DESTINY'S ROAD (1991) Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 30" x 40" After painting 6 concepts in an effort to distill Larry Niven's novel into one image, I settled on a mountaintop perspective that gave me the chance to offer an aerial view of the road and its environs. 1/6 - ThreadSky

michaelwhelan.bsky.social • 9 days ago

DESTINY'S ROAD (1991)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 30" x 40"

After painting 6 concepts in an effort to distill Larry Niven's novel into one image, I settled on a mountaintop perspective that gave me the chance to offer an aerial view of the road and its environs. 1/6

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deirdreassenza.bsky.social•9 days ago

Gorgeous. Beautiful alt text.

teagangeneviene.bsky.social•9 days ago

I love all the golden hues. It feels like "healing."

heckadecimal.bsky.social•9 days ago

#StickNation

slightlylyons.bsky.social•9 days ago

I remember this cover it's so vivid.

ubeka.bsky.social•7 days ago

gosh, by that gorgeous illustration alone and the meticulous work you put into the vegetation and fields I really want to check this book out now

dolmheon.bsky.social•9 days ago

This very painting made me want to be an artist. It means so much to me

michaelwhelan.bsky.social•9 days ago

🥰🙌

rashundaigames.bsky.social•9 days ago

I am as amazed by this piece as all those years ago when I saw it first as a kid. Thanks for sharing the story as well!

michaelwhelan.bsky.social•9 days ago

The publisher agreed and I went to work on the finished piece; but upon rereading the material, I realized that I had the view wrong. If I followed Niven's text to the letter, it would be impossible to view the road from the angle I had chosen. 2/6

michaelwhelan.bsky.social•9 days ago

Back to the drawing board! I labored to make a corrected color sketch that offered an analogous scene that was literally correct and sent it to the publisher. 3/6

michaelwhelan.bsky.social•9 days ago

But the art director and publisher said the mistake didn't bother them—they liked the first version better. Compositionally, I did too...so here is the painting as conceived in the original concept. 4/6

michaelwhelan.bsky.social•9 days ago

When Larry saw the painting on display at the 1992 World Science Fiction Convention art show, he liked it so I thought maybe it would influence him to make a change here and there so that the art would be one hundred percent true to the text after all. 5/6

michaelwhelan.bsky.social•9 days ago

Cover illustration for DESTINY'S ROAD by Larry Niven (TOR) 6/6

https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/destinys-road/

runtzel.bsky.social•9 days ago

Amazing, absolutely love seeing so much of the behind the scenes, so cool - thank you for sharing! 💜🤘🏻

xzadfor.bsky.social•9 days ago

I love this. It really illustrates the so much of the story elements. The road curving in, the coast, the fool’s cage

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