Cover art for the book by Robert Heinlein.
Sometime after the book was published, Michael hung the painting in the art show at a science fiction convention and a fan came up to him and said, "The girl is great and I love the cat, but you know the guy is supposed to be black?" Michael was flabbergasted. He usually reads a manuscript through the first time mainly for the storyline. He makes a few notes along the way, but he skims through it a second and often third time as he writes detailed notes and sketches. For this assignment, he did all that and then submitted a fairly detailed comp. (short for "comprehensive") and nobody ever said anything about the hero being black. He did the painting, the book company loved it and printed the book. But when they printed the reissue, someone in the art department retouched the guy with the patch and made him darker. He looks a bit ridiculous, but that's the story. Somehow Michael, the editors, and the art director all missed that detail.