Tony DiTerlizzi's Blog, page 14

More of HERO at Hero…

The generous Geoff Boucher has interviewed yours truly about the upcoming sequel to The Search for WondLa at the LA Times' Hero Complex. The article also has several sketches and studies for the final cover. Take a looky!

Friday Fan Art

Happy lucky Friday my fantastic friends!  For this week's post, we've got a special Friday Fan Art delight from a very talented fan, Ray.  Ray has sent us an image all the way from Peru! He has been inspired by some of the artwork found in Arthur Spiderwick's Guide to the Fantastical World Around You and has presented us with a unique rendition and character design of a "Baby Mandrake."

The Mandrake species is a favorite of Ray's and he has interpreted this deadly member of nightshade family with youthful features and a fateful bite. Ray has chosen Gouache as his medium for his Mandrake creation (and has done an awesome job using it!)  As I mentioned, Mandrakes members of the Nightshade family and is a root-like plant with strange bifurcations that often resemble human forms.  Perhaps this is where Ray got some of his inspiration.

Love your work Ray, thanks for sending it along.  Keep drawing, keep dreaming!

A Hero for WondLa Revealed

Entertainment Weekly has revealed the cover to the sequel for The Search for WondLa, due out in stores next May. Let me know what you think about it.

The darker palette is in sync with the repackaged design I did for the paperback edition of Search for WondLa that will be out in April. I can tell you that the foreboding sense depicted on this cover is right on with what's to happen in the story. Stay tuned for more WondLa…

1995: Bridging the Gap

A couple of weeks ago I cleaned out a storage closet here in the studio used primarily for holding shipping supplies. Back in the farthest corner, I came across a box full of old framed art prints by Michael Parkes and Brian Froud that had once adorned our apartment (from way back when Ang and I were living in Florida). Amongst these old prints, I found some of my early spec work that had I created in hopes of bridging my illustration portfolio from role-playing games to children's books.

Most of this work was created late in 1994 and throughout 1995. I had been illustrating for Dungeons & Dragons and Planescape for a couple of years at that point, and was visualizing how my art would look in books for children. Though my style and technical skills were becoming more apparent in these images, they all lack any real sense of exhibiting action or portraying sincere moment. At that point, all I was striving for was creating finished scenes in a style emulated from my favorite artists.

Interestingly, I (temporarily) moved away from pen & ink for many of these samples and used a combination of colored pencils over acrylic paints. (I had yet to discover the acryla gouache that I use almost exclusively for my painted illustration nowadays). This early technique was certainly influenced by the style of illustration that dominated during the mid-1990′s. Artists like Gary Kelley, Carter Goodrich and Chris Van Allsburg primarily used pencils (or pastel in the case of Gary's work) which gave their images a grainy texture.

On top of that, I was (obviously) looking at Brian Froud and Arthur Rackham's fantastic work. However, there is a lot of composition and figure placement inspired by Maxfield Parrish. Though these artist's stylistic influence is strong in these pieces, their process was also affecting mine. I began using model reference, just like Parrish would have done, for this image of a traveling elf listening to directions from a dragon…

…in fact, the elf's pose is taken from my old college life-drawing book, The Human Figure by Erik A. Ruby.

Also, I began drawing trees and plants from life, just like Froud and Rackham would have done, as can be seen in this image titled "Lost in the Wood".

I remember completing this piece and beginning to write a story to go with it. Methinks I see a proto-Thimbletack hiding behind the limbs on the left.

I also played with various sorts of watercolor paints (tubes versus cakes) and colored ink combinations. This would have been happening concurrently with the illustrations I was creating for the Planescape and Changeling role-playing games. In these samples I tried to mesh the line-work into the painted illustration so the image was less outlined. I tried inking my drawing prior to painting, and inking it afterwards, as can be seen in this sample of Mr. Toad from The Wind in the Willows where only certain details were inked.

These unpublished samples mark a huge learning period in my life. I became comfortable with certain mediums and techniques allowing me to shift my focus away from my artistic inspirations and create images drawn directly from my own imagination.

As 1995 came to a close, the spec piece below was completed and the seed for  Jimmy Zangwow was planted. I didn't know it then, but I had bridged the gap. And it was not a gap created by lack of understanding artistic mediums and compositions – it was one caused by relying too heavily on my influences and inspirations. All I simply needed to do was put them aside and draw from my gathered knowledge and imagination.

Out-of-this-World Friday Fan Art

I hope everyone in my neck of the woods is safely recovering from the early winter storm that decided a fun trick for Halloween would be ten feet of snow covering the ground. For us residents in western Massachusetts, Halloween will be celebrated tomorrow night…yeah, it was that bad here.

However cold I was from our lack of heat, my heart was warmed when six year-old Nico, from New York City, sent me a snapshot of his awesome trick-or-treating attire. Not only does he have great taste in literature, but his parents are good with helping make an out-of-this-world costume. Holy Macaroni!

This reminded me that I've received other snapshots over the years of other DiTerlizzi-inspired homemade costumes and how flattered and blown away I am when I see these.

So, if you send me a snapshot of you (your little one) dressed up as a character from one of my books for me to share here on the blog, I'll send you some signed swag. It can be from ANY year, it doesn't have to be from 2011. Please send your pics here: studio@diterlizzi.com and DON'T FORGET to include your mailing address.

Happy belated-Halloween!

Happy Halloween v 2.0

As I've mentioned in the past, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays for decorating the house, dressing up, and eating my body weight in candy corn. You may even remember my custom Halloween coloring pages designed to emulate vintage decorations posted here last year.

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This year, I colored them up in traditional vintage colors. Now you can download'em, print'em, cut'em out and hang'em (just click'em). Have fun little goblins and ghouls!

Want more creepy decorations? Try downloading and assembling my Spider & Fly paper dolls, they are the perfect Halloween craft!

Friday Fan Art (from France)

I often forget that my books are translated and available in many other languages and in many other countries around the world. I think this is mostly due to the fact that I am so deep in DiTerlizziland exploring my created worlds like planet Orbona, Roundbrook, or the Spiderwick Estate. But I do get reminders (like last month's UK tour) and in the form of wonderful letters that arrive in my mailbox from fans who live very far away.

Thirteen year-old Isaac, from Saint André, France, sent me some fantastic drawings including printouts from his very own field guide that he crafted. Check it out:

…looks like he encountered a changeling…

…and even the mythological guivre, indigenous to France. These aquatic drakes are similar to wyverns.

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Great work, Isaac! I can't wait to hear what you think of The Search for WondLa. The french edition will be released very soon by Pocket Jeunesse (who translated the Spiderwick series as well as Kenny & the Dragon), so keep on the lookout for it.

Keep drawing, keep dreaming!

 

Local Event at R. Michelson Galleries

For anyone living in (or near) the Pioneer Valley, Angela and I will be attending the "22nd Annual Children's Book Illustration Exhibit" opening at the R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton, Massachusetts on Sunday, November 6th from 4:30 to 6:30 PM.

This annual gathering brings out a plethora of local authors and illustrators, all of whom are happy to sign books and chat at this festive opening. This year, the gallery is honoring illustrator Jules Feiffer and the 50th anniversary of The Phantom Tollbooth. Come on by and say hi!

PS – looks like Rich (the gallery owner, and author in his own right) has created a list of 22 reasons to attend the 22nd annual opening.

A Story a Day or I Just Can't Play

While touring through the UK last month, I became aware of a wonderful British children's television series called Bookaboo. Its about a rock-star drumming dog named Bookaboo (who clearly is inspired by Bret Michael's headwear). Bookaboo won't play for his band until he is read a picture book – preferably by a celebrity visiting him backstage before the show (Hey, some bands want blue M&M's, others…). Hence, Bookaboo has a catch phrase, "A story a day or I just can't play."

The show launched in 2009 to fab reviews and loads of awards. Its goal is to show a parent sharing a story with a child can be hip: neither the book nor the experience has to be boring. And, of course, the producers have excellent taste in choosing the books that are read to the drum-pounding pup.

Award-winning English actress, , read Bookaboo my rendition of The Spider & The Fly last fall. Seeing that we are nearing Mr. Spider's most favorite of holidays (and mine, too). I thought you all would like to watch a clip from the show. Enjoy, sweet creatures!

Video not loading? You can watch it, along with other TDtv, here.

FREE Spiderwick Book in Pokémon World

For all my UK fans, the latest issue of Pokémon World magazine has a free Spiderwick book in it!

Goblins Attack contains the first few chapters of book 2 of the series, The Seeing Stone, and a "Lost Chapter" which explains how Thimbletack became a boggart. It is similar to the free book given away during the General Mills promotion a few years back.

This freebie is in conjunction with the release of The Spiderwick Chronicles in paperback in the UK. For those who missed the series when it first debuted almost ten years ago, now's your chance to enjoy the stories at an affordable price.

Gotta catch'em all!