In a recent interview on WoW Insider, Michael Whelan discusses DEATHWING, the World of Warcraft painting commissioned by Blizzard, Nalathni Dragon, his Magic: The Gathering card, and the new Pern cover he’s illustrating. The scope of the game and the base of...
The general concept for this work was spelled out to me by my art director and contact at Blizzard, Jeremy Cranford. We had met the previous Fall at IlluxCon, and despite being in an annoying loud bar lounge we were able to outline the basic assignment and agree to move it forward.
Before starting, the smart thing to do would have been to examine the actual game to become familiar with the feel of it, but instead I just jumped into exploring dramatic dragon poses and having fun with that. Being told from the onset that the image would depict a raging dragon emerging from a giant ocean maelstrom, I felt I had enough to go on.