Michael WhelanDRAGON LORD (1991)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 32" x 20"
What goes into a compelling cover? Obviously the majestic portrait of hero and dragon would be enough to intrigue any fan. 1/5
But for the loyal reader, it's the bandage, the glowing flame, and the sad but resolute look in the hero's eyes that announces an epic struggle is concluding here. 2/5
From early in my career, I tried to avoid being pigeonholed as an artist by diversifying assignments, working across genres from science fiction to horror. With fantasy—and dragons in particular—it seemed inevitable that art directors viewed me as that artist. 3/5
In 50 years as a professional illustrator, I painted 20 dragon covers in total. Nine were commissioned for Anne McCaffrey’s beloved Dragonriders of Pern series. Notably, seven were done for the excellent Sunrunner trilogies by Melanie Rawn. 4/5
Cover illustration for SKYBOWL by Melanie Rawn (DAW)
https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/dragon-lord/
Drayson@MichaelWhelan I love your work so much!! As someone who's EXTREMELY obsessed with dragons, like to the point I might just be a dragon myself, artwork like yours means sooo much to me. I have lots of appreciation for anyone who makes art of dragons, especially when I could never create anything this good myself in a million years.
I was able to find these alternative prelims for DRAGON LORD on transparency, so here they are at better resolution...by request!
Matt HallAnything at all that recalls to me the Dragonriders of Pern is fantastic.
Your dragons have been the only _dragons_ in my mind's eye for over 40 years. <3
Chris Hayes@MichaelWhelan idk what it's called, but the way you angled the flag and characters in one direction with the dragon and the cloud lines in the other is really nice.