Michael Whelan is one of the most important contemporary science fiction and fantasy artists, and certainly the most popular.
19 Facts About Michael Whelan
2.
Michael Whelan's work was a dominant force in the transition of genre book covers away from the surrealism introduced in the 1950s and 1960s back to realism.
3.
Michael Whelan provided covers and interior illustrations for Stephen King's The Gunslinger and The Dark Tower, the first and last of his Dark Tower books.
4.
Michael Whelan painted original works for the covers of Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell and The Very Best of Meat Loaf albums and several of his older paintings illustrate the liner notes of the former.
5.
Michael Whelan was born in Culver City, California, the son of William and Nancy Whelan.
6.
Michael Whelan grew up in Colorado, several cities along the California coast, and in New Mexico, near the White Sands Missile Range.
7.
Michael Whelan continued school as a pre-medical biology major at San Jose State University, initially.
8.
In 1974, Michael Whelan exhibited his work at the World Science Fiction Convention in Washington, DC, where it was seen by Thomas Schluck, who first discovered his work and contracted to use it in European publications shortly afterwards.
9.
At Lunacon Michael Whelan met Rick Bryant, who subsequently introduced him to Neal Adams.
10.
In 1975, Michael Whelan painted the cover illustrations for ten books, eight from DAW and two Ace reprints of early Darkover novels by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
11.
Michael Whelan soon gained a reputation as a talented, imaginative, and dependable cover artist, working for science fiction and fantasy publishers such as DAW, Del Rey, and Ace.
12.
Michael Whelan won his first Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist in 1980 at the World Science Fiction Convention in Boston.
13.
Michael Whelan went on to win the next Hugos, and at the 50th Worldcon in 1992 was voted the best professional artist of the last 50 years.
14.
When commissioned, Michael Whelan made a practice of reading the entire book that he sought to illustrate, usually twice.
15.
Michael Whelan illustrated the cover for Meat Loaf's 1993 album Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell.
16.
Michael Whelan provided several illustrations for the insert booklet, which were used for the single releases such as "I'd Do Anything for Love ".
17.
Michael Whelan has since gone on to paint album cover artwork for many other recording artists, from Michael Jackson to Sepultura to Jonn Serrie.
18.
Michael Whelan has returned to illustrate several major book covers during his semi-retirement, including the last book of Stephen King's Dark Tower series and the final volume of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time.
19.
In 2015, The Stephen King Companion: Four Decades of Fear from the Master of Horror, which feature Michael Whelan's illustrations, was published by St Martin's Press.