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Reposted by Michael Whelan

Frank Conniff @frankconniff.bsky.social · 5h

One of the Trump Administration's most openly fascist moments and CNN edits it out.

Tells you everything you need to know about a news network that has a firm policy against telling you everything you need to know.

Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 17h

Stephen Miller said the quiet part out loud. Trump has “plenary authority,” then suddenly went silent. Their plan wasn’t to be public yet. Clearly, someone hit the panic button in his earpiece.

It gets weirder: CNN uploaded the interview with the “plenary authority” comment edited out.
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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 6h

There is always that!

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 6h

Sam Altman said, “ChatGPT is in fact a better doctor than your doctor today, with almost a hundred percent certainty.”

Why do we take these people seriously?

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 6h

“AI just makes every individual a super-PhD in every topic.” 🤣

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 6h

Easily the stupidest thing I’ve read all day.

What lies beneath the bullshit is that the AI push is about concentrating wealth into the hands of five tech companies. People aren’t part of the equation.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 6h

ANDREESSEN: Even if AI ends up destroying all the jobs, “the result would be hyper-deflation of prices, which is the thing that people miss. .. Things that today cost a lot of money will all of a sudden be cheap or free.”

@fortune.com
fortune.com/2025/10/08/b...

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 9h

Cover illustration for THE NONBORN KING by Julian May (Del Rey) 4/4

www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/no...

Book cover for THE NONBORN KING by Julian May, published by Del Rey Books.

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 9h

There is so much of interest to illustrate in Julian May’s “Pliocene Exile” series that I’m amazed at not finding more art derived from her books in science-fiction convention art shows. 3/4

Tonal preliminary concept in white and gray featuring a smiling man with a ghostly aura leaning against the stone railing of a curved bridge. He wears a feathered cap and appears to be propping his chin on a rod. The towers of the fantastical city behind him are roughly rendered lines with sharps white dots defining the structure, as if they were strung with lights. Behind, mountains rise to meet a cloudy sky.

Tonal preliminary concept in bronze and black that approximates the final cover for THE NONBORN KING. A man on an alien black war horse is caught mid-leap with a fantastical city in the low background. He holds a ball of fire in one hand and a short rod in the other.

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 9h

The multihued splendor of the costumes and events in this book might have been more appropriately recreated with the intensity of acrylics than with the subtle tones of watercolors. 2/4

Detail from THE NONBORN KING featuring a red-haired man on a black war horse caught mid-leap with a fantastical city in the low background.

Background detail from THE NONBORN KING featuring a raised path winding toward a fantastical city with ivory towers capped in gold.

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 9h

THE NONBORN KING (1983)
Mixed Media on Watercolor Board - 28” x 18”

Once or twice a year, for a change of pace, I work in watercolors as I did in this painting. Sometime later I decided that I should have used acrylics instead. 1/4

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Reposted by Michael Whelan

Anonymous @youranoncentral.bsky.social · 2d

Jane Goodall offers sage advice for the rest of us. #3E

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 1d

This personal work was later used for the album cover for Dark Ages by Soulfly, but I made some changes at the request of the band, specifically Max Cavalera. 3/3

www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/ap...

Album cover for DARK AGES by Soulfly featuring the painting APOTHEOSIS OF WAR with some minor changes, most notably to the helmet of war. The closely-placed, outward curving horns have been removed and the position of War’s head is angled as if looking down.

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 1d

This painting was a reaction to news of the fighting in Sarajevo in 1992, but unfortunately war as a topic for art will be universal and eternal. 2/3

Detail from APOTHEOSIS OF WAR featuring the embodiment of war rendered in white on black. Its arms and armor are an abstraction with wide spiky pauldrons bearing mouths open as if screaming. The helm too tall with extra cheek plates as if it contained more than one face. The abdomen is covered with an animal skull snarling out at the viewer.

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 1d

APOTHEOSIS OF WAR (1992)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 20” x 19”

People often ask me, “Where do you get your ideas?”

I always have so many that I don’t think I’ll live long enough to paint them all...and if I ever experience a shortage, I just have to pick up the morning paper. 1/3

A white on black abstract rendering of the culmination of war. It stands with arms flung out as if declaring "look what I have wrought!" Horns sit upon its helm pointing up and outward in a slight arc. Eye slits sit high with a double opening between jagged cheek plates. The effect elongates the helm, an inhuman distortion that looks more devil than man. The collar and pauldrons are wide, overwrought and wickedly spiked. Open mouths scream from the underside, echoes of suffering or cries of bloodlust. The figure is skeletal with one bony foot exposed beneath long flowing tattered robes loosely wound with barbed wire. Lines across the fabric of its chest suggest ribs as if there's no other substance beneath but bone. The hands, however, are tense, anguished flesh with long curving nails as if saying the delicate instruments of war are all too human. Projecting like bladed weapons from each sleeve, the sleek heads of a dragon and a long-beaked demonic bird extend in a mockery of open arm

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Reposted by Michael Whelan

🎃SCARE-sha🎃 @spacethey.gay · 1d

from a purely economic standpoint, thats a 46% return on investment. literally wasting money by not doing it!!!

Mike Sowden @mikeachim.bsky.social · 2d

Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...

Post from Threads user rodneyowl: "Ireland has declared the Basic Income for Artists scheme permanent. This will be officially announced in tomorrow’s budget. Details to follow. Congratulations to all who fought for it and the present and future artists of all sorts in Ireland. That includes me 👌We’re just comin to the end of a 3 year pilot scheme. It’s been a roaring success. For every €1 paid out to the 2000 participants, the government got €1.46 back. Can’t argue with that. Other countries are already taking note."

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 2d

😀🙌

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 2d

The essential problem there was the clash between the fashion style photography and the painted images in the background.

I love the look of the outfit, though! It’s like something Trinity would have worn in The Matrix. 3/3

Fashion model in black dress posed angled from behind stands in front of an open door with the Dark Tower behind it (LEGENDS THE GUNSLINGER). Text on the fake book cover reads:

Nicolas Ghesquiére presents:
Chloe Grace Moretz
SECRET SISTER
What if you knew you weren't alone?

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 2d

2) Several of my SF covers were used as backdrops for a series of fashion ads for Louis Vuitton in 2020. They used my work to create some fake “SF/Fantasy book covers." 2/3

A man in a cowboy hat and tattered leather duster steps through an open doorway that hovers impossibly a foot off the ground. A gun is holstered on his left hip. On close examination, the index and middle finger of his right hand are shortened to stubs. At his feet lies a thicket of vibrant red roses littered with human skulls. Straddling the doorway, the Gunslinger stands in awe of a massive, asymmetrical tower so tall that it blocks the sun. Traces of cloud sweep across the field of view and up the height of the tower, creating a hazy atmospheric effect that obscures the detail of the tower. Ravens circle the field just about the horizon.

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 2d

Several people asked for examples of "surprising" secondary usage. Two come immediately to mind:

1) “The Ultimate Enemy” was used as the background in a magazine ad for a company that made fans, of all things. I can’t for the life of me figure out what the connection was supposed to be. 1/3

THE ULTIMATE ENEMY (1979) - A monstrously large robot looms on the horizon while a simple plant sprouts defiantly from barren, rocky soil in the near foreground. The arms of the robot lurch forward with fingers tensed to grip, implying a sense of forward motion, marching toward the plant. While it's body resembles a stocky biped, it's head is an asymmetrical jumble, which on close examination looks like a futuristic buildings set off-center right upon its shoulders. Stiff antennae protrude upward from head and shoulders. Red eye-like lights are set akimbo, an uneven diagonal that adds to the sense of uneasiness about the mechanical monstrosity.

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 2d

Also, I hadn’t done a painting with a castle in it for years and I couldn’t pass up the chance.

Cover illustration for DRAGONSBANE by Barbara Hambly (Del Rey) 4/4

www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/dr...

Book cover for DRAGONSBANE by Barbara Hambly, published by Del Rey Books.

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 2d

Is he saving her or about to dine on her? That kind of uncertainty draws the reader in and entices him or her to buy the book to find out what is going on. 3/4

Detailed charcoal drawing on toned paper featuring a huge black dragon holding a woman in its forelimbs. While some of its features including its barbed tail look menacing, it seems to be cradling her, not seizing her. Off to the side to human figures stand with cloaks carried by the wind.

Detail from DRAGONSBANE featuring a black dragon gently holding out an unconscious woman in its taloned foreclaws while a pair of men look on from a mist-shrouded staircase in front of the castle. A drawbridge tilts just behind partially obscurred by the dragon’s wings. Carved into the wood is the artist’s sigil—the stylized letters M and W framed in a circle.

Close detail from DRAGONSBANE featuring the black dragon Morkeleb. Its neck curls sharply to a pair of downturned horns, spiked forehead, and narrow pointed beak-like mouth. Its pearlescent eye—rendered a delicate pink and purple—is narrowed to a sinuous slit. But perhaps its most interesting feature are the feathery tendrils that curl just behind its head, a contrast to its scales, suggesting a mane in motion.

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 2d

A narrative approach seemed best for this cover and I chose this particular scene because of the uncertainty of the relationship between the woman and the dragon. 2/4

Tonal alternate preliminary concept for DRAGONSBANE featuring a dragon propping up an unconscious woman while a man is taken aback by the sight of it. The dragon has two forward facing horns atop its head and a shaggy mane that droops partly down its long neck. Thoughtful eyes focus overhead and off panel right. Its wings are flared out at a 45 degree angle and its tail winds with bristly barbed end pointed up. Behind it rises a cluster of structural pillars with adjacent archways so large the they cut off on both sides of the panel.

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 2d

DRAGONSBANE (1985)
Acrylic - 28” x 18”

I loved this book—the protagonists and dragon are very engaging and held my interest right from the start. 1/4

On a platform in front of a stone castle wall a black dragon rises on back legs while holding out an unconscious woman in its clawed forelimbs. There’s intelligence reflected in the slit of purple eyes that focus downward. On its head, it has a pair of curving, forward facing horns, a short shaggy mane, and a fin that runs down the back of its long, sinuous neck. Its form is all scales and bristles, but despite the fearsome appearance its body language suggests gentle care. Farther back, a pair of men stand on mist shrouded stairs leading down from the front of the castle. A drawbridge carved with the artist’s sigil tilts forward slightly ajar.

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 3d

In this week’s newsletter, a story about the weekend I attempted—and almost completed—50 paintings at the Baby Tattooville art gathering in 2008.

theartofmichaelwhelan.substack.com/p/youth-is-w...

A mottled blue egg rests in the mouth of a bird skeleton with beak out and wings bones spread in front of a rusted background. A quotation is presented on lavender paper wearing at the edges: "What if there were no grownups? Suppose the whole idea of grownups was an illusion? What if their money was just playground marbles, their business deals no more than baseball-card trades, their wars just games of guns in the park? What if they were all still snotty-nosed kids inside their suits and dresses?"

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 4d

Also, I like to make sure—whenever possible—that a reuse of a painting goes for something that feels harmonious to the feel or intent of its original commission. In spite of that though, some of the secondary uses for my artwork have been, er, “surprising.” 😉 3/3

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Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 4d

Out of respect for the original commission I generally stay away from secondary rights sales of my work until the first use has been released and in publication for a considerable length of time. 2/3

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