Pope Leo absolutely cooking

Some Magical Girls are WOLVES- 2025

In this week’s newsletter, we dive deep into magical waters for the making of SEAWALL. If you enjoy process features, you don’t want to miss this one! theartofmichaelwhelan.substack.com/p/magical-wa...

Reminder!! Still taking discounted gift commissions!

Truth be told, I ended up liking the painting better with the eyes subdued. I never did remove the thin painted tape, so the painting (which hangs in a hallway leading to my studio) still looks like the book cover. 1/2

PERILOUS PLANET (2022) Acrylic - 7 ½” x 6” Palette Gremlins are often a matter of perspective. 1/3

steam is apparently allowing "this game had AI in it that it didn't disclose" as a valid return statement, so if you or anyone you know actually paid $70 for slop, get that money back

CHANUR’S BREAKOUT (1991) Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 30” X 22” An opportunity to paint C.J. Cherryh’s catlike Hani was always welcome. I was fortunate to have done several covers for this popular series, yet for CHANUR’S LEGACY I came up with more new concepts than ever before. 1/5

It appears that I did!

SUBTERRANEANS (1992) Acrylic on Canvas - 44” x 33” Companion piece to CLIMBER and THE RED STEP, this painting is firmly set within my Faded Star series. My original conception of the image didn’t seem right somehow, and I had been wondering how I could improve on it. 1/4

"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." Justice Louis Brandeis, born on this day in 1856

Tech brains broken part 1000000000 (this lady is a partner at Andreessen apparently)

A KNIGHT OF MADNESS (1981) Acrylic - 36” x 26” Each time the reader returns to M. John Harrison’s Viriconium, the fictional city that borrows its name from the historic Roman-English settlement, the city is changed. 1/2

PRESENCE (1992) Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 30” x 36” Originally done as a large color study for another painting, it has become a favorite of mine just as it is. www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/pr...

If you thought Frankenstein's Tower in the Guillermo del Toro movie looked cool, check out the real-world inspiration behind it...

DRAGON FIRE (1989) Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 32” x 20” After I submitted my concept sketch for the cover of SUNRUNNER’S FIRE by Melanie Rawn, I realized that the anatomy of the dragon’s wings was inconsistent with the structure on the other covers I had done for the series. 1/3

In this week’s newsletter, we delve into legendary territory. The year was 1977…with STORMBRINGER, I completed work on the Elric Saga and received my first World Fantasy Award nomination. theartofmichaelwhelan.substack.com/p/1977-year-...

Faerie seer for MTG. 20x16 oil on board. I hope I’ll get a chance to paint more faeries for MTG someday! They’re a lot of fun.

Another portrait of a gloomy dude with horns and beard 😺

The painting had to be done in a hurry, though after all these years I don’t recall why. Maybe some other artist was originally slated to do the assignment but muffed it? I don’t know... 1/6

HORN CROWN (1981) Acrylic - 29” x 18” Another long established series that I worked on early in my career. This was my third and final cover for Andre Norton’s Witch World, but the first chronologically detailing how humans arrived on the planet. 1/3

Good morning! AI is being force-fed to you by a handful of billionaires who will lose a bunch of money if they fail to convince you that you need it. You do not need it 🫶

I have several small paintings in my shop, including framed pieces. These are nice for gifting if you happen to be looking for gift ideas. Tisha Mark ©2025, To Dream by the Sea No. 2503, oil on gessobord, 4"x4" Available: tishamark.com/product/to-d... #art #painting #bsnm #SciArt #TraditionalArt

Happy birthday to @fondalee.bsky.social's "Jade City," B1 in The Green Bone Saga! I went nuts painting a huge montage of characters and moments from the series, for @orbitbooks.bsky.social's box set. Now, for 7 days only, oversized prints of the art are available here: www.tommyarnoldart.com/prints

throwback sketches. Mouse shapes #art #ink #doodle

ELRIC OF MELNIBONÉ (1976) Oil on Canvas Board - 24” x 18” Originally published in 1972 as THE DREAMING CITY, this novella was later reprinted by DAW and would be the first of my Elric covers. 1/2

We were asked about the legitimacy of a remarque being discussed in a collector group. It's clearly a fake, which should be obvious by the line work and messed up signature. The eBay seller has been notified. ~ME

Hey illustrators/agents! I’m a #kidlit art director starting work on a new picture book—we’re looking for: expressive, commercial, human characters; texture (printmakingish); AND BATS! Lively, active, swarming BATS! Please respond w/ samples + folio link. Please no emails/DMs. 💙❤️ #artcommissions

As I’ve mentioned before, I usually work from background to foreground. It requires a lot of care when working on the forward elements because mistakes are then more difficult to correct in a way that escapes detection — though not impossible. 😉

RISING (2007) Acrylic on Watercolor board - 36” X 24” This image came to me while I was working on THE RIVER in 1996. 1/3

Sam Altman: Give me billions of dollars and I’ll destroy the world US Government: Don’t you mean “OR” you’ll destroy the world? Sam Altman: I said what I said

It's 20 years since @seanphillips.bsky.social and I exchanged a sketchbook back and forth in the mail, a drawn &painted call and response. INTERSECTIONS may be out of print but here is a flip through that sketchbook. You can still find the book out there :)

PASSAGE TO SANCTUARY: ARRIVAL (1994) Digital In the early 90s, Michael began experimenting with digital painting. Rendering was painfully slow on his Mac back then, so he brought in textures through scans of his brushwork. 1/3 www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/pa...

Got a batch of oldie but goodies! $30 shipped, US DM if interested

The billionaires can buy the newspapers and buy social media and buy attack ads, but they can't buy their way out of how much we fucking hate all of them.

We're all going to write pieces about what you can learn from tonight but it's actually pretty simple: The frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.

thank you for the outpouring of support! those of us laid off from Teen Vogue yesterday are now sharing our GoFundMe to help us cover our emergency expenses now that we've lost our incomes, as we get back on our feet.

#dailyart 60, study I joined in over at r/birds with their protest, as the subreddit allows AI generated birds. Original photo by u/finchplease1

For this Whelan Wednesday, we have a large charcoal study for ARRIVAL from Passage to Sanctuary. This original will be available in our shop Nov 5 at 11am ET. A preview is now available for our paid supporters on Substack: theartofmichaelwhelan.substack.com/p/passage-to...

My nieces and nephews could not comprehend how I could draw, how I was drawing something right in front of them. This sucks.

Hit exactly 8K followers this morning! Let's do an Artshare before the bots unfollow and I fall below 🤪 Share and like each others' art No AI No NFT

PATIENCE (1996), Acrylic on Panel - 13” x 10 ½” All the virtues represented in my series of the same name are ones that seem to me to be in short supply today. 1/2

Good morning. I don't know who did this, but I love you.

You should be kind

Teen Vogue took young people seriously. It's impossible to overstate how important, how rare, and how profoundly needed that is.

thank you for all the support; the statement from our union is now live here with some more reporting. now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.

I continue to wonder when Americans will decide enough is enough. As Frederick Douglass reminds us: “The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

Holy Majesty!! That costume is beyond amazing! Perfectly executed. I’m flabbergasted at the meticulous attention to detail, the spirit of the whole piece. I’m honored that something I thought up was worthy of such interpretive care and artistry.

Yes, here's the classic illo from Leo and Diane Dillon, a marvelous painting.

A reminder there are 2 early cover paintings and a prelim for Foundation's Edge at auction with Heritage that end tomorrow (11/4). Prices on the covers will probably jump during the live auction but both look like bargains now. Details here. ~ME theartofmichaelwhelan.substack.com/p/michael-wh...