Michael Whelan
Michael Whelan  路  5 days ago

Content Warning

THE ULTIMATE ENEMY (1979)
Acrylic and Gouache on Illustration Board - 28" x 18"

Sometimes the simplest statements have the strongest force. The image is ostensibly a representation of the struggle to preserve life against the onslaught of the Berserker war machines described by Fred Saberhagen. 1/3

#sciencefiction#scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #fredsaberhagen

A monstrously large robot looms on the horizon while a simple plant sprouts defiantly from barren, rocky soil in the near foreground. The arms of the robot lurch forward with fingers tensed to grip, implying a sense of forward motion, marching toward the plant. While it's body resembles a stocky biped, it's head is an asymmetrical jumble, which on close examination looks like futuristic buildings set off-center right upon its shoulders. Stiff antennae protrude upward from head and shoulders. Red and orange eye-like lights are set akimbo, an uneven diagonal that adds to the sense of uneasiness about the mechanical monstrosity.
A monstrously large robot looms on the horizon while a simple plant sprouts defiantly from barren, rocky soil in the near foreground. The arms of the robot lurch forward with fingers tensed to grip, implying a sense of forward motion, marching toward the plant. While it's body resembles a stocky biped, it's head is an asymmetrical jumble, which on close examination looks like futuristic buildings set off-center right upon its shoulders. Stiff antennae protrude upward from head and shoulders. Red and orange eye-like lights are set akimbo, an uneven diagonal that adds to the sense of uneasiness about the mechanical monstrosity.
A monstrously large robot looms on the horizon while a simple plant sprouts defiantly from barren, rocky soil in the near foreground. The arms of the robot lurch forward with fingers tensed to grip, implying a sense of forward motion, marching toward the plant. While it's body resembles a stocky biped, it's head is an asymmetrical jumble, which on close examination looks like futuristic buildings set off-center right upon its shoulders. Stiff antennae protrude upward from head and shoulders. Red and orange eye-like lights are set akimbo, an uneven diagonal that adds to the sense of uneasiness about the mechanical monstrosity.
Michael Whelan
Michael Whelan  路  2 weeks ago

Content Warning

THE INTEGRAL TREES (1984)
Acrylic on Illustration Board - 28" x 38"

Being suspended in space, floating unencumbered yet in control of one's flight, is as close to pure freedom as I can imagine. 1/4

#sciencefiction#scifi #scifiart #illustration #larryniven

A woman with short blonde hair floats weightless in front of clumps of cloud shaped vegetation dotted with flowers. The figure looks very Peter Pan-esque posed with one knee raised wearing green capri-style pants and a vest with no shirt beneath. A harpoon rests across her shoulders with a rope line dangling loose. She holds a coil of it with her toes. An enormous tree trunk with a chrome engine firing off the side arcs past, diminishing back into the blue sky where it intersects clump. A diagonal line of light serves as a tilted horizon of sorts but there is no land, just sky occupied by clouds and clumps.
A woman with short blonde hair floats weightless in front of clumps of cloud shaped vegetation dotted with flowers. The figure looks very Peter Pan-esque posed with one knee raised wearing green capri-style pants and a vest with no shirt beneath. A harpoon rests across her shoulders with a rope line dangling loose. She holds a coil of it with her toes. An enormous tree trunk with a chrome engine firing off the side arcs past, diminishing back into the blue sky where it intersects clump. A diagonal line of light serves as a tilted horizon of sorts but there is no land, just sky occupied by clouds and clumps.
A woman with short blonde hair floats weightless in front of clumps of cloud shaped vegetation dotted with flowers. The figure looks very Peter Pan-esque posed with one knee raised wearing green capri-style pants and a vest with no shirt beneath. A harpoon rests across her shoulders with a rope line dangling loose. She holds a coil of it with her toes. An enormous tree trunk with a chrome engine firing off the side arcs past, diminishing back into the blue sky where it intersects clump. A diagonal line of light serves as a tilted horizon of sorts but there is no land, just sky occupied by clouds and clumps.
Michael Whelan
Michael Whelan  路  3 weeks ago

Content Warning

BROTHER ASSASSIN (1978)
Acrylic on Illustration Board - 30" x 20"

I am often kidded about my general dislike for yellow... 1/3

#sciencefiction#scifi #scifiart #fredsaberhagen #berserkersaga

Wearing brown robes with hood drawn up, a robot with an oddly asymmetrical face stares squarely at the viewer as it grips a clock in its clawed grasp. The face is black with gold numbers, but the glass is broken. The hands are stopped at 3:53. A metal grate covers the robot's left eye and half the mouth. That side of the face resembles the steely mask of Doctor Doom, while the other side is an abstraction of lights and circuitry over silver metal. A blue light, cloudy like a planet, is placed where the other eye socket should be. Four bright green dots border form the points of a rectangle around it. Below the cheek鈥攂earing no resemblance to a human feature鈥攁 pink sphere with light polka dots floats in blue-black field constrained by an oval bevel. The right side of its mouth is tall instead of wide contrasting the left with the bottom of the metal grate recessed and tinted red. A curving antenna sweeps down off the side of its forehead following the contour of the bell-shaped hood. The curve resembles the microphone attachment on a headset, although stubby and cut short wide at the cheek. The immediate backdrop is brown and desert-like, while the sky above dominates in oppressive yellow tones. Set just behind the figure's shoulder hangs the craggy surface of a moon set against an abstract starfield, darker than the wash of sky but still tinted yellow.
Wearing brown robes with hood drawn up, a robot with an oddly asymmetrical face stares squarely at the viewer as it grips a clock in its clawed grasp. The face is black with gold numbers, but the glass is broken. The hands are stopped at 3:53. A metal grate covers the robot's left eye and half the mouth. That side of the face resembles the steely mask of Doctor Doom, while the other side is an abstraction of lights and circuitry over silver metal. A blue light, cloudy like a planet, is placed where the other eye socket should be. Four bright green dots border form the points of a rectangle around it. Below the cheek鈥攂earing no resemblance to a human feature鈥攁 pink sphere with light polka dots floats in blue-black field constrained by an oval bevel. The right side of its mouth is tall instead of wide contrasting the left with the bottom of the metal grate recessed and tinted red. A curving antenna sweeps down off the side of its forehead following the contour of the bell-shaped hood. The curve resembles the microphone attachment on a headset, although stubby and cut short wide at the cheek. The immediate backdrop is brown and desert-like, while the sky above dominates in oppressive yellow tones. Set just behind the figure's shoulder hangs the craggy surface of a moon set against an abstract starfield, darker than the wash of sky but still tinted yellow.
Wearing brown robes with hood drawn up, a robot with an oddly asymmetrical face stares squarely at the viewer as it grips a clock in its clawed grasp. The face is black with gold numbers, but the glass is broken. The hands are stopped at 3:53. A metal grate covers the robot's left eye and half the mouth. That side of the face resembles the steely mask of Doctor Doom, while the other side is an abstraction of lights and circuitry over silver metal. A blue light, cloudy like a planet, is placed where the other eye socket should be. Four bright green dots border form the points of a rectangle around it. Below the cheek鈥攂earing no resemblance to a human feature鈥攁 pink sphere with light polka dots floats in blue-black field constrained by an oval bevel. The right side of its mouth is tall instead of wide contrasting the left with the bottom of the metal grate recessed and tinted red. A curving antenna sweeps down off the side of its forehead following the contour of the bell-shaped hood. The curve resembles the microphone attachment on a headset, although stubby and cut short wide at the cheek. The immediate backdrop is brown and desert-like, while the sky above dominates in oppressive yellow tones. Set just behind the figure's shoulder hangs the craggy surface of a moon set against an abstract starfield, darker than the wash of sky but still tinted yellow.
Michael Whelan
Michael Whelan  路  last month

Content Warning

RIDER (1990)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 27" x 35"

A race of turtle-like creatures conquers Earth, imposing a gentler set of values on humankind, outlawing destructive technology, and denying the validity of human scientific theories. 1/3

#sciencefiction#scifi #scifiart #illustration #frederikpohl #jackwilliamson

A young woman rides piggyback on a bipedal bull-like creature with russet fur and milky blue eyes. Her arms wrap around its horns settling casually on the top of its head. Behind them in colorful relief on concrete, the story of a conquering race of aliens features a central turtle-like figure spreading wings as an egg floats over it. The figure is bordered by an Art Deco star burst of yellow and white backed by an outer oval of yellow stars on blue. Other turtle-aliens line up among simple clouds, each presenting an egg as they stand in profile in a sort of worship. Beside the concrete facade that dominates the foreground, a human male stands atop a wrecked school bus, shielding his eyes as he stares up into the sky. A turtle-alien stands next to him dwarfing him in stature.
A young woman rides piggyback on a bipedal bull-like creature with russet fur and milky blue eyes. Her arms wrap around its horns settling casually on the top of its head. Behind them in colorful relief on concrete, the story of a conquering race of aliens features a central turtle-like figure spreading wings as an egg floats over it. The figure is bordered by an Art Deco star burst of yellow and white backed by an outer oval of yellow stars on blue. Other turtle-aliens line up among simple clouds, each presenting an egg as they stand in profile in a sort of worship. Beside the concrete facade that dominates the foreground, a human male stands atop a wrecked school bus, shielding his eyes as he stares up into the sky. A turtle-alien stands next to him dwarfing him in stature.
A young woman rides piggyback on a bipedal bull-like creature with russet fur and milky blue eyes. Her arms wrap around its horns settling casually on the top of its head. Behind them in colorful relief on concrete, the story of a conquering race of aliens features a central turtle-like figure spreading wings as an egg floats over it. The figure is bordered by an Art Deco star burst of yellow and white backed by an outer oval of yellow stars on blue. Other turtle-aliens line up among simple clouds, each presenting an egg as they stand in profile in a sort of worship. Beside the concrete facade that dominates the foreground, a human male stands atop a wrecked school bus, shielding his eyes as he stares up into the sky. A turtle-alien stands next to him dwarfing him in stature.
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