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| re: Meeting Michael Whelan | |
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Markus 08:38 am UTC 05/26/07 |
| In reply to: | Meeting Michael Whelan - BMV 06:31 am UTC 05/26/07 |
| Great Brian, thanks for this story! Did you give him a copy of NBAMN I & II? ;-) Markus. > Michael Whelan, the artist who created the Bat II and Very > Best of Meatloaf covers, is in Denver this weekend for a > Fantasy Art convention. I took off a few hours of work > today to go meet with him. I spent about 3 hours talking > to him about his work. One on one. It was great! I've been > a fan of his ever since Bat II. > > I asked a lot of questions about his work with Jim and > Meat and here are some of the points he made: > > Joe Stefko (drummer touring with Meat at the time) > recommended Whelan's work when Meat was looking for the > Bat II artist. Meat and Jim conceptualized the cover, but > had various disagreements (with Michael caught in the > middle!). One of them wanted the view looking down into > the city, the other wanted a view looking up. The end > result is the bizarre perspective of NYC skyscrapers on > the album cover. > > Apparently, Jim demanded an angel on the cover, but Meat > told Whelan "ah, forget all that angel shit." But, Jim was > adamant about having an angel on the cover. (Reminds me of > "Todd...where's my motorcycle??? from Bat I). > > The idea was the biker going back into Hell, but this time > the Bat was dominating and in charge. > > > > Regarding the Very Best of Meatloaf cover: > Michael really wasn't interested in doing this piece. He > had a great idea for the biker standing along a ruined > highway. From the impression he gave, neither Jim nor Meat > were directly involved with this concept, so it was left > to the ad execs for the record label. They wanted the > motorcycle in the sky. Michael did several versions (he > estimated about 12) before they found one they liked. > Michael had other commitments at the time and was finding > himself increasingly behind schedule for these other > projects. He was getting irritated with the record folks. > After all their demands, he finished the painting by > putting in a kitchen sink in the lower corner of the > cover. He said he wasn't sure you could see it in the > album cover, but when you view the full-size painting, > it's there. > > > Regarding Bat III: > Meatloaf approached Michael about doing this cover. Meat's > original idea was having the biker riding across the > cover, with the girl/angel on the back of the bike, > holding a samauri sword, and slicing the head off the bat. > According to Michael the head was to be almost completely > decapitated with large amounts of blood oozing all over > the place. Michael turned down the conceptual sketch, > knowing that the ad execs would never approve it for > release. Eventually, the project went to Julie Bell. > > > Michael mentioned that the original painting to Bat II was > purchased by Meatloaf. > > Michael keeps his original concepts/sketches and > occasionally brings them to shows for quick, cheaper sales > to fans. I asked him about the Bat II concept work and he > said he still had them, and that he'd run into them just a > few weeks back. He and I exchanged information, so I'm > going to try to buy a few off him. These will be the > original pencil/charcoal/acrylic sketches. I'll keep you > all updated! > > All in all, I've wanted to meet Michael Whelan for 13 > years. Nice to say I finally did. Guess I can check him > off my list. > > > --BMV > | |
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