He worked on[magazines while attending the Art Students League of New York before moving on to Chicago and Los Angeles, where he illustrated movie posters.
Throughout the remainder of the 1960s, he worked as either illustrator or storyboard artist on films such as West Side Story, The Birds, Cleopatra, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
During the 1970s, he was an illustrator for films like Fiddler on the Roof and Cross of Iron; in the 1980s, he worked on Firestarter and The Cotton Club, and he was a visual consultant on the 1986 remake of The Fly.
His career as an art director started in television, beginning with Matinee Theatre and moving to programs such as Gomer Pyle, USMC and The Andy Griffith Show.
Michelson worked on two films for Mel Brooks, first as production designer on History of the World, Part I and later as art director for Spaceballs.