INTRODUCTION: Page two of David Burton's Barsoomian Art is posted a few weeks after the artist's successful heart valve surgery which occurred early Summer 2002. David continues his busy schedule illustrating the STRANGE WORLDS Princess of Mars project (see bottom of previous page) as well as participating/authoring an upcoming article regarding the works of the famous Edgar Rice Burroughs illustrator Roy G. Krenkel, Jr. (yet to be published).

At left is David's visualization of the Barsoomian Thoat — the Martian "horse" — which is both transportation and food source for the inhabitants of Burroughs' Barsoom. Burton's thoat design is different from those of J. Allen St. John and John Coleman Burroughs which have, to this reader's viewpoint, always seemed to be horses with warts and too many legs. David's thoat embodies the physiology of reality — the sparse environment of ERB's Mars — creatures that are both swift and spare enough to survive the extreme Martian climate. Thoats are essential creatures utilized by all the races of Barsoom, whether primitive or technologial. The red Martians bred a smaller and more tractable creature while the green Martians ride a larger desert-bred thoat which can travel as much as 100 miles in a single day and do without water for a month or more at at time!

Burroughs fans will easily identify Burton's Barsoom images in relation to the novels, but those surfing the web may be confused if they are not familiar with Barsoom. In short: Edgar Rice Burroughs is most famous for creating the TARZAN character known from book, film and television; but before TARZAN there was JOHN CARTER OF MARS (1911). Barsoom is the premier science fiction series created by Burroughs and, at present, is actively being considered as a movie project!

DAVID BURTON David Burton was born with the artistic spark. He has been drawing, painting, and sketching, using any materials that were within his reach, for as long as he can remember. David's artistic inspirations and attention to detail are driven by a sense of reality and logic (and research) to make every image, character, animal, terrain, or machine work, real or fictional. Available for special commissions and projects. Burton has a limited number of previous illustrations for sale as laser prints. For pricing and availablity inquire via email or postal mail. Originals for the Mars series are not yet available. Best contact is: davidb@leeb.mv.com or at: David Burton P. O. Box 4432 Manchester, NH 03108-4432 Correspondence requires a SASE or International Reply Coupon.

As a long time reader of the Martian tales by Burroughs I can truthfully say that David Burton's images are very different from those we have seen by such artists as Bob Abbett, Blevins, John Coleman Burroughs, Frank Cho, Reed Crandell, Gino D'Achille, Richard Corbin, Ed Emeshwiller, Frank Frazetta, Joe Jusko, Roy G Krenkel Jr, Frank Schoenover, J Allen St John, Stout, Michael Whelan, Tom Yeates, and my own awful scribbles (see those at Tangor's Fan Fiction web page). Most likely I have failed to mention a hundred or more illustrators of Barsoom, such as comic artists, pulp artists, paperback artists... But of all those Barsoom artists remembered or forgotten, Burton's Barsoom images have a refreshing and gritty reality. Enjoy!

David Bruce Bozarth
Tangor, Listmeister
ERBList (erblist.com)

View the images below — click any image for a detailed view and click your browser's BACK button to return to this page. The comments below in Italics are those of the artist:

The great white apes are massive in size. Some are as tall as fifteen feet and weigh many hundreds of pounds. Meat eaters, the white apes are found in all parts of Barsoom, but most particularly do they haunt the ancient dead cities.

Other denizens of the dead cities of Mars are the barbaric green martians. A chief among these creatures is Lorquas Ptomel. Here we have the plotting fellow, Lorquas Ptomel. One of the major things that I want to strongly impress upon people is that not all Tharks are alike. Each creature, each being in this series, in my eyes anyway, is a character, not just background material. Each Thark has a difference in their features and in the persona. Not all of the portraits that I'm doing will see publication, I do them for myself.

Burton's "do it for himself" includes prelimary sketches of creatures, characters, anatomy, and cultural attributes mention in the stories but not fully described. The artist's imagination run wild — we will all benefit! This is another of my design pages. Here you see some of the weapons I've designed. I wanted to avoid the swords that everyone else has used in the past. While the blades are mostly the same, the pommels and cross guards are different. When you see a foot solider, he'll have a sword that's similar, but not the same as a general's, and so on. The only people who won't have this, will be the Tharks. The process of taking your fallen enemies would give them a variety. One liberty that I've taken is with the long sword. I've placed these on the backs of the human type Martians (and in some cases, some Tharks). The reason for this, as anyone who's ever tried, one cannot successfully draw a five or six foot long blade from the side. Well, not with any kind of grace or speed. They'd be dead long before it was drawn.

Dejah Thoris Captured. Here, Dejah Thoris being dragged away by two female Tharks. The differences between male and female Thark are these: Female's are smaller in overall frame. Their heads are shaped different as well. The back of the skull comes almost to a point and is smoother than a males. Their tusks have more of a curve to them than the males have, as well. Dejah Thoris has nothing but her ornaments and jewelry on as that this was how, at this point in the story, she is described. I'll go into the whole "nude doesn't mean naked" thing later with another piece.

Dejah Thoris's BedRoom. For this piece, I wanted to show a few things; One is the size of the rooms and cities that are in my version of ERB's Mars. Rooms are monstrous and cities, well, you'll have to settle for what you can see outside of the window for now, but they're going to be BIG. Burton's vision of massive structures in Barsoomian cities, both ancient and modern, mirrors the texts of Burroughs' Mars series.

Cover Study 1. This is the first version of my first cover for Strange Worlds. This scene wasn't written by ERB, but does take place. Dejah Thoris has just been discovered upon her airship in the early part of, "A Princess Of Mars". Cover Study 2. This was to be my first cover for Strange Worlds. Though I wasn't happy the final piece, and no one will ever see that version of it here. I do plan on repainting it. This is a painted sketch, which I sometimes do before the final painting. For scenes such as this I acknowledge N. C. Wyeth and my friend Gary Gianni--both artists who are masters at this sort of story telling for my inspiration.

Woola Fights The White Ape. Here we have the scene in which Woola saves John Carter (in the background) from a White Ape. At some point, I'll have Tangor post some of my creature designs and you'll see that my White Apes are close to our own Gorilla's, but have more in common with Tharks, as they should.

More Burton Barsoom art, designs, sculptures upcoming!

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