Michael Whelan's Works of Wonder

by Michael Whelan

Gathers paintings used to illustrate science fiction, fantasy, and horror covers for paperbacks and shares the artist's comments on each work

Genres: Art, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, Art History

109 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

There is more than one author with this name in the database. Not all of the books on this profile belong to the same person.

Michael Whelan is one of the most important contemporary science fiction and fantasy artists, and certainly the most popular. His 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.

Reviews

[Dirk Grobbelaar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't tell you how many books I've bought just because of this man's cover art. There's just something he manages to convey that makes me want to read the book, lest I somehow miss out on something. I know, I know, I'm shallow like that.

But seriously though, how can you not be drawn into art like this? A style exceptionally well suited to speculative fiction.

The only reason I'm not giving this 5 is because it hasn't been updated to include subsequent works. Or at least, the edition I own hasn't.

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply beautiful work form one of my favorite artists.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well it was only a matter of time (that time being the length of time it took me to find it on my bookshelves) before I dug this book out and re-read it.

I think for me looking back at Michael Wheelman's work the fact that he contributed some of the most amazing book covers to some of the most influential and important books to my reading career helped cement him as one of my all time favourite artists (along with Rodney Matthews and Jim Burns).

Looking back through this book there are so many pieces of art which went to books I either own or recognise is astounding and I think what make me love this book from the very first time I opened its pages.

There are many things that will make a book and its contents stick in my mind and the fact that as I explored and developed my taste in reading it seemed that Mr Whelans works seemed to be there at the epicentre. After all I remember reading the first Gunslinger book and being absolutely blown away with art work (including those illustrations included in my early edition).

But what is more there are book covers represented here that I have never read but still recognise as his work and which still stay with me simply because (by his own words) he tries to imbue something of the story in the art work. It would be all too easy to pick a character or scene and simply give his own interpretation to it- no rather he tries to capture the essence of the story in that image. And for me it truly does show.

I know there are many photo-realistic artists now out there and with the use of computers it has certainly sped the process up - however for me there is something timeless about his works - after all this book is from the mid 80s and I think they look as crisp and clean today as they did the first time I saw them.

As obvious as it was that I would -re-read this book I do not regret it for one second in fact I am sure I will do it all again sometime soon and equally enjoy it as much then as I did now

[reherrma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Habe ich natürlich auch gelesen und der Band steht stolz in meiner Sammlung.
Wer die Bilder von Whelan mag, für den ist dieser Bildband unverzichtbar...

[Baal Of · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gift from a friend. So many of these covers I instantly recognized, having read the books decades ago. I would have liked a bit more background and information on the various paintings but then this is primarily an art book, and it is a very nice one.

[Ninja · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many classic covers by Whelan - my favourite could well be Giskard from the Robots of Dawn, as selected for this book cover.
Decent write-up for each piece of art, too, describing the circumstances of its creation, often along with some of the initial concept variations. Each piece is shown full from Whelan's work, with a smaller image of it in situ on the book cover.
Surprise find: he did a set of Lovecraft horror covers.
Quirk: the one image without a write-up was the Lord of the Rings image of Frodo, Sam and the Eagles, which instead just featured an except from the book describing the scene.

[Tobin Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was absolutely fascinating. Not only do we get some gorgeous artwork from one of the modern SF/F masters of book covers, but we also get some commentary and insight into how he arrived at that particular image, and how, often, he's still not satisfied with the final result.

Loved this.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Whelan is one of my (many) favourite sci-fi / fantasy artists and 'Work's Of Wonder' is a very apt title and showcases some of his well known illustrated book covers.

Inside this 108 page hardcover artbook, originally published in 1987, if you're a fan of fantasy or science fiction then you'll probably recognise some of the covers collected in this volume. Covers from the books of authors like Alan Dean Foster, Piers Anthony, Arthur C Clarke, plus of course the covers for Isaac Asimov's 'Foundation' series (Asimov also wrote the foreward), Anne McCaffrey's 'Pern' series and Edgar Rice Burroughs' 'Martian Tales'.


Accompanying each colour panel is a brief paragraph or two that describe what Michael was attempting to do and how the finished artwork turned out, plus some of the initial preliminary sketches as well.

It's perhaps not as in depth as it can be (I have another Michael Whelan artbook on order), but if you enjoy science fiction and fantasy art, then this book is very much recommended.

[Eli Poteet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am very impressed with this collection. All these years Ive been chasing Whelans covers without realizing how many books he created art for. i am charmed and amazed. i really enjoyed the presentation. each showcase included the book cover, some sketches, a blurb from the artist himself AND the actual fully shown piece of art created for the book. wow, it was like going to a museum. WITNESSED!

[Aiden · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic collection of iconic book artwork

[Jerry]

review text for 426

[Richard Balmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun second hand bookshop find. Devoted largely to his science fiction, the book doesn't cover many of my fantasy favourites from the 1980s era in which it was written and there aren't any great revelations in the text. On the other hand, who can deny that iconic cycle of Foundation paintings? I also really love his bright technicolour Alan Dean Foster covers (that make me sad I can't live in them, honestly). Whelan is really overdue an updated book covering all his fantasy art - put a Brandon Sanderson piece on the front to sell the book and then let me gawp at all the beautiful Michael Moorcock, Tad Williams and Tanith Lee covers, please!

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This large format book features Whelan's cover art for the works of Anne McCaffrey, Alan Dean Foster, Isaac Asimov, Piers Anthony, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and more, and really shows the amount of care that went into every detail of each painting. He is a favorite artist of authors for a reason: he reads every book and takes great pains to be adhere to the descriptions within, even working in symbolism that might go unnoticed (or even unseen, when reduced to book cover size) by the casual reader.

A nice feature of this volume is that alongside the full page "clean" art, we get a reproduction of the final book cover design. The Lovecraft diptych (possibly the only cover work that doesn't represent the contents -- Whelan was simply commissioned for a horror piece) is particularly interesting in this regard. The artist also discusses each work in detail.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published in the ascendency of Michael Whelan's domination of the professional artist category of the Hugos, this book is a joy. Lovingly produced with a definite "art book" feel, the book has heft. The art itself brings back memories: Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series, Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders (more illustrations than Wonderworks had), Isaac Asimov's Elijah Baley and Foundation series, the Del Rey Lovecraft covers, and Edgar Rice Burrough's Martian series. The descriptive text adds a "behind the scenes" look at the art, from how it was composed to symbolic elements in the art. A truly delightful addition to my science fiction/fantasy art collection.

[Viridian5 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love that this book shows what the publishers put together as the final cover in addition to Michael Whelan's original full art. For the wrap-around book covers, it shows you how Whelan had to consider his composition and place his elements.

In the case of the cover for Mirror of her Dreams, there's a bit where Michael Whelan notes that the ducks he placed in the wallpaper have a symbolic meaning while the reader sees that the publisher cropped out all the wallpaper in the final cover. That had a big impression on me.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Whelan is my favorite SF/Fantasy cover artist. The artist provides notes and thoughts about many of his covers and also includes some of his original work.

[Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful compilation of Whelan's work with some short explanations of the symbolism involved. There are also notes on his technique, but that was outside my area of expertise.

[Jim Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book shows why Whelan is one of my favorite cover artists. The cover of "Foundation's Edge" is one of my top ten covers of all time.

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An awesome art book. Great selection of pictures by a master of SiFi and fantasy painting. Whelan is one of my favorite SiFi and Fantasy illustrators. Highly recommended