Tony DiTerlizzi's Blog, page 15

Friday Fan Art

For this week's Friday Fan Art addition, where we have some lovely drawings by the very talented Elly from Canada.  Besides being a gifted artist, Elly has ambitions to be an aspiring young author and has been plugging away writing books.  Oh, and did I mention that this creative machine is just 8 years old?  Yep that's right, check out this variety pack of drawings from some of Elly's favorite books:  The Search for WondLa, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Kenny and the Dragon, and Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guided to the Fantastical World Around You.  Thanks for being such a big fan Elly, you rock! 

Here's our beloved friend Rovender Kitt from The Search for WondLa.  Look's like he's ready to travel…

Check out this rendition of Grahame, the brainy dragon from Kenny & the Dragon.  Is he reading one of your books Elly?

Elly mentioned that she chose to be Jared Grace from The Spiderwick Chronicles for her school's "Book Character Dress-up Day." I wanna come!

Knock out drawing of Knocker Elly.  Definitely would NOT mess with this guy….

Keep up the hard work Elly, at this rate I'm certain you'll succeed with your creative talents.  Keep drawing, keep dreaming!

You Were Great, Britain!

This year marked my third tour through the United Kingdom. I had originally toured through the UK back in 2004 with Holly Black to launch The Spiderwick Chronicles, and then again in 2008 in support of the release of the film. So this tour was a bit different. Sure, Spiderwick and Search for WondLa were being released in paperback, but in some ways this was a celebratory tour. Just as it is here in the states, I have been publishing books with Simon & Schuster's UK division for over a decade now. And I am proud and honored to be a part of the literary heritage that has inspired me greatly over the years.

The tour mostly consisted of school and bookstore visits throughout England, Scotland and Ireland where I drew, read and spoke of the importance of imagination. I was fortunate in that I was aided by friends (both old and new) to help me celebrate reading and bookmaking. Friends like actress, Sarah Bolger (of the Spiderwick film) who attended my first two London events. It was so great for me to see the Spiderwick fans realize who this lovely Irish gal was signing books next to me.

It was planes, trains and automobiles as I worked my way up towards Manchester and then over to Ireland. Over dinner at a favorite haunt, The Winding Stair, I was able to do what I love best: talk books and story with fellow book lovers over a hearty meal.

From Ireland, I was off to Scotland where I did two events: One at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh and the second at the Merchiston Castle school. Yeah, a Castle school. Think Hogwarts and you've got it. I was ready to move Ang and Sophia over to Edinburgh and join the faculty – it was that amazing.

I traveled back to London to be a guest on the BBC Breakfast (sort of like the UK's version of the Today show) where I was able to announce a new program created by Simon & Schuster UK and Starlight UK called the "Starlight Storytellers" which will bring numerous other authors and illustrators into children's hospitals to do their events for the patients there. As you may know, this is something that is very near and dear to me as Ang and I spent our share of time in hospitals when Sophia was quite young.

I visited the Royal London Hospital after the BBC and concluded my day at a special event with award-winning English illustrator, Chris Riddell. Though I had not met Chris in person, I have often thought of him as a kindred spirit as we both draw from the same inspirations. His sketchbooks were unlike any I have ever seen before as each page was elegantly rendered in pen and ink with stories written out in hand. I met up again with Chris (and his partner-in-crime, author Paul Stewart) in Brighton in between signings. Both were charming and funny and it was nice to share a meal at the local pub with fellow storytellers.

My tour ended at the Bath Literature Festival where I presented to a packed audience. Everyone was so gracious, so encouraging of all the books I have created that I really began to wonder if I was truly dreaming.

I had a day off before I flew back home and made the most of it. In the morning I did something I have been meaning to do for all three tours: visit Arthur Rackham's home. You see, in London, celebrated individuals and their achievements are noted by a system of blue plaques placed on the homes of those who once lived there. If you ever been, then you've likely seen these circular blue signs stamped into old buildings.

As I made my way up to the gates of Rackham's old home, tears welled in my eyes. I was no longer old 40-something Tony, but a 20-something kid with a head full of dreams to create quality books for children in the same spirit Rackham had done a century ago. In our present moment of e-books, iPads and Kindles, I realized Rackham faced the same challenges. Publishing certainly changed during his lifetime due to wars and public tastes, and yet he endured. Perhaps I will be so lucky.

I finished my last day with a rendezvous with author, Christopher Paolini. I took Chris to one of my favorite places in London, Cecil Court, which is an alley FULL of antique bookstores. (In fact, it is rumored to be the inspiration of a certain Diagon Alley). On a rainy afternoon both of us poked around the shops, rummaging through the history of bookmaking in England. It was a glorious end to a glorious tour.

A BIG THANKS to all of you who took the time and effort to come out and see me. You made this trip so memorable to me. I promise I'll be back very soon. Great Britain will always be my home away from home.

 

PS – wanna see more from the UK WondLaFul Tour? I posted some favorite pics here and my television appearances here. Enjoy!

Surprise Spiderwick Guest at London Book-signings This Weekend!

For all of you Spiderwick movie fans out there, I have a special announcement:  The lovely Sarah Bolger will join yours truly at two London book signings THIS WEEKEND. Here are the details:

Saturday, 17th September @ 3:30 PM
The Golden Treasury
29 Replingham Road
Southfields, London
SW18 5LT
0208 333 0167
 
Sunday,  18th September @ Noon


Waterstone's
West Village, Greenhithe
GB – Bluewater
DA9 9SE
0843 290 8159
 

Sarah has agreed to sign books and movie memorabilia along with me, so dust off your old Spiderwick collection and we'll see you this weekend!

To see the rest of the dates on my UK tour, go here.

Will Work for Food

Rovender Kitt in The Search for WondLa: "Sure, I eat because I have to. But I also eat because I want to. It is one of life's few pleasures."

Has anyone ever had a popover? If you have, you know the mouthwatering awesomeness that comes with ripping open this puffnormous egg-battered muffin and dipping it into sweet apple butter. Fattening: Um, what do you think? Taste: The only thing better would be an ice cream flavor called "Apple Butter Popover".

There is a restaurant in the center of our town, called Judie's, that serves a pretty amazing popover. Bear in mind, I was introduced to this beloved pastry in New York City by a popover expert named Michael Kaluta at his favorite haunt, Popover Café, so my standards are high. And I daresay that Judie's restaurant exceeds that standard. (I'm simply stating this so Kaluta will come for a visit to challenge my statement…then fall in love with the area, move here, and we can hang out again like we used to.)

We've been enjoying Judie's cooking since we moved to Amherst in 2002. Sophia loves the soups (like her mom), the sun fries, and of course a popover. Soph will happily rip and dip her pop with one hand while scribbling away with another on Judie's coloring page as she waits for her entrée to arrive. Imagine our delight one evening while dining, when Judie herself sat down to catch up with us about all things DiTerlizzi.

Judie: "Hey guys. Howya doin?"

Us: "Good!"

Judie: "Wow. Sophia is getting big. And she likes to color, just like her dad."

Sophia: "I love to color things pink!"

Ang: "You know, Judie, you should think about a new coloring page…"

Judie: "Yeah. We've had this one for awhile. It may be time to retire it. But who would draw the new one?"

Ang: "Hmmm…I wonder…Let me think…I know!"

Judie: "Tony?"

Ang: "Tony."

Sophia: "Dad!"

…above is my sketch done that night with Sophia. She thought a dragon would be cool to color for both boys and girls. I like that. I hope my fellow Amherstians do too.

And, yes – I asked Judie to pay me in food. Specifically popovers. I may be a few extra pounds when you see me next, but I'll be smiling.

 

BOOKS: The Many Colors of Andrew Lang & H.J. Ford

Dragons, trolls, nixies, mermaids, giants and fairies. I could be talking about Spiderwick, Brian Froud & Alan Lee's Faeries, or perhaps this is (yet another) post on old D&D. But, in fact, I am referring to the collection of twelve colored fairy books collected and translated over 100 years ago by Scottish novelist, Andrew Lang, and illustrated by English inkmaster, Henry Justice Ford.

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This collection of fairy tales from around the world was a favorite in the DiTerlizzi household when I was a kid. We could pick any color book we wanted (there was The Red Fairy Book, The Green Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book…you get the idea) and my mom would read stories from them to us at bedtime. In later years, I would attempt to copy Ford's intricate linework and design. His sense of composition and iconic illustration style certainly had an impact on me, especially on the Spiderwick chapter book illustrations.

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Never heard of H.J. Ford? Most probably have not. Its odd how his legacy is eclipsed by contemporaries of his time such as Arthur Rackham or Ernest Shepard – both of whom I am sure were looking at his work. However, in Ford's art you can see the influence of the books by Dover and grab your copies of these classics at an affordable price.

The UK WondLAful tour

Thanks to all my awesome fans overseas, I will be traveling to the United Kingdom this September for another WondLAful tour!  This time I'll be promoting The Search for WondLa and The Spiderwick Chronicles.  We have planned a couple of surprise guests at some of the venues (including Chris Riddell!), so tune in for more updates. In the meantime, here are the tour dates and locations we have booked so far:

Saturday, 17th September @ 3:30 PM
The Golden Treasury
29 Replingham Road
Southfields, London
SW18 5LT
UK
0208 333 0167

 

Sunday,  18th September @ Noon


Waterstone's
West Village, Greenhithe
GB – Bluewater
DA9 9SE
UK
0843 290 8159

 

Wednesday, 21st September @ 4:30PM
Scottish Book Trust
Sandeman House, Trunk's Close
55 High Street
Edinburgh
EH1 1SR
UK
0131 524 0169

 

Thursday, 22nd September @ 6:30 PM
*SURPRISE GUEST: Chris Riddell!


The Gallery at Foyles
113-119 Charing Cross Road
London
WC2H 0EB
UK
020 7440 3222

 

Saturday, 24th September @ 11:00 AM
The Book Nook
1 St Johns Place
Hove, East Sussex
BN3 2FJ
UK
01273 911988

 

Saturday, 24th September @ 4:30 PM
Bags Of Books
1 South Street
Lewes, East Sussex
BN7 2BT
UK
01273 479320

 

Sunday, 25th September @ 4:00 PM
The Bath Festival of Children's Lit
Guildhall
High Street
Bath, Avon
BA1 5AW
UK
01225 477793

 

If you are bringing books from home, make sure you check in with the store first (most stores allow this). If you are bringing Magic cards, please limit the amount to a handful of your favorite ones.

Bring your camera! I'd be happy to take a pic with you and your little readers!

Keep your eyes peeled for more dates…and another surprise guest!

Realizing Rovender Kitt (conclusion)

Let me start off by saying the obvious: I am a Star Wars nut. I was seven years-old when I was first whisked off to a galaxy far, far away. I've collected the toys, the ephemera, met the actors…heck, I've even reported on Star Wars. Like many of us, George Lucas' vision had a tremendous impact on my imagination as I am sure Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon had on his.

As the story and characters of WondLa developed, I conjured up the things I loved about Star Wars. My hope was to instill some of that boyhood wonder into my own story.

After toying with the possibility of re-illustrating Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars, I found a form and shape that I liked for my alien character…but something wasn't quite there yet. He looked a little lighthearted, perhaps a bit comical, and that wasn't the curmudgeonly mentor figure that I was writing about. So I held onto aspects of his design that I liked, such as the long legs and thick forearms – features that seemed Star Warsy, but not too Star Warsy (its an adjective. You know what it means. Feel free to use it).

The face was a different story. I wanted a face that spoke of intelligence before the character itself spoke. I wanted a face that could express emotion. A face that could act and convey what the character was feeling from my line-drawn illustrations.

This "cat-frog" design didn't work for me. Somehow, Rovender looked too much like a Spiderwick creature here, and I wanted a character design that said "alien". Then, one night while watching a documentary on penguins of the Antarctic (from the BBC's Planet Earth series), I sketched this.

This looked like an alien that was intelligent, that could talk, that was capable of expressing many moods. And the flight jacket was just the right amount of Star Warsiness that I wanted (you can use that word, too). On top of that, I'd hit upon the notion of "distinctly-marked" alien types as opposed to incorporating the earthy, mottled patterns I had continually used in Spiderwick. (Bear in mind, this was back in 2008, so I had no idea what sort of brightly-patterened aliens James Cameron was cooking up for Avatar ).

(Its interesting to note that I have listed two films for my alien reference here instead of my usual book and illustrator inspiration. I believe it is because I could not find a whole lot of illustrated sci-fi/fantasy middle grade books to look at AND when I do find a film that I am inspired by, I usually track down the accompanying "Art of" book. So, I am not just taking note of the designs in the final film, I am also drawing inspiration from the concept art done in the pre-production phase as well.)

I began pattern and texture tests in Photoshop over my inked drawings to see how the final art might be created for the book. As I did so, I tried out different bird markings on Rovender's form. I started with markings inspired by a Belted Kingfisher…

…and then a small shorebird known as a plover…

…but ended up with a pattern that used elements of both.  The Lima bean green skin-tone changed as the story evolved. Rovender is described as a washed-out cerulean at the beginning of the tale, but becomes a rich iridescent blue by the end. Here he is from the cover to the paperback edition, due out early next year.

Rovender's role as Eva's mentor will change and grow throughout the second story and this will continue into the third. Though his physical form is finalized, I plan on trying out various costume and accoutrement combinations so that his look remains interesting.

It has been a wonderful journey so far, and I can't wait to see where this roving, wandering alien takes me next.

Friday Fan Art

Isabella from Ohio sent in an awesome drawing inspired by Kenny & the Dragon for this week's Friday Fan Art.  She mentioned in her letter how much she loved how Grahame (the dragon) and Kenny Rabbit became such good friends, which I think she conveyed nicely here.  Check out Grahame's giant grin…

Nice work on Kenny's penny-farthing, that thing is fun to draw, isn't it? You are quite the budding artist, Isabella! Keep drawing, keep dreaming…

 

 

Upcoming Events

I've been looking over the "WondLa UK Autumn Tour" itinerary for September and will be posting dates here very soon. In fact, there will be some special guests joining me at some of the venues, so stay tuned.

However, in the meantime, my one and only US event this fall will be at the Decatur Book Festival held over Labor Day weekend near Atlanta, Georgia. I will be presenting and signing for The Search for WondLa and speaking on a panel with with my lovely wife, Angela.

Also, Ang will be presenting and signing as well for her new picture book, Say What? Both of us will be speaking Saturday, September 3rd at the Children's Stage. Here is the schedule:

 

Tony DiTerlizzi:

The Search for WondLa, Saturday, 1:30 at Children's Stage

Pairs with Pens, Saturday, 4:15 at Decatur Presbyterian Sanctuary Stage

Angela DiTerlizzi:

Say What?, Saturday, 11:00 at Children's Stage

Pairs with Pens, Saturday, 4:15 at Decatur Presbyterian Sanctuary Stage

 

…of course, Ang and I are both happy to sign any titles that you bring from your collection, so grab you copies of Meno, Spiderwick or your Planescape books and we'll see you there!

Realizing Rovender Kitt (Part 2)

(In case you missed it, here's a quick link to Part 1)

Back in August of 2003, as I began work for the fourth Spiderwick book, I started thinking about re-illustrating a classic text after the Spiderwick series was complete. I spoke with my editor at the time, Kevin, and he thought it a good idea – especially given how well my rendition of The Spider & The Fly was received.

We discussed lesser-known classics that might be enjoyed by readers of today and arrived at Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars. Like his other classic, Tarzan of the Apes, Burroughs' sci-fi adventure was action packed with lots of fighting, rescuing and all around swashbuckling. I loved it when I first read it in middle school and I still love it today.

Aside from the coveted Frank Frazetta Doubleday editions, which came out in the 1970′s, no one had really tackled publishing a re-illustrated edition since Frank Schoonover painted the illustrations for the 1917 first edition. Excited, I began to re-read A Princess of Mars with sketchbook at my side.

I soon theorized that to bring in a new audience of young readers I would initially shift my focus away from the human characters – like the hero, John Carter, or the martian princess, Dejah Thoris – and spend time on the unique alien life forms. More specifically: the unusual four-armed Tharks, the tribal aliens that John battles throughout most of the story. It was in their redesign that I focused most of my creativity.

As I worked through the variations of Burroughs' martians, I thought of my own story centered around the wandering alien. I revisited (what would become) Rovender's design during the Princess of Mars sketch session. As I do so, I infused some of my Thark designs and felt like I had made some serious headway on his general appearance, which in turn, began to inform his personality.

In the end, Spiderwick's success and hectic schedule did not allow me the time to illustrate A Princess of Mars. I did continue with my "new take on a classic" idea and it evolved into Kenny & The Dragon. The energy for designing the characters for Burroughs' world went into designing characters for my own world. But, as a nod, we designed the WondLa logo to harken back to those old John Carter books that I cherished.

Over the years, I wondered if I'd made the right move in letting A Princess of Mars slip away. I remember having a chat with Brian Selznick about this very thing: spending time and energy illustrating a classic versus your own material and he concurred that, despite the allure, my choice to focus on my own stories was the best decision. After all, the original text will always have its original illustrator – Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has Sir John Tenniel, Winnie-the-Pooh has Ernest Shepard and so on. Perhaps, one day, my name will become synonymous with certain texts. I suppose only time will tell.

PS – Last year, I was approached by my WondLa editor, David, about illustrating the first three Mars books by Burroughs – Yes! A second chance! To say that I was over the martian moons would be an understatement.

But reality set in and I realized my workload had changed very little since 2003 (a good problem to have for sure). Even though I already handed in a cover sketch (seen above), I had to pass once again. In turning down the offer, I did send over a dream-list of illustrators who I thought could really bring Mars to life. I included established names as well as up-and-coming talent. Simon & Schuster is set to publish two books (the first three Mars stories in one volume and a new anthology – both illustrated), which will be released in February of next year. They hired many of the names on my dream-list including friend (and fellow Magic the Gathering artist) Mark Zug for the marvelous painted covers. I've had a sneak-peek at some of the interior art and it is awesome!

In Part 3: As WondLa becomes a reality for me, I refine Rovender's design while trying to avoid all things Jar-jar Binks.