ELRIC AND THE SINKING CITY

Cover illustration for Elric at the End of Time by Michael Moorcock

May 12, 2025

With black clothes torn to tatters, Elric half crouches with one knee out and the other leg splayed to the side. Clutching Stormbringer delicately by cross-guard and blade, Elric's face is half hidden, pigment-less in contrast to the rune blade that stands tip down on mossy stone blocks. White hair hangs limp as somber albino eyes meet the audience. His nose is drawn thin and long, his cheeks high and hollow. An ornate scabbard strains against the cord tied at his waist. His bare hip flexes, thigh muscles tight with the extension of his leg. A massive marbled pillar rises to his right, tilted in counterbalance to the background structures of the ancient city which lean ever so slightly left. Rising out of swampy water below, the base of the column is carved in relief with the faces of demons that resemble Chinese guardian lions. From a rusted ring, a chain hangs low leading off-panel. — ELRIC AND THE SINKING CITY (1984), Acrylic on Canvas - 36" X 20"

Unlike all the other Elric paintings I have done, the cover for Michael Moorcock's Elric at the End of Time is not an action scene. This time I wished to portray the moody antihero in a more somber and reflective state.

My intent was serious, though the author's use of the character in this book is rather cynical and self-mocking. My goal was to portray the Elric found in the other books in the series.