Michael Whelan

THE SNOW QUEEN (1988)
Acrylic on Panel - 36” x 24”

Though the cover illustration by Leo and Diane Dillon on the first edition of The Snow Queen, by Joan D. Vinge, was excellent, Warner Books decided to commission me to do a new one.

Perhaps the sequel was in the works, and they wanted a consistent style on the covers of the two volumes. 1/4

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #sff #joanvinge

Nov 3 at 12:54pmWeb
Show threadMichael WhelanNov 3
It’s a terrific novel, but painting a cover for it was a real challenge. I knew there would be plenty of inspiration to be found within its pages, and in fact, my first response was that there was too much—too much epic quality to capture in one illustration. 2/4
Show threadMichael WhelanNov 3
Eventually it occurred to me that the mask, important in so many ways to the story, would be an ideal way to feature several of the themes and characters of the book within a design context that wasn’t a montage. It was a solution that satisfied me—I loathe the montage as a book cover approach. 3/4
Show threadMichael WhelanNov 3

Cover illustration for THE SNOW QUEEN by Joan Vinge (Warner / Questar) 4/4

https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/snow-queen/

Show threadWoozle HypertwinNov 3
@MichaelWhelan Joan is in our knit group! I keep meaning to get a copy of that book (and the rest of the series) -- I've only read the stories she published in Analog in the late 70s. :-/
Show threadDavid QuinteroNov 3
@MichaelWhelan superb cover. Among my favourites ever.
Show threadFeralRobotsNov 3
@MichaelWhelan Respect that you so consistently uphold the work of colleagues on previous editions.