Last year I had the pleasure of being commissioned by Shawn Speakman, of Grim Oak Press, for an illustrated revisit on a fantasy classic, The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams. Some how this novel had not crossed my path before except through the very well known Michael Whelan cover executed for DAW Books. I am actually quite familiar with ALL the covers Michael has created for Tad Williams, especially To Green Angel Tower (below), one of Michael’s best, hands down.
Needless to say, it was a bit daunting to paint in Michael’s shadow. One of the saving graces here was that another six interior, full color pieces were commissioned in addition to the cover which allowed me to step away from cover needs and explore many of the other characters found within the narrative.
The cover wrap around was just publicly unveiled this past Friday. I was luckily enough to have shot a few process jpgs of this image, in part because I did not create my typical detailed preliminary drawing to guide me, and wanted to see how the choices affected the final image resolution.
Rough Concept Drawing- The Dragonbone Chair 11″ x 8.5″
Initial Acrylic Wash- The Dragonbone Chair 18″ x 34″
Second Acrylic Pass – The Dragonbone Chair 18″ x 34″
Beginning of Oils – The Dragonbone Chair 18″ x 34″
Final Cover Art – The Dragonbone Chair 18″ x 34″ Oil on Panel
I just wanted to take this opportunity to say how much I love Michael Whelan’s work. His artwork will always be something special to me mostly because his book “The Art of Michael Whelan” was my first big “Art Book”. I poured over it so many many times in absolute awe, I couldn’t understand how you could do what he did with paint, it just didn’t make sense to me back then, it was just this whole other level of art that I’d yet been exposed to. I still have it, dust jacket long lost, stains on the cover of the book, looking a bit worn among the now hundred or so art books I now own, along with one of yours. 😉 But his book started it all for me, even before I dreamed of being an artist, back then I was going to play football, I was more jock than art nerd, but his book along with a few others blew my freaking mind.
Thanks for the post here as always, your work is a constant inspiration to so many artists and meeting you at Lightbox a few years ago was a real joy. Be well man!
Thank you Levi.
What is interesting, but not surprising, was when a decade ago I went through the old book collection I had read as a young man, and just how many of those were books with Whelan (and Darrell Sweet) as cover artists.
I wasn’t reading authors as much as selecting books (unconsciously) illustrated with art I liked. Wow!
I’ve discovered authors because the cover was by an artist I admired, or have gotten a book because of the art. When I was still buying comics, decades ago, I would often buy some strictly for the cover. Sometimes, I’d read them.
The power of the cover art for books on those of us making a purchase can not be understated haha.
To bounce off Levi’s comment,I remember seeing work like his and being inspired by cover art of fantasy novels. It brings back memories of going to used book stores and finding the dusty covers of fantasy books, finding it surprising difficult to find the name of the illustrators. Although I wanted to and still want to do work like this, in my earlier years I had to put images like this away and focus on my own growth because seeing their work next to mine made my efforts feel futile. Fast forward over a decade later and I still have no idea whatsoever how you do this. I can plainly see the stages, but how to actually accomplish those stages I can’t for the life of me figure out, even after over a decade of practice, I feel my efforts only have made me appreciate how masterful you guys are and how monumentally far behind I am. I feel like I’m witnessing an alchemy I’ll never understand.