Sprite Stitch Board!

I've been toying with this idea for a loooooong time. I always thought I'd eventually be able to make the pattern myself but pattern making programs make me ragey.

One of my awesomest friends loves The Dark Tower and all things Stephen King. I got the attached picture from Michael Whelan's website. It's a screen capture so I hope the quality/resolution is high enough.

I do not care about size or amount of colours or count of aida cloth. I do need to know if I can follow the colour chart and what count of aida you would reccomend(it's sad, I learned to stitch 16 years ago and I still can't pick out aida cloth without it being a major decision, that may speak more to my decision making abilities than my stitching though).

I'm most concerned with what the finished product will look like. I know it's gonna be big and a massive undertaking but it's time I put my stitches where my ideas are.

Thank you!

I just used the "contact us" portion of Michael Whelan's website to send a message requesting his permission to make this into a pattern. I explained it would become publicly available on spritestitch.com. I hope he says yes. I also suggested he make some of his artwork into cross stitch patterns and sell them because he has some really beautiful pieces.

I love Michael Whelan. I hope he says yes too.

OK, so I emailed them last year and they emailed back and then I got lazy. See below for Michael Whelan's wife's reply to my request. They would be willing to allow someone to make pattern just for me and not post it online. If anyone is willing to do that for me, I would even be willing to pay(hope that's not breaking any rules.

Anyone who is great at making patterns and love Michael Whelan's artwork, they are even willing to come to a business arrangement with someone to make the patterns and sell them.

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Hi Krysta -

Thank you very much for taking the time to write and ask permission to copy LEGENDS as a cross stitch present for your friend.

I apologize for taking so long to reply. I have chatted with Michael several times about it and we never come up with a good answer, so I haven't known what to write. We really appreciate you asking and not just doing it!

But - we can't figure out the best way for you to do a nice thing for your friend, and not have Michael's image available on a public site. The problem in a situation like this is that you would have to post an image on the site and then it could be copied and altered. You would be amazed at the crazy things people have done with his artwork online. For example, one time we saw a post where someone had taken THE ULTIMATE SANDBOX (http://www.michaelwhelan.com/shop/repro ... e-sandbox/ ), added a unicorn copied from another artist, and the caption underneath said, "This is my latest painting." It's not even a painting that appeared on a book cover - it's a portrait of our daughter done as a gift for me - so it was even more infuriating! There have been other times when people have altered the artwork (badly) and then it got copied by someone else in the changed version, and that still said, "Art by Michael Whelan." So it's a dilemma.

I visited the site you mentioned and I didn't really see where patterns are for sale. Did you mean that it would be posted in the forums and you would find someone on there who would help you with the pattern? Maybe they would know how to use the pattern creation software and we could send them the image directly without it having to be public. We would like to help you do the present!

Many years ago - probably 20 - there was a woman who did work out many of Michael's paintings as cross stitch patterns. She had a site called Cathie's Cupboard and she was very faithful about paying a small royalty every time she sold a pattern. A couple of months ago, we received an email from someone who inherited Cathie's stuff and she asked us about the patterns, but I got the impression, she didn't want to manage the royalty aspect of it. Do you know of a popular site with patterns that we should look at? Maybe we could try licensing some images again.

Sorry for the long answer and I do hope you have some more ideas and we can work something out.

Kind regards,
Audrey Price (Mrs. Whelan)

If the Whelans would rather it was not publicly available then that's absolutely fine. I will handle this personally in private! Please PM me and we'll have a chat, work some stuff out!

I love Michael Whelan's art and I looooove The Dark Tower series. Total life changer for me. I'm so glad they got back with you. I would love to see your progress when you start this.