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anthonimus.bsky.social
Anthonimus
@anthonimus.bsky.social
27 followers 39 following 12 posts
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
ALIENS (1979)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 23” x 14”

The concept here is that the aliens and the lone human-—who is an alien to the others—are posing for a group photograph, with the photographer being out of view to the right. 1/4
A group of aliens surround a bearded human as they strike a pose for a group photo. The aliens resemble Earth animals ranging from lizards, birds, and fish to more wildly imagined creatures.
December 12, 2025 at 2:35 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
PASSAGE: THE AVATAR (1988)
Acrylic on Canvas - 48" x 48"

Initially inspired by a few notes from a Pink Floyd instrumental track, this came to me while floating in a sensory deprivation tank. 1/4
Three classical arches stand tall against a calm cerulean sky at twilight. Transparent spheres, each containing a flicker of flame, float among the pillars of a ruined yet still beautiful structure. Steps lead up from the sand to a broad pedestal set at the center of the arches. Above it a star hangs low on the horizon. In the immediate foreground, a path of stones winds across a shallow tidal pool. Water reflects the vertical lines of the pillars.
November 21, 2025 at 2:23 PM
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codyvrosh.bsky.social
I'd rather be a spicy bean than an anti-science fascist buffoon.

#art
Illustration of a neurospicy Teeth Creature puppy.
September 23, 2025 at 11:17 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
KUTATH (1980)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 27” x 16”

One of the hallmarks of C.J. Cherryh’s writing is her intricate worldbuilding and detailed portrayal of extraterrestrial races. 1/3
In long black robes with faces covered, a trio of men wielding katanas look out at the desert as a globe-shaped spacecraft blasts off. In the background left, a robed figure in silhouette stands atop a rocky spire as if conducting. Other figures migrate across the burning sand below to where dunes peak.
August 29, 2025 at 1:41 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
SHONTO'S GARDEN (1990)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 25" x 36"

For his novel THE INITIATE BROTHER, Sean Russell draws from both Chinese and Japanese lore for the fantasy this painting illustrates. 1/4
Light slants across the mist hanging over an Asian-style water garden. Lost in meditation, a monk sits with legs crossed, levitating a few feet off the ground. On either side of him, two banner hang from a pergola with wide overhanging eaves like a pagoda. Set on blue, an simple overlapping flower crest reflect Japanese iconography while on red an ornate dragon evokes Chinese style. On an arched bridge over peaceful green-blue waters, a band of warriors gather looking toward the solitary monk.
August 25, 2025 at 1:23 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
BLUE FEAR (1976)
Acrylic on Illustration Board - 22” x 16”

he Year's Best Horror Stories was a job I always look forward to doing, typically the only opportunity at the time I had to paint a picture not related to a specific written work. 1/3
In an arresting montage, horrific elements are set against a serene blue background. Portrayed from the chest up, the figure of a man emerges from water. His torso floats like an island in a calm sea, but his expression is disturbed. Set in amber, one pupil contracts to a dot as his mouth is frozen, gaping in surprise. The top of his head is like a jar shattered. Bats emerge from the hollow of one eye. Half of his torso is covered by a plain beige shirt, the fabric punctured by a thin line of spikes. Encased in ice, a twisting worm rests high on that same shoulder. A fat drop of meltwater trickles down the shirt to where torn fabric drapes into the water. A cinder block wall can be seen half submerged. Cast in shadow, a demonic figure peers out the window set there. The other half of the torso-island is petrified. A succubus reclines on a stone clavicle. A red spider descends down the cratered surface of his chest.
August 9, 2025 at 12:31 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
In this week’s newsletter, I travel back down the road to Victory.

Read the story of how I came to illustrate the cover for the blockbuster album from Michael Jackson and his brothers back in 1984:

theartofmichaelwhelan.substack.com/p/the-road-t...
The six Jackson brothers dressed in 80s stage costume stand on a blacktop road that shoots up into the sky at the horizon reaching up to the core of a spiral galaxy. The night sky is an electric blue filled with a cascade of stars spun off the galaxy. In the distance, city lights stretch to the horizon. An enormous futuristic structure (city in the sky) rises just beyond the horizon.
July 27, 2025 at 2:01 PM
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raccoonhourly.bsky.social
An adorable raccoon.
July 17, 2025 at 9:00 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
HARBINGER (2015)
Acrylic on Canvas - 36" x 54"

My initial inspiration, I believe, grew out of concern for the destabilizing and immense effects of global climate change, a sense of nature out of control and giving birth to unnatural and cataclysmic phenomena. 1/3
A harsh look down abandoned main street as a dust storm is about to swallow the town, pushing forward from billowing brown clouds on the horizon. In the foreground a stop light hangs papered over with a giant wasp nest. Ominously the red light of the signal protrudes from the nest like an unblinking eye fixated on the viewer. The yellow lane line dividing the street wavers off-center. To the left, a car is overturned. Among the wreckage lies a child's rag doll spilled out the passenger window. An eagle with wings spread wide is painted on the derelict shop window.
July 1, 2025 at 2:03 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
ASSASSIN'S APPRENTICE (1995)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 28" X 20"

"Learning is never wrong. Even learning how to kill isn't wrong. Or right. It's just a thing to learn, a thing I can teach you. That's all." 1/2
Framed by an arched buttress and castle wall, a boy kneels next to a white bearded man who rests a hand upon his head. Saturated blue with the background, a castle keep rises with mountain peaks visible farther in the distance. The boy wraps his arms around a dog. The man wears white robes and holds a candlestick. The wax is melted nearly down to its base. A book lies fanned on the ground, and a ferret emerges from the tent of its pages. On the left, obscured from their view by the castle wall, a hand emerges with a finger raised (perhaps in caution or rebuke). The fabric on the exposed arm is a motley checkered pattern.
June 30, 2025 at 2:16 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
THE SCALE OF ETERNITY (1999)
Oil on Gessoboard - 25" x 40"

On close examination the linear form the man is climbing is marked with gradations like a ruler. 1/2
Rising against blue sky traced with wispy clouds, dozens of concrete pylons rise like skyscrapers in a downtown skyline, but on closer examination the clustered monoliths appear more like wreckage than progress as many tilt on diagonals as if toppling. With rope attached to rebar protruding from the top of one angled column in the foreground, a man glances back over his shoulder toward the sun off-panel just as he's about to reach the top.
June 17, 2025 at 2:43 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
DAETRIN (1990)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 21" X 29"

The most unusual aspect of this commission is that it was largely painted while I was being videotaped for a local TV show. I was taking a big risk in allowing this to happen. 1/5
A mirrored perspective staring out the viewport of an alien spaceship. The interior is framed by a series of arches. The walls are textured like rock with ripples radiating throughout. On the right of the panel, a man in white jumpsuit trimmed with orange leans against an arched bulkhead. He presses a sensor with the flat of his palm. The white light of it bathes his right half. Behind him a spaceship approaches a cool blue cloud-covered planet. In the foreground of the panel left, an alien with spiky black carapace grips the wall with one of its four arms. It reaches across its body with the lower arm opposite, fingering a similar lighted sensor with a talon. Hips round sharply as it twist its torso to reach the sensor. A sheathed dagger is belted at its waist. Behind the alien, an orange sun glows warmly in contrast to the planet mirrored on the other side of the panel.
June 16, 2025 at 2:04 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
LLANA OF GATHOL (1979)
Acrylic - 24" x 32"

Since I did the eleven Martial Tales books over the course of a year, as time went on some things became less important. This time we did not worry about the title of the book, and Llana herself does not even appear in my painting. 1/4
Two scantily clad Barsoomian men carrying laser pistols are caught by surprise on a polar landscape by a large wooly beast. The creature has a body like a yeti, covered all in white fur, but its lower half is four-legged like a stocky pachyderm. It has large insectile eyes and rhino-like horns protruding from its snout. Two tusks extend from the corners of its mouth, which is open exposing uneven pointed teeth.
June 13, 2025 at 2:38 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
BROKEN CHAIN (1998)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 24" x 15"

A simple composition with a fairly simple message. 1/2
Set against a baby blue sky, a single flame contained within a transparent sphere floats off between two broken, inward-tilting columns. In the recessed channel of one stone, a rusted chain dangles down to white sand. Links of the broken chain lie mostly buried at the base of the other column. In the immediate foreground, a red glass heart tied on a ribbon lies discarded among deeply shadowed footprints dimpling the sand as they approach the columns.
June 5, 2025 at 3:36 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
RENEGADE OF KREGEN (1975)
Acrylic on Illustration Board - 18" x 13 ¾"

In total, Kenneth Bulmer—writing as Alan Burt Akers—published 52 books in the Dray Prescot series. DAW began publishing his books in 1972, and the three covers I worked on came in the first years of my career. 1/3
A warrior in green tunic and bronze horned helm, tense in the aftermath of battle, stands over the corpse of a huge lizard. His sleeve is torn but his sword is still firmly gripped in gloved hand. As he stares down, a dark-haired damsel with eyes pressed closed reaches up to grip one shoulder and wrap her other hand around his neck as if needing him to support her weight.
May 31, 2025 at 3:18 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
HOBBIT IN A PINCH (2025)
Acrylic - 7” x 9”

I was using this piece of scrap as a "palette" while working on another painting back in 2023. After a day's work, I sketched out the reptilian creature with leftover paint and set it aside until last week. 1/3
Pinched during an attempted burglary, Bilbo Baggins dangles between thumb and forefinger of the huge green troll, who holds the hobbit up for examination. A campfire burns tall in the background casting an orange glow on two other trolls bickering over what to do with the aspiring thief. The full moon rises through a break in the gray blanket of clouds.
May 28, 2025 at 3:00 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
SENTINELS (1988)
Acrylic on Canvas - 22” x 33”

After more than a decade of continuous illustration work, this was my first non-commissioned painting. Who can resist imagining a peaceful world where children are enjoying nature and the symbols of war are falling into ruin? 1/5
Backed by a sheer cliff wall, monumental statues line the shore like sentinels facing out to sea. The statues resemble the Egyptian god Horus with hawk-like faces and a shawl of feathers. They each kneel resting weight forward on front limbs, but each statue erodes more than the last as the line extends down the shore. Children stand on the nearest hawk monument. One holds as staff and stares out as a line of doves flies past.
May 27, 2025 at 2:31 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
PASSAGE: VERGE (1989)
Acrylic on Canvas - 48" X 36"

There are other, more metaphysical meanings to be derived from this painting, but at the time I was doing it I had decided to " step off the brink," professionally speaking. 1/2
A mysterious woman, hooded in windswept robes, stops at the edge of a rocky outcrop. With palm up, she holds out her hand, and above it floats a transparent sphere containing a solitary flame. At the edge of the cliff, she stands framed by a tall arch in the distance. A circle—an echo set above the vessel she holds—sits high in the arch. Anchored by elegantly curving supports, it suggests something mystical as if it may not exist physically in this world but rather serve as a portal to the next. Behind, blue skies fade to a peach streak across the horizon and the misty hills rolling below. She seems poised to step out into open air but she turns her head back, partially revealing her face. Her thoughts linger on where the next step will lead. Will it be over the edge and down? Or does this passage lead to someplace else?
May 15, 2025 at 1:59 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
DOORWAY TO THE WEST (2006)
Acrylic on Panel - 12” x 9”

Another search for the light. Creating the illusion of texture in paint, the process of actually painting it, can be an act of meditation. 1/2
A solitary flame contained in a transparent sphere floats across the threshold of an uneven stone doorway set in ancient ruins. Shadow cuts across the broken remains of the facade. The sky beyond is partially cloudy, lit golden over placid water defining the horizon. In the immediate foreground, three stone steps lead up to portal, but the ground is overgrown with wild vegetation. Flowers add an occasional splash of blue, white, and yellow at the stub of wall and on the short path to it.
May 13, 2025 at 1:54 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
ELRIC AND THE SINKING CITY (1984)
Acrylic on Canvas - 36" X 20"

Unlike all the other Elric paintings I have done, the cover for Michael Moorcock's ELRIC AT THE END OF TIME is not an action scene. 1/4
May 12, 2025 at 1:59 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
THE DARK TOWER: THE LONG ROAD (2009)
Acrylic - 30 1/2" x 22"

I've revisited the Dark Tower many times in my career and with each trip to Mid-World I find myself a little farther down the road in my own journey. 1/3
Roland Deschain—tiny in perspective even in the immediate foreground—trudges down a dusty road across empty scrubland. Low mountains give way to sunset sky tinted orange and a bank of clouds. Tentdrils of cloud wrap behind a smooth tower that shows no signs of being anchored to the ground. From the tall thin crenelations at the top, thin bright beams of light shoot outward at 90 degree angles.
April 28, 2025 at 1:51 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
THE END OF NATURE VII (2005)
Acrylic on Panel - 25" x 40"

Up until this point in my End of Nature series, I had portrayed the people who represent humanity in general as somewhat oblivious to the support that nature was providing for them. 1/2
Slender trees, as seen among the clouds from below, slant upward, branching bronchial-like to support a leafy path that winds in a reverse S-shape, thinning as it fades behind more prominent tree trunks in the foreground. Golden twilight bathes the pale texture of the trees, and although the sky is still blue, a sliver of crescent moon hangs in the upper left. In the distance, standing atop the treetop, a figure struggles with a line attached to a red gas-powered kite. Black smoke trails off the glider and the tail droops limply below it.
April 22, 2025 at 1:21 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
TARRANT'S REALM (1990)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 32" x 20"

C.S. Friedman creates fascinating characters. Among the most complex I’ve visualized is the anti-hero Gerald Tarrant. 1/2
Establishing shot of Gerald Tarrant dressed powerfully in tabard of black and red. Deeply shadowed, his eyes hint of the same gold that accents his wardrobe. Elevated, he stands in alien woods, poised on a tier of rock that suggests a dais. The sword he grips is pointed tip to the ground. The elegantly curving blade glows blue as the same energy crackles low around Tarrant, flowing off the rock in rivulets that at first glance might be or even swirls of mist. Twisted trees rise behind him—skeletal with tops suggesting the shape of the human brain with forking branches forming ridges. A castle looms out of the misty woods, menacing in outline. The flying buttresses look built to impale with long pikes that bristle with burrs at the sides.
April 21, 2025 at 1:04 PM
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michaelwhelan.bsky.social
GUNSLINGER '88 ROLAND (1988)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 30" x 20"

I was asked to do a cover for the trade paperback edition of THE GUNSLINGER by @stephenking.bsky.social. I'd done the dust jacket and all the interior illustrations for the limited edition... 1/4
Roland, the last Gunslinger, stands with one hand in the pocket of his leather duster and the other gripping the gun belt crossed at his waist. He wears a red silky kerchief around his neck. His dark hair is blown and his skin tanned from his trek through the desert, but his posture is stoic and his gaze determined as he peers off frame left. A raven, facing the opposite direction, spreads its wings as it perches on his shoulder. The silhouette of the Tower looms tall behind him set against a mustard sky. The sun blazes low in the sky as seen through an opening at the base of the Tower.
April 14, 2025 at 1:42 PM