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Volume 1301
Presents
A Graphic Interpretation of
Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars
by
James Killian Spratt.
(1950 - 2015)
NAVIGATION MAP
Contents
ERBzine 1301: Intro & Contents
A Princess of Mars Illustrated
ERBzine 1302: Intro & Ch. 1
On the Arizona Hills
ERBzine 1303: Ch. 2
Escape of the Dead
ERBzine 1304: Ch. 3
My Advent On Mars
ERBzine 1305: Ch. 4
A Prisoner
ERBzine 1306: Ch. 5
I Elude My Watchdog
ERBzine 1307: Ch. 6
A Fight That Won Friends
ERBzine 1308: Ch. 7
Child-Raising On Mars
ERBzine 1309: Ch. 8
A Fair Captive From the Sky
ERBzine 1310: Ch. 9
I Learn the Language
ERBzine 1311: Ch. 10
Champion and Chief
ERBzine 1312: Ch. 11
With Dejah Thoris
ERBzine 1313: Ch. 12
A Prisoner With Power
ERBzine 1314: Ch. 13
Love-making On Mars
ERBzine 1315: Ch. 14
A Duel to the Death
ERBzine 1316: Ch. 15
Sola Tells Me Her Story I
ERBzine 1316A: Ch. 15a
Sola Tells Me Her Story II
ERBzine 1317: Ch. 16
We Plan Escape I
ERBzine 1317a: Ch. 16
We Plan Escape II
ERBzine 1318: Ch. 17
A Costly Recapture I
ERBzine 1318a: Ch. 17
A Costly Recapture II
ERBzine 1319: Ch. 18
Chained in Warhoon
ERBzine 1320: Ch. 19
Battling in the Arena I
ERBzine 1321: Ch. 19a
Battling in the Arena II
 ERBzine 1322: Ch. 19b
Battling in the Arena III
ERBzine 1323: Ch. 20
The Atmosphere Factory
ERBzine 1324: Ch. 20a
The Atmosphere Factory II
ERBzine 1325: Ch. 20b
The Atmosphere Factory III
ERBzine 1326: Ch. 21
An Air Scout for Zodanga
ERBzine 1327: Ch. 21a
An Air Scout for Zodanga II
ERBzine 2978: Ch. 21b
An Air Scout for Zodanga III
ERBzine 2979: Ch. 21c
An Air Scout for Zodanga IV
ERBzine 2980: Ch. 22
I Find Dejah
ERBzine 2981: Ch. 22a
I Find Dejah II
ERBzine 2982: Ch. 23
Lost in the Sky
ERBzine 2983: Ch. 23a
Lost in the Sky II
ERBzine 4124: Ch. 24
Tars Tarkas Finds a Friend
ERBzine 4125: Ch. 24a
Tars Tarkas Finds a Friend II
ERBzine 4125: Ch. 24b
Tars Tarkas Finds a Friend III
CHAPTERS
Intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 15a | 16 | 16a | 17 | 17a | 18 | 19 | 19a | 19b | 20 | 20a | 20b
| 21 | 21a | 21b | 21c | 22 | 22a | 23 | 23a | 24 | 24a | 24b |
 
James Killian SprattKAOR, fellow Barsoomians, and to the rest of you, too.  A few years ago, in a rare mood of elevated clarity, I became aware that the main body of my art works were sculptural, and a days-long dredge through trunks, old sketchbooks, boxes of old stuff, and an inventory of things hanging on the walls revealed not much that impressed me in the way of my drawings and paintings.  I found this a bit surprising, but reminded myself that knowing that you can do something doesn't mean that you've done it;  I've always known I could draw and paint, but obviously I hadn't done much to prove it to anyone outside my own imagination   A sculpture is a real thing, and a drawing or painting is an illusion.  A sculpture is an infinite set of drawings of the same subject, and a  drawing or painting is hopefully the most satisfying view of said subject, or one of them  It is an impossible challenge to say which is the higher craft, so I leave that debate for those who have nothing better to do, and simply point out that, while a sculpture can show all of one thing, 2-D can show the best of one thing, and a lot besides, such as environment, background, atmosphere, lighting, mood, off-the-ground motion and distance.

   So I purchased a truckfull of canvas, stretcher-bars, gesso, good oils and brushes and fixed them all up ready for masterpieces;  they make great movable partitions, and most of them remain, uh, white.  Well, then I got some sketchbooks, in five sizes--huge, large, medium, small and ditzy--and a heap of drawing and inking stuff, and after some experimenting, I found that Meester Sculptor's eye liked the hard outlines of a razorpoint felt tip in jet black, and the five by eight, 220-page hardbound archival sketchbooks. Okay, so I don't really LIKE to draw.

   I filled up a few of the fivebyeights, with single drawings, mostly, some little 2- and 4-page vignettes, short stories, and by book five had begun to like some of my characters well enough to dedicate entire books to graphic novels all about them, gradually learning tricks such as scene transitions, full turnarounds on characters, pivotal moment selection, and starting to love the freedom of the pen.  I was almost prepared to try to illustrate the entirety of one of my favorite stories of all, A PRINCESS of MARS.  Knowing that art is more pleasant and fruitful if permitted to happen, rather than by being made to happen, I drew a deep breath and committed myself to the pages, anxious and excited to see what this magical story would reveal.

 Since I was drawing initially for my own amusement, with no thought of publishing, I pulled all the normal stops and drew the way I imagined the classic story to be written.  The characters are highly underclad, yet oblivious to it; it's their normal way, and they don't see much naughty or titillating about it.  The men are men and the women are women and blood is red and scary.  I set out to be honest with the nudity and violence, and the devil take Pollyanna, she needs to grow up anyway.   A lifetime would be required, in full-sized oils of five thousand panels to truly do justice to the story.  I can't spare that, but I hope you will find the little scenes that I have captured to be at least somewhat rewarding and enjoyable.  You may notice that the captions are paraphrased in places for the sake of brevity, clarity and fluidity, and hope no one minds me taking this small additional liberty.  I hope you enjoy it, and thank you. 

~ James Killian Spratt, m.sc.

PROMO COLLAGE

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James Killian Spratt
Master Sculptor and ERB Artist
ERBzine 1148: Jetan Artist 
Master Sculptor I
ERBzine 1149: Jetan Artist
Master Sculptor II
ERBzine 1147: Jetan-Sarang
Photos ~ Sketches ~ Moves
Visit the Entire Spratt Online Gallery:
 www.sprattart.com
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