theartofmichaelwhelan
MEATLOAF ASCENDANT (1997) by Michael Whelan
Along with the science fiction and fantasy cover art I was sorting through in the studio, I stumbled on album artwork as well. Here’s Michael’s original painting for The Very Best of Meatloaf.
Thematically, the painting follows Michael’s iconic cover for Back Into Hell. You can see an echo of that cover in the clouds above the bat demon.
Michael sent me a note regarding the MEATLOAF ASCENDANT feature we ran here on Tumblr.
After all the changes and additions he’d been asked to do in the painting, he inserted a “kitchen sink” in among the debris (see the zoom of the foreground) as his own wry commentary on the difficulties experienced trying to please all of the parties involved.
Art direction by committee is never a good idea, and I think he found a good outlet for his frustration.
