Michael Everett

@stateofgrays.bsky.social

172 Followers 122 Following

In another life I was a purveyor of books. Now I write them. I also manage the website of @michaelwhelan.bsky.social (including original art sales & social media).

Remastered ebook cover for WONDERWORKS featuring THE WHITE DRAGON

Coffee table art book titled MICHAEL WHELAN'S WORKS OF WONDER featuring the illustration GISKARD from ROBOTS OF DAWN

Book cover for THE MAN IN THE MAZE by Robert Silverberg published by iBooks. Features art from WAYFARER AND THE EVENING STAR.

Photo of art book titled SPACE WARS by Steven Eisler, published by Crescent Books, featuring cover art by Chris Moore.

Concept for ELRIC DEMONSLAYER matted in black and framed in gold. Elric's clothes are torn to shreds but he stands victorious straddling a green scaled demon with Stormbringer drawn back over his head ready to deal the killing blow.

Mousepad, playmat, and desk mat featuring Michael Whelan cover art for WIND AND TRUTH for the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson

Lola, posing like a good girl in her new “Merry and Bright” pajamas. She’s black with a mix of brown that is pronounced around her snout.

Detail from THE DRAGON’S SWORD he wears a red scarf around his neck and his long hair is tied in a ponytail. He holds a plain steel sword with a guard curving from hilt to pommel to protect his leather gloved hand. His opposite hand rests on the shoulder of a woman standing with her eyes closed in grief. His eyes are slit as he glances back to the audience.

Tracked art list for Heritage Auctions. Current bids: QUESTION AND ANSWER $3,500, THE GODS LAUGHED $7,500, and preliminary concept for FOUNDATION’S EDGE $10,000

Stick figure drawing backed by a cloud with the words: supervillen, smoke, and fancy shoes.

QUESTION AND ANSWER (1977) - A man stands with a shovel in hand as he regards a cairn set with a makeshift cross made of wood and twine. Around him is a mixed group of humans and bipedal aliens. The humans drop their heads dejectedly. The alien bodies resemble that of a kangaroo while the head, ears, and stripes are reminiscent of a lynx. The scene is set against a pearlescent pink and lavender sky with a huge craggy moon hanging low and another smaller moon floating high above.

Lola emerges from under the cushions of the couch. Her ears are flapped back to expose the pinks and she has one paw forward as she stares with brown puppy dog eyes at the camera

Goofy black dog staring off the balcony at a garbage truck.

Awkward photo of Mike leaning back on the coach after getting back from urgent care. His wrist is in a brace and arm in a sling.

Stray dog wandering in a dry creek bed

Lola (dog) in her crate with towel and toys looking out at something off camera

Lola on leash standing on grass. She turns back to respond to her name. She’s home a stick pointed forward so it resembles a cigar.

Day one - A brown/black stray dog perches on a rock in the park. Her head is tilted as she looks curiously at the camera. She’s clearly a bully breed with a white patch on her chest.

ONE DAY SALE! 20% OFF PRINTS - advertisement for sale featuring the painting SPRINKLES. A pixie rides a small tan bunny with his legs straddling either side of its neck. He glances up at clouds tinged with gray and holds out his hands as if feeling for drops of rain. His other hand rests gently on the bunny's head. Yellow leaves litter the brush where they rest. Stems of plants angle above but provide little cover.

SOMETHING IN MY EYE by Michael Whelan. A man with spiky bleach blonde hair and a punk aesthetic pushes his finger through his eye socket to crowd the adjacent orbital with two brown eyes. Squished together the shapes are distorted and no longer round. Leaning into the poke, his face contorts with the gruesome display. His neck is off-center with the collar of his slick leather jacket, which slides down the round of his shoulder. A thick rubber band twists on his wrist which is also adorned with a braided leather cord, a beaded bracelet and more.

A muscular man stands on an island made of broken ammonite fossils. He wears no clothes except a long white scarf that loosely winds around him. In his hands, he holds an uprooted tree, long and thin, as he faces turbulent seas. In the distance, waves crash into another mound of ammonites, shooting spray upward as water envelops the tiny island.

Photo of downtown Chicago with the river dyed green for St Patrick's day.

Note on the back of the cover flat: "This book cover is one of the reasons why I want to break away from illustrating for a while—even though the guy's weapon of choice thruout the book is an axe—and the author goes out of his way to point it out—the editors at this bk company demanded that I put a _sword_ in his hand instead!

Untitled Elric by Michael Whelan Glazed at low intensity and Nightshade at low intensity, slowest render

Untitled Elric by Michael Whelan Glazed at low intensity and Nightshade at low intensity (fast render)

Detail of Elric in black armor and dragon helm seated on the high branch of a dead tree. White hair flows straight over pauldrons that flare like charred moth wings. A skull rests on Elric's leg which rests along the branch, anchoring anchors against his opposite knee for balance. A dagger is planted in the opposite branch. Two fingers wrap the grip as he thumbs the pommel delicately. Beneath his perch the sun glows the palest yellow, the bottom half draped with the bleak atmosphere of the wastelands.

Screenshot of home screen on Substack including the headline post of WEYRWORLD and a feed of posts from last week.

A trio of bearded Stephen Kings pose in buttoned up navy peacoats with sweaters underneath. The central King stands upright with eyes pressed flat while rubbing his hands. At each side, his companions lean in. On the left is a serious King with hands tucked into his pockets. On the right is a humored King with an expression that says, "What?" as his hands are out, palms up. An unkindness of ravens approaches overhead flying in a zigzag pattern.

A once grand planetary metropolis falls into ruin as massive pillars crash in every direction. Standing casually in the wreckage, an emaciated figure in harlequin garb leans back with knee raised as he plays a futuristic string instrument. A ridiculous ruffled collar makes him look clownish as does the clashing pattern of stars on his shirt and checker board pants, all white on red satin. A tattered pink handkerchief is tied about his calf, but his boots sparkle. His short blonde hair is tussled over a brow raised in question. With his head tilted, his eyes catch the viewer in a knowing glance. His lips are curled in an almost smile.

A woman wrapped in a sheet of white fabric contemplates a red glass heart held at arm's length. The glow of light from behind bathes her long, wavy red hair. She holds her left arm extended exposing one bare breast from beneath the folds of cloth. The pale skin of her arm catches highlights of golden light. Between thumb and forefinger, she pinches a thin red ribbon weighed down by the small glass heart. The wall behind her is made of rough olive stone set with brown ammonite fossils in relief.

A blonde woman in jeans and a white tank top stands on the concrete support of a highway overpass. Most of the structure is lit in golden twilight, but she stands in shadows underneath an expanse of green metal girders. With one arm out, she steadies herself against the structure while raising a lantern on a chain in the other hand. Opposite her, the tall towers of textured concrete combine with the curvature of the road to form an arc on the left side of the painting reminiscent of a question mark. Tall light poles, thin and roughly T-shaped, echo their form in the lower right.

John Carter strikes a heroic pose with rapier in one hand and long dagger drawn back in the other. He plants a foot on a tusked skull sitting in a bed of green and purple ground cover. The wide, smooth trunk of a huge tree rises behind him. At his side, Woola the eight legged Calot, depicted with green scaled skin and a wide, pronounced muzzle, fixes the red bead of its eye on a massive Barsoomian insect hovering left. With the oversized eyes of a fly, the wings of a dragonfly, and a stinger like a scorpion, it presents as a threat with 6 legs drawn up ready to capture prey.

A view down the main street of a western town at night. A man in fancy suit and cowboy hat stands with head down and revolvers crossed in front of him. His thumb cocks the hammer of one gun as he's ready on the triggers of both. His long jacket is confederate gray but the vest underneath is patterned in red. His lapels are notched with the top half dark and the bottom only bordered in black. Light glows warmly from the windows of hastily constructed storefronts casting streaks across on the glistening pebbled street. In the distance behind, a man in top hat steps out onto the cross-bricked sidewalk giving pause as he glances toward Lawson in the foreground. A trio of bats glide about the sharp crescent of moon in the sky above.

Roland carries the body of a boy into the golden light of a clearing in an ancient forest with Oy the billybumbler following close at his side. The trees are rendered with immense verticality compared to the small figures of the foreground. Light filters through the woods, saturating everything as rendered in a palette dominated by yellow and green.

A young girl in a fancy dress with puffy sleeves and lace trim stands in fronts of a wall built of irregular-shaped stone. Thickly framed, a portal in the shape of a five-pointed star is set in the stone. By one point of the star, she swings open the plate that usually covers the view out. With a knowing glance, she turns brown eyes back to the viewer. At her side, held in her other hand, a red glass heart dangles from the tip of her index finger by a looped ribbon.

With bloody sword and shield, a rugged barbarian with long brown hair stands over a vanquished insectile foe that is half buried in the snow. As he straddles the enemy in wide stance with powerful thighs flexed, Kull's mouth hangs open and his cheeks stretch in a primal scream. He wears a ragged loin cloth that hangs low from a belt with metal buckle. A y-shaped strap crosses his chest. His boots are banded leather. Carrion seeking birds fly overhead in blue sky.

With a lantern held at his side, a man reaches out to touch the pitted orange texture of a tall standing stone. Stacked tight with no gaps between, rows of stone stretch endlessly to the horizon. Distant, the evening star can barely be seen in the hazy pink sky.

Streaking down out of a stormy blue sky, a pale skinned hero straddles a motorcycle spewing light from its tailpipes and spinning flame from its wheels. The biker clenches white light in a fist drawn back to strike the bat-like demon that he's bearing down on. The demon perches on the needle of the Chrysler building, holding a female angel bound and captive. Below, saturated fiery orange, the nightmare landscape of the city in ruins in consumed in smoke.

In a rundown alley between brick buildings, a figure wrapped from head to toe in a white sheet confronts the viewer. Beneath, the contour of the face seems skeletal. The sheet is bound tightly with twine, but one hand is slightly extended, struggling to reach out. Although fleshy and human, the hand reaching out has long untrimmed nails. It's not clear from the splayed fingers whether it reaches out in desperation or threat.

A swashbuckling hero stands with arm wrapped around the waist of a beautiful woman in silky gown. She leans in resting a hand on his shoulder. Concern marks her expression while he glances boldly off into the distance, handsome with chiseled features and downturned handlebar mustache. A pair of short black horns extending outward over the ornate gold band that holds back her wild dark hair. Jeweled necklaces spill down her pale skin. The twin loop of a loose gold chain dips from the curve of her hip, wrapping her waist and ending with a round red jewel dangling off the slack end. The torn white sleeve of the man's uniform exposes taut muscle. His belt is accented with a wide gold buckle and his dark pants are form fitting down to his tall leather boots. His rapier glints in the bright sun. The pair stands in front of the wreckage of a city, dome collapsed as two needle-nosed spacecraft arc overhead. The sky is an oversaturated gradient descending from fuchsia to orange.

In a scene lit only by muzzle flash, a disfigured green humanoid grabs the leg of a boy threatening to pull him off a platform. As the boy Jake turns back, his face is etched in horror. Roland, the last Gunslinger, grabs his arm while simultaneously firing his big revolver. Roland's weight is shifted back so the lines of his arms and legs all parallel drawn out on diagonals to add to the sense of motion. From the set of his square jaw and snarl on his lips to his brow pinched in concentration, Roland's expression is pure grit and determination. His eyes are drawn to murderous beads taking aim at the slack jawed, drooling Slow Mutant.

A smooth stone piling stands tall at the edge of the water on a white sand beach. Set near the top, a circle wrought in rusted iron provides a view through to where the water meets the shore. The circle is bisected by a diagonal, like a "no" symbol. Water pools at the base of the piling. The withdrawn tide has left a wavy line of white pebbles deposited along the sinuous coastline.

In long black robes with faces covered, a trio of men wielding katanas look out at the desert as a globe-shaped spacecraft blasts off. In the background left, a robed figure in silhouette stands atop a rocky spire as if conducting. Other figures migrate across the burning sand below to where dunes peak.

A barefoot young woman, wearing an orange shirt and blue jeans, pauses during a long climb up a concrete shaft. Long blonde hair cascades down as she holds onto a makeshift wooden ladder with one hand to look down. The rung directly above her is broken, but she doesn't see it as her attention is focused on the burden she hauls behind her. A rope wrapped about her wrist is drawn taut with the weight of a lantern hanging several feet below. Light illuminates only the shaft beneath her.

A queen in ornate headdress and white feathered cloak holds out two metal trinkets. One is reminiscent of a biohazard symbol. The other is a star chart with two crosses. The beak of her mask and contour around her eyes stand out in muted gold. Otherwise the painting is very cool in tone. An opal is set on her forehead, over more feathers the sweep outward. White braid fall around her delicate, pale face. Placid green-blue water extends behind her to a sailboat and a tiered city that rises like a lopsided pyramid. A sun emerges from behind the city with another smaller orb not far ahead of it in ascension. In the upper right, a fan shaped spacecraft glides the heavens.

A beaked horror treads through hazy clouds of a dusty apocalypse. Black legs, nothing more than bone and ligament, are thrown so far in front in defiance of gravity it may as well be sitting on the blocky slope it descends. It tip toes on a trio of bird-like feet. There's a notch in its beak where nostrils would be, and the remnants of flesh of its victims stretches between jagged serrations.

Twin spires of rock rise against ominous skies billowing with red clouds against a bruised sky of purple and blue. Birds glide in dark silhouette. On the leading sunlit rock face, a young girl in white dress clings to her perch staring off-panel left. With chest faced down, her arms stretch over rock. Her legs are cocked to her side, one touching her abdomen while the other dangles down the edge.

A pair of spiky lobster-like claws pull a strand through a human brain. Suspended above, the abstract shape of a body hangs upside down, wavy and transparent. Inside appears to be human faces screaming in horror intermixed with internal organs (intestines and spine). The structure the claws protrude from is an amalgam of body parts, human and otherwise, including a pair of mismatched blue eyes, a deformed mouth full of uneven teeth. A path atop a winding stone wall leads up to the grotesque monument from the green, grass-like-yet-alien vegetation in the foreground. Behind the structure murky water gently ripples.

Two transparent spheres, each containing a single white flame, float through an arcing concrete passage. The curved walls are structured in rough rectangular panels. Strips of rusted metal trim run parallel to a path of dirt cut into the stone floor and lead around a bend and out to open air. On the wall closest (lower right panel) is a weathered 5-pointed star painted in yellow.

At the end of a long thin ramp of craggy rock, a woman trailing raven black hair casts a glance to the audience as she's poised with weight on her lead foot ready to launch into open air. Much of the painting is dark but a cone of light starting off-panel left highlights her lithe figure. Red background bleeds through thin skirts. The outline of her legs contrasts darkly against rippling folds. An updraft of air captured in the light around her sweeps upward to a hinted outline of mountains. Her arms are flung wide. A long veil wraps the side of her face, frames her chin, and billows out to where she holds the end loosely with the tips of her fingers. Wispy forward-arcing lines—jagged like an abstracted bolt of lightning—descend over her, curving back down to point to her lead knee.

A harsh look down abandoned main street as a dust storm is about to swallow the town, pushing forward from billowing brown clouds on the horizon. In the foreground a stop light hangs papered over with a giant wasp nest. Ominously the red light of the signal protrudes from the nest like an unblinking eye fixated on the viewer. The yellow lane line dividing the street wavers off-center. To the left, a car is overturned. Among the wreckage lies a child's rag doll spilled out the passenger window. An eagle with wings spread wide is painted on the derelict shop window.

With his back to a door reading "NEW YORK•FEDIC", Jake crosses a pair of plates (Oriza) in front of him ready to throw. He wears a white bandana tied around his neck. His tan shirt and orange pants are baggy, and his stance is wide allowing Oy the billy-bumbler to emerge from between his legs snarling. Oy has white and black stripes in his fur and looks like a cross between a badger, dog, and raccoon. The pair are strongly lit from the front as if caught by a spotlight. A paper sign on the wall warns, "VERBAL ENTRY CODE REQUIRED".

Preliminary concept for ELRIC AND THE SINKING CITY (1984) by Michael Whelan. Elric rests an arm on a demon statue that resembles a temple dog. With Stormbringer angled up, he delicately fingers the black runeblade. Beneath his signature black dragon helm, he casts eyes askew in a haughty glance. His yellow tunic bears the chaos star, eight arrows radiating out from a point. At the center is a stylized red eye. His legs armored in shiny plate painted yellow at the joints. His knee rests on the forelimb of the statue. At his feet lies the body of a dead warrior in bloodied chainmail.

HEARTSWOOD (2019) by Michael Whelan. The trunks of a pair of trees twist and wrap in a knot the shape of a four leaf clover. Hanging from a red ribbon is a glass hard positioned at the center of the knot.