I was asked to do this painting by author Gary Buckingham for his novel Tarzan and the Lion of Judah. Based in the inner-world series of Edgar Rice Burroughs known as Pellucidar (a hollow Earth series) this image was to have the dirigible O-220 preparing to exit Pellucidar via the "Polar opening" which leads out of the Earth back to the surface. Pellucidar is peopled with cave men and prehistoric beasts of all types, but the author specified he wanted the prehistoric Bos Primigenius (a long-extinct ancestor of modern cattle) in the foreground.
Beautiful painting!
Extremely cool to work with an author like this!
Felix, yes very cool to have a piece that is going to be published in a book. There will be a B&W version in the standard edition, but this color version will be in two higher-end collector's editions that are 8.5x11 i size. It is to be printed on a full page.
Evarawks, are you familiar with ERB's Pellucidar? Because you're exactly right -- the prospective is an ever upward curving landscape with no solid horizon. I always wanted to paint a scene in Pellucidar and try to pull that off. It was definitely a challenge!
PaintingBlondie, Thank you! You can def. see Bob's influence in the use of color and vegetation etc. I had to toss in some mountains since the req't of the painting was sort of plains with scattered aurochs and large bodies of water. Tossing in the pterodactyls was my idea.
how did you come to this cooperation?
Felix, I met Gary Buckingham at an ERB convention back in 2017. I had done a couple of Tarzan pieces which he must have liked. We corresponded a bit, and when he began working on publishing this novel (an ERB Inc Authorized edition btw) he asked me if I'd like to produce a piece for it. Prior to that, he had published another ERB Inc authorized piece called Tarzan: Untamed Frontiers, and asked to use a painting I did of a scene from Tarzan Rescues the Moon, so I already had worked with him before. He had me make some digital changes and convert it to high-def B&W for an interior illo. You can see that Tarzan Rescues the Moon, an homage to the first hardback A. C. McClurg edition of Tarzan of the Apes, and a scene from ERB's Barsoom (Mars) that I did of the greenman, Tars Tarkas, approaching the city of Helium here: https://www.twoinchbrush.com/user/ChrisLAdams
Thanks Felix!
thanks for sharing!
Sure, and thanks for the interest. I should add, both of these works (Untamed Frontiers and Lion of Judah) also feature pieces by Neal Adams (no relation). It's an honor to share pages with Neal, he's a favorite artist of mine. Love his Tarzan covers he did back in the 70s.
Cool painting!
There are so many amazing things about this painting! Wonderful creation. The opportunity to be commissioned for a project like this is very cool - terrific story!
Thanks, Cronenberg89! There are lots of amazing opportunities for paintings in ERB's worlds. You might have heard of his Land that Time Forgot or People that Time Forgot -- some of his non-Tarzan stuff that's super creative (the books are much better than the low budget films).
Flippergirlpaints, thanks so much. I know it's an odd perspective, but Pellucidar is an odd perspective! The way ERB describes it, the Earth is hollow like a tennis ball, with an eternal noonday sun hanging at zenith. The land and seas are juxtaposed opposite from the surface, so the sea areas on the surface create large land areas in Pellucidar, and conversely, so there is actually more land area in Pellucidar than there is upon the surface. Imagine standing on the beach of a great sea, and it curls up until it disappears over your head; or your standing atop a mountain and it winds upward and disappears in the haze of distance ....then people the land with prehistoric cave men, beasts dating to the dinosaur age. Lots of room for imaginative paintings! Thanks again.
Such incredible creativity! Beautiful painting! nice details!
It was so interesting to read all your responses. Thanks a lot for sharing! it is truly unique perspective and sounds like a very nice book to read!
I read a lot of ERB as a kid, had most of the various series and couple of his stand alone novels. The imagery of the hollow earth series was perspective challenging and memorable. The image reads like I always imagined it.
Thank you, Sunnylady! I was crunched for time on this and originally intended to toss in a mammoth. Who knows, maybe some day?
Erarawks, same here on reading ERB as a kid. I devoured it all. The Mars stuff was always my favorite, but then so was Tarzan. Pellucidar was fascinating and I've wished for years for a good movie adaptation. One of the King Kong movies recently was supposedly very influenced by Pellucidar and features the hollow earth stuff but I haven't yet seen it. I have a couple more ERB on here, you might enjoy this one if you liked ERB's Barsoom novels.
https://www.twoinchbrush.com/originals/ChrisLAdams/tars-tarkas-comes-to-helium
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Lovely, I like the reverse curvature perspective of the terrain fading up into the distance. Nice tribute to a classic book series.