Post AzIioNychDYFGtTrBw by MichaelWhelan@mastodon.art
 (DIR) More posts by MichaelWhelan@mastodon.art
 (DIR) Post #AzIiZArx9CtyH86iNE by MichaelWhelan@mastodon.art
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       FOUNDATION AND EARTH (1987)Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 28" X 20"After 30 years, Isaac Asimov began to weave his two most famous series together in his novel Foundation and Earth. In this scene the author described the discovery of a huge statue, a remnant of a long-lost civilization. 1/7#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #isaacasimov #foundation #robots
       
 (DIR) Post #AzIiifz4pfZdNmyDke by MichaelWhelan@mastodon.art
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       To symbolize the convergence of the two series, I used the robot Giskard from my cover art for Robots of Dawn as the model for the statue.My first challenge in doing a painting for this novel was deciding whether or not to attempt to fit the cover concept into the unifying scheme of the first four Foundation covers. 2/7
       
 (DIR) Post #AzIioNychDYFGtTrBw by MichaelWhelan@mastodon.art
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       The planet Trantor would not be an appropriate background for this cover—though it appears on the previous Foundation covers—since it is not a part of this story. Yet I felt some of the already developed symbolism worked well and could be applied to this painting, too. 3/7
       
 (DIR) Post #AzIisu03Zp4LkQIxIe by MichaelWhelan@mastodon.art
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       So what I ended up with was a "yes-and-no" answer to my problem: no backdrop featuring Trantor, but some symbolic links to the other covers. 4/7
       
 (DIR) Post #AzIix2pIhaAcHUFUiO by MichaelWhelan@mastodon.art
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       The most obvious of these links was to be the moon, which is very important to the story and also could be represented in the circular shape used in the previous covers to represent the galaxy and its destiny. 5/7
       
 (DIR) Post #AzIj24mwpnfnoXY1Me by MichaelWhelan@mastodon.art
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       All save one of the sketches I submitted to the art director used the moon in the sky as a background element. Of course, that single moonless sketch was the one that was chosen! 6/7
       
 (DIR) Post #AzIj68N7SAkM5POx5k by MichaelWhelan@mastodon.art
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       Cover illustration for FOUNDATION AND EARTH by Isaac Asimov (Del Rey) 7/7https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/foundation-and-earth/
       
 (DIR) Post #AzIjgsrM5gTqgr4GUC by demofox@mastodon.gamedev.place
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       @MichaelWhelan I had no idea you did that one but always loved that cover
       
 (DIR) Post #AzIvMUVy5smCqO6fpo by Lazarou@mastodon.social
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       @MichaelWhelan I'm a big sucker for that "Lost Earth/Ancient History" vibe captured in this painting, I hope the Foundation TV series continues on to the search for the Mother Planet.  #FoundationTV #SpaceOpera
       
 (DIR) Post #AzJx3WmDqxQDQMkqTw by simonbp@social.linux.pizza
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       @MichaelWhelan As someone who read F&E (with your cover!) for the first time as a NASA lunar intern in Houston, I always appreciated that the Moon was so high in the sky because it was ambiguous if it was the Moon or Earth (and Earth is always high in the sky from the lunar near side).