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| 2010: A Space Odyssey courtesy of Michael Whelan. Click to EMBIGGEN |
Michael did 10 separate proofs for the publisher before selecting this one. The spaceship Discovery is positioned to kind of seem like a baby's rattle. It's more of the symbolism that Whelan always includes in his paintings. And of course, showing the baby against the backdrop of our solar system's largest planet, Jupiter, is a hint that Jupiter will become the origin of life for its own solar system when the monolith causes the gas giant to experience nuclear fusion and ignite.
FACT: Michael doesn't like using an airbrush. But he does do a lot of painting on masonite. I asked Stephen Hayes about masonite and he gave me the rundown on it which was QUITE extensive.
Well folks, that's my last post in this mini-series. I hope I got you to be a fan of Michael Whelan and will check out his website to see his other works. Not so much because you could ever get him to do your books or anything like that. But because he's gotten old, and I want you to feel sad one day when he dies. I want you to know INSTANTLY that someone great has left the human race.
Oh and his signature is on this painting. It's embedded in the details of the Discovery spaceship. I searched forever to find it.
Tomorrow is my last post for the year. My book tour for Oculus starts on Monday, so I'll be posting on other blogs. I have a giveaway announcement tomorrow for a $50 Amazon gift card to encourage you to support me on my book tour (and it's super easy). Just one tweet a day and a comment on tomorrow's post to let me know you tweeted. Sounds great, right? You don't even need to visit my book tour posts (yeah you heard that right)! That's like one minute of your time per day.
More details to come tomorrow. Have a great Thursday.
This is an absolutely beautiful cover. Even in the age of photoshop. I just sat and stared at it for a few minutes, taking in all the different details.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing it with us! And best of luck on your booktour. I'll definitely do some Tweeting for you. :)
Bah! I'm not a twitterer!
ReplyDeleteI could look at that painting for hours. It'll be a big loss when he's gone.
ReplyDeleteLOL, why are you guys talking like he's about to die? haha!
ReplyDeleteMy husband is friends with him and as far as I know he is in great health. Also, his work is AMAZING!
Didn't know he didn't like using an airbrush.
ReplyDeleteThat makes me want to break out in "Blue Christmas".
ReplyDeleteNext Friday is when your tour gets to grace my blog. Hooray!
You've certainly made a Whelan fan out of me.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to have you at my blog later this month!
love Michael Whelan and loved this series on your blog :)
ReplyDeleteNice series on a great artist.
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Best of luck with your book tour.
ReplyDeleteAwe dang! I'm so sorry I missed an opportunity for you to post on my blog.
ReplyDeleteBut that's what happens when I don't get into the bloggosphere enough.
Thanks so much for introducing me to Michael Whelan. :-)
Wow. I had to embiggen that beautiful piece of art for sure. Wish I had that kind of talent. I used to paint, but I haven't done so in a few years.
ReplyDeleteContest? I'm so there!
I'd love to do whatever I can to support you on your book tour, Michael.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's really pretty dangerous for you to put the link in to Whelan's website, 'cause prints of his art are for sale and I really, really, can't spend the money right now, even if I love some of his stuff.
@Helena: Thanks! Yeah I put one of the more affordable art prints on my Christmas wish list. If I get it, I'm going to get a super nice frame job for it (probably in the $300 range).
ReplyDelete@everyone else: Thanks for all the support!
Blog tour? Make sure to send us all postcards.
ReplyDeleteOh, wow, it took me a minute to see the face. Duh. Very cool. And thanks for introducing me to this artist. I didn't know anything about him before.
ReplyDeleteThe man does a credit to humanity for the work he's produced. I'm glad I came back to the blogosphere this week so I got to see your posts. Anytime you post about art I get excited.
ReplyDeleteAnd 2010 was a powerful movie for me. I saw it when I was pretty young and thought the spacewalk was the most terrifying thing I'd ever seen. It was the first time I had considered that space might be scary. I still haven't read the book yet.
Thanks for posting these. I honestly don't know that much about art, but I learned something...which is good. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting these. I really enjoyed them.
ReplyDeleteThat is a pretty amazing cover... wow.
ReplyDeleteI heard Michael Whelan speak at a Worldcon. He said he has a photographic memory for paintings, and he can tell when someone has copied someone else's paintings.
ReplyDeleteHe's not shy about confronting artists about it, and he seemed like he would be intimidating.
I loooooove Michael Whelan!! I adore all of his covers and have a few of his books. I have every book he's done the cover for on my to-read list. I judge those books by their cover for sure.
ReplyDeleteHis artwork for McCaffrey's Pern series was the reason I began reading the series. I have both a t-shirt and a framed print of The White Dragon.
ReplyDeleteSuper cool image!
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