
"The Man in Black fled across the desert and the Gunslinger followed."
Ever since I read that first line of The Gunslinger by Stephen King, I was waiting for the opportunity to paint it.
That chance finally came with The Little Sisters of Eluria, an updated edition of the first book, published by Donald M. Grant. I split the opening line into two paintings—the other is THE GUNSLINGER FOLLOWED—and the publisher combined them for the dust jacket.
The overcolored sky has a hallucinatory quality, which is evocative of the dreamlike feeling of the story. I confess that I wore a similar robe for much of the time I was painting this scene.
Additional images from THE MAN IN BLACK


Share your thoughts…
We’d love to hear your feedback. Please let us know your thoughts, questions, etc!
Like what you see? Subscribe!
We’re posting art every day on Substack. Don’t want to miss anything? Subscribe to get a weekly email including a recap of daily art posts.
To receive every art post by email, you can opt-in by visiting your account and then clicking the toggle for Daily Art.
One of my favourite first lines! Another is Neuromancer's 'The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.' Just so in point thematically.