Whelan, Michael

Michael was born on June 29, 1950 in Culver , California , into a family of an aerospace engineer who moved from place to place. Whelan himself noted that a constant presence near space launch sites may have influenced his fondness for science fiction. Michael graduated from the College of Art in Denver and the University of San Jose in 1973 . The following year, Whalean exhibited at the WorldCon 1974 and soon won a contract with DAW Books .

The artist moved to Connecticut , taking up professional illustration. His work for Anne McCaffrey ’s books in the Dragons of Pern series won the Hugo Award in 1980, his first professional award. In subsequent years, Michael received Hugo sixteen times, setting a record for this award. In 1992, he was awarded the Super Hugo with the wording "The Best Artist in the Last 50 Years."

Michael is married to Audrey Price, they have two children: Alexa and Adrian. He is fond of music and martial arts, and has a black belt according to Kempo . In the late 1990s, the artist's health was severely undermined, he suffered from Lyme disease and prostate cancer . Doctors managed to put Michael on his feet in 2000. In recent years, Michael rarely works on order and devotes more time to drawing for his pleasure. Among the few exceptions are the covers for Brandon Sanderson 's books from the Wheel of Time series; Whelan agreed to take on the series after the deaths of its author Robert Jordan and the main illustrator of the series Darrell Sweet .

Among the works on the design of which Whelan worked -

• " Memory, Sorrow and Turn " and " Foreign Earth " by Ted Williams ,
• "The Eternal Warrior " by Michael Moorcock ,
• The Dark Tower by Stephen King (including internal illustrations),
• Dragons of Pern by Anne McCaffrey ,
• Gods of Mars by Edgar R. Burroughs
• Chronicles of the Cold Flame by Celia Friedman
• Killer Apprentice Robin Hobb
• Sepultura , Meat Loaf, and Obituary album covers.

In his spare time, Michael draws surrealistic paintings and landscapes. His work is filled with symbolism, passing from picture to picture and is a kind of copyright sign. So, a whole series of paintings is built on the interpretation of a snail shell . There is a series of symbolic paintings dedicated to Christian virtues (prudence, courage, humility, tenderness), depicted in the form of women.

• Sixteen Hugo Awards , including twelve as the best artist (1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 2000, 2002). Special prize "The best artist in the last 50 years."
• Balrog Award for Best Artist (1980)
• Three World Fantasy Awards (1981, 1982, 1983)
• Eleven Chesley Prizes (professional science fiction artist award).
• Gold Medal of the Society of Illustrators (1997)
• Included in the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

• Wonderworks: Science Fiction and Fantasy Art , (1979) ISBN 0-915442-74-4
• Michael Whelan's Works of Wonder , (1988) ISBN 0-345-32679-2
• The Art of Michael Whelan: Scenes / Visions , (1993) ISBN 0-553-07447-4
• Something in My Eye , (1997) ISBN 0-929480-82-1
• Infinite Worlds: The Fantastic Visions of Science Fiction Art , Vincent Di Fate (1997), ISBN 978-0-670-87252-7

• Michael Whelan Official Website
• Gallery of Michael Whelan
• “I look to the future without optimism,” an interview with the magazine World of Fantasy .