in a pair of novellas published by Subterranean Press. 1/2

I'm Mike, I live in Poland. I draw and paint, both traditional mediums and digital. I'm open for commissions, I also have prints and original art available. Commissions: michalputo.art/commissions/ Original art and signed prints: michalputo.bigcartel.com Prints: www.inprnt.com/gallery/mich...

It's my birthday today! So I would be glad if you share my arts Thank you all for sticking with me!💛

BOOK COVER ARTISTS QRP with your book covers 📚 #BookCovers (Q: “Are you a science fiction cover artist? Or a fantasy cover artist? Or a horror artist? Are you a visual artist or an author?” —- A: “Yes”)

Definitely the left side. First chance I ever got to try to paint Hobbits! Also, the lava was a treat to work on.

THE EAGLES ARE COMING / AT THE END OF ALL THINGS (1978) Acrylic - 28" x 27" I suspect that watching this scene come to life in Peter Jackson's movie adaptation of THE RETURN OF THE KING was as thrilling for me as any fan of THE LORD OF THE RINGS. 1/5

I shared this quickly in passing yesterday on the book cover QRP but wanted to circle back to say... Yes, that's the Donato Giancola sharing his work on Bluesky! Go follow him!

BOOK COVER ARTISTS QRP with your book covers #BookCovers 1. The Poppy War for Fairyloot 2. Master of Crows for Arcane Society 3. The Knight And The Moth for Fairyloot 4. When They Burned The Butterfly for Tor.

The Moss and the Epiphany are 👌

I'll play!

BOOK COVER ARTISTS QRP with your book covers 📚 #BookCovers

FunFactor is *so* close to breaking even and finally chipping away at the invested costs Ty and I have incurred, but we can’t get there without reaching new listeners and generous ULTRA supporters. A share, a rating, a review, a subscription, or any combination of the above make a HUGE difference.

Here’s the most recent one I have done! #BookCovers

Still painting just tired of deadlines. 😉

BOOK COVER ARTISTS QRP with your book covers 📚 #BookCovers (Retired from illustration last year but here are some of my later covers)

SANCTUARY (2019) Oil - 24” x 18” SANCTUARY rose from my desire to revisit thematic ground that inspired my first gallery show at Tree’s Place back in 1997. 1/3

Stephen King himself couldn’t make up his mind what it looked like until the very end, so it was up to whoever illustrated the Tower to come up with whatever felt true to the story, myself included.

THE FLESH KING, the sequel to THE PALE HOUSE DEVIL, is now available for preorder. If you're interested in picking it up, please considering preordering it. It might seem like a small thing, but preorders get books a lot more visibility on sites and help them stay in print. Thanks.

That film scares the hell out of me. The first time I saw it I was fascinated by the concrete but man, that scenario is truly terrifying!!

THE WAR OF THE FLOWERS (2003) Acrylic on Gessobord - 28" x 18" After the Otherland novels, Tad Williams returned to fantasy to tell the tale of a disenchanted rock singer, who once skated by on good looks and charm but has fallen on hard times. 1/3

CHASM (2000) Acrylic on Panel - 30" x 20" I keep a sketchpad next to the bed for recording ideas which arrive as I am falling asleep or waking up... prime time for my "muse channel." 1/2

Thank you for the artshare! ✨ My name is Anna, and I photograph little guys I make out of polymer clay and other materials. ✨ Website: realitysnapped.myshopify.com

As usual with conspiracists, if their theories were true the evidence would be overwhelming.

The Offering 🗡 (at a price) #art

THE GUNSLINGER ON THE BEACH (1982) Acrylic on Board - 28" x 18" The winter months of 1980-81 were tough. My wife and I became parents with the arrival of our daughter in November, and I needn't tell anyone who has children what that means in terms of lifestyle changes...like lack of sleep. 1/4

“Trump did not specify the exact location of the strike, the name of the terrorist organization allegedly involved, or which branch of the U.S. military conducted the operation.” Still missing the mark on the headline…

The Royal Literary Fund are offering grants to writers facing financial difficulties. If you're currently experiencing difficulties, such as an illness or unexpected bill, you might be eligible to receive support.

Calling this portrait study finished :) Really happy with how this turned out. I've been working hard on anatomy and perspective lately and it's given me a lot more confidence in my working process ✨

In this week’s newsletter, we recap our 25K milestone on Bluesky Social. Weird to post about it here I know, but we had such a marvelous response to our art share that we decide to spotlight some of the talented artists who participated: theartofmichaelwhelan.substack.com/p/a-mileston...

Do NOT believe the misinfo going around There absolutely have been MASSIVE TOS updates Most notably: 1) Specifying no FICTIONAL noncon 2) No "dangerous" kink 3) No DISCUSSING self harm, suicide, or substance abuse unless its "educational" So what can we DO about it? #SaveSpeech 1/🧵

bans on art is never about the art that you don't like, it's about the art you DO like. what makes you think the art you like is safe? because you're following the rules? there's nothing gross in it? the fact you make art at all is what's gross, kid. you aren't safe unless the art you hate is.

hey mods do you need me to get this imaginary tree stump's explicit consent to draw it and post it on your platform or what. what do i do here. i'm the one who made it exist but how do i get its permission to your exact standards

As promised: another LIMITED run of our Antifa miniatures shirt courtesy of SlowDeath Games. Only in the shop for a couple of days so nobody's waiting forever for these to arrive. Grab yours now, terrorists!

Hey all Sorry for putting this up yet again, I need some help buying food and paying some bills, I'm not in a good situation at the moment which I'm trying to get out of as most of you know so If you can spare any tips to help me out that would be amazing. www.buymeacoffee.com/robotwig Thanks 🙏

If you found that Jimmy Kimmel getting pulled due to FCC coercion was a heinous attack on free speech (& it sure as hell is!) wait till you hear about the 10,000 books that have been banned in schools & libraries! If you're an author, join the fight @authorsabb.bsky.social We're stronger together!

This platforms moderation is currently unable to tell the difference between artistic/non-sexual nudity and explicit pornography How do you expect them to be able to differentiate between consensual and non-consensual?

A promotional #LOTR drawing by Mike Ploog (1978)

AMETHYST FANTASY (2016) Acrylic on Masonite - 7" x 5" When I'm painting a tight area with my nose to the canvas, a larger palette becomes something of a nuisance. 1/3

Here's a short happy-go-lucky 🎶 parody about the way that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is now collapsing American healthcare - based off #PaulSimon's toe-tapping "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard". youtu.be/FDiXrd-R68U It's called: "Measles and Polio Down in the Schoolyard."

To all the comedians who stood for free speech in the face of wokeness

THE COSMIC COMPUTER (1977) Acrylic on Illustration Board - 28" x 18" The abandonment of the Apollo program tracks pretty well with the erosion of interest in real science fiction. I’m not talking about Fantasy SF, like Star Wars; that’s a different matter altogether. 1/4

PASSAGE TO THE SUN (2006) Acrylic on Panel - 10" x 8" The first of my Stone Portals paintings, which can be considered a subset of my Passage works. 1/2

Reasons to use alt text for art: -Helps blind people (YAY) -Boosts your post. Feeds that pick up "Mermaid" will include a post that says "A mermaid lays on a rock" in alt even if actual post caption doesn't mention the word -alt says 'art', it counts as #art -Some ppl only repost art w/ alt text

ABC immediately caves to tiniest bit of gov’t pressure. If you don’t defend basic free speech rights, you’ll lose them. Simple as that. Gov’t hasn’t just threatened us at media matters, they’ve actually used power against us. We don’t fold, we fight in court. If we can, ABC has no excuse