Alan Burton's Cartoons (And other art)

Says Alan, "I am an illustrator, writer, author, poet, voice over artist, and creator of quotes and graphic images on novelty products. I was a late bloomer in all of these arenas. I did not have the opportunity to learn any of these avenues of expression while in school, so consequently I am self-taught in everything that I have managed to accomplish. As an illustrator, I began my career in the late 1980. I published for ‘The Dragon’ magazine – covers and interiors, and for their annual fantasy calendar. I provided October for five years. I also provided a book cover for a German book on Viking history. I have also done several book interiors for offbeat poetry publications. These were black and white pen and ink. I did covers for ‘Science and children’ magazine, as well as continuous work for ‘The Dragon’ magazine."

"In the mid - late 1980’s there appeared to be a glut in the market, so to speak, and nothing got published for several years. Then in 1991 I offered the illustration of the Heron on the lake. This was done for a local Nature and lake dwelling magazine the ‘Lake Boon Journal’. This became the permanent cover for this work. I put several of my images, in printed form, on greeting cards and ‘postcards’, which were sold in book stores locally and in Maryland. I also sold 8x10 prints of my work, and sold originals at illustrator/fantasy conventions. Although having published my work as I have, my goal is to illustrate a children’s fairytale book cover to cover. This is what I am really excited to try to attain, and why I send the link to my website to you."

"I began by studying the books that I grew up with as a child. Arthur Rackham, Edmond Dulac – illustrators of fairy-tales, and people like Frank Frazetta for fantasy. Also Harry Clark, who illustrated Edgar Allen Poe. I would study each illustration through a magnifying glass, and try to see just how and what they had done to create their magical masterpieces. It was indeed a wonderfully tedious way to learn, but my appreciation grew as to the incredible talent that I was witnessing. I knew this was what I wanted to try to do. And, although I know that I do not possess the brilliance of those mentioned, I feel that I do have something to offer that might again find its place in the fairytale market. This would be my goal, and always has been."

"From 1997 to 2008 I had a business building sets, props, toy prototypes, special effects, exhibit specialty pieces, stop motion animation and models. This took up a great deal of time and creative energy, and consequently I have not published much since 2001. However, I do still send out cards and prints for sales at a few stores. I have kept my hand at it, but until creating this website in September of this year, I haven’t sent illustrations to agents. Now I can and do. The internet never being available to me in the 80’s or 90’s."