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Michael Whelan
@MichaelWhelan@mastodon.art  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

VISIONS OF CASSANDRA (1975)
Acrylic on Canvas - 24” x 20”

The central images came to me when I was still in college. Five years later when I received the cover assignment, they resurfaced and I committed them to canvas. An example of how a commercial assignment can still satisfy one’s creative impulses. 1/3

#horror #horrorart #illustration #yearsbesthorrorstories #dawbooks

A montage featuring a hand rising from an island floating in space. The fingers are flexed and an eye with blue iris is set in the palm. A spaceship arcs across the face of the island, which consists of the top half of a skull, gallows resting on a brick wall teetering into the void, and a platform where death in crimson cloak awaits.
A montage featuring a hand rising from an island floating in space. The fingers are flexed and an eye with blue iris is set in the palm. A spaceship arcs across the face of the island, which consists of the top half of a skull, gallows resting on a brick wall teetering into the void, and a platform where death in crimson cloak awaits.
A montage featuring a hand rising from an island floating in space. The fingers are flexed and an eye with blue iris is set in the palm. A spaceship arcs across the face of the island, which consists of the top half of a skull, gallows resting on a brick wall teetering into the void, and a platform where death in crimson cloak awaits.
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Michael Whelan
@MichaelWhelan@mastodon.art replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

An example of how a commercial assignment can still satisfy one’s creative impulses.

This was my second book cover. My first cover for DAW Books was so bad that I was amazed Donald Wollheim was willing to hire me again! 2/3

Detail from VISIONS OF CASSANDRA featuring an island in space with the face a human skull cutting off just below the orbitals and nose. In one eyeball, a slumped hairy creature lurks. To the left, a brick wall is falling into the void. Stairs lead up to what used to be a gallows platform but is now a pole with a noose hanging from a 2x4. On the right side of the island, Death in crimson robes holds the shaft of a long scythe with both hands.
Detail from VISIONS OF CASSANDRA featuring an island in space with the face a human skull cutting off just below the orbitals and nose. In one eyeball, a slumped hairy creature lurks. To the left, a brick wall is falling into the void. Stairs lead up to what used to be a gallows platform but is now a pole with a noose hanging from a 2x4. On the right side of the island, Death in crimson robes holds the shaft of a long scythe with both hands.
Detail from VISIONS OF CASSANDRA featuring an island in space with the face a human skull cutting off just below the orbitals and nose. In one eyeball, a slumped hairy creature lurks. To the left, a brick wall is falling into the void. Stairs lead up to what used to be a gallows platform but is now a pole with a noose hanging from a 2x4. On the right side of the island, Death in crimson robes holds the shaft of a long scythe with both hands.
Detail from VISIONS OF CASSANDRA featuring a hand with flexed fingers and an eye with the bluest iris peering out of the palm set against a field of stars.
Detail from VISIONS OF CASSANDRA featuring a hand with flexed fingers and an eye with the bluest iris peering out of the palm set against a field of stars.
Detail from VISIONS OF CASSANDRA featuring a hand with flexed fingers and an eye with the bluest iris peering out of the palm set against a field of stars.
Preliminary sketch in pencil for VISIONS OF CASSANDRA featuring a hand with flexed fingers and an eye peering out from the palm.
Preliminary sketch in pencil for VISIONS OF CASSANDRA featuring a hand with flexed fingers and an eye peering out from the palm.
Preliminary sketch in pencil for VISIONS OF CASSANDRA featuring a hand with flexed fingers and an eye peering out from the palm.
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Michael Whelan
@MichaelWhelan@mastodon.art replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

I redeemed myself with this painting for THE YEAR'S BEST HORROR STORIES though and did 9 more covers that annual DAW anthology.

https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/visions-of-cassandra/

3/3

Book cover for THE YEAR’S BEST HORROR STORIES: SERIES III edited by Richard Davis, published by DAW Books.
Book cover for THE YEAR’S BEST HORROR STORIES: SERIES III edited by Richard Davis, published by DAW Books.
Book cover for THE YEAR’S BEST HORROR STORIES: SERIES III edited by Richard Davis, published by DAW Books.
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