Tony DiTerlizzi

S&S Press Release: Teri Hatcher to Narrate WONDLA

June 15th, 2010 | Category: Blogroll, Books, Musings, WondLa

Simon & Schuster Audio, along with Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers announced today Teri Hatcher will narrate The Search for WondLa, by award-winning author and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi. Hatcher is best known for her roles as Susan Mayer in “Desperate Housewives” and Lois Lane in “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.” She won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her role as Susan Mayer in 2005. The Search for WondLa will release in September, 2010.

Tony DiTerlizzi’s books have met with enormous success, from his award winning picture books to the bestselling The Spiderwick Chronicles. The Search for WondLa will follow a similar track, with three novels over three years.

“From the start, I wanted a woman, preferably a mother, to lend their voice to the audiobook of ‘The Search for WondLa’ – and Teri has the perfect talent to bring it to life. I have been a fan of hers since the “Lois & Clark” television series and was thrilled to hear she was on board. Her multi-dimensional performance in the feature “Coraline” was fantastic. Her voice and acting skills are smart and nuanced – exactly what you want when listening to a fairy tale set on an alien world.” – Tony DiTerlizzi

Recorded in Los Angeles last week, Hatcher brings DiTerlizzi’s fantastical creatures and magical landscapes to life, introducing listeners to an incredible new world full of unique characters that children will become attached to.

“As a mom and huge fan of the author, I was honored to lend my voice to bring this magnificent story to life. It’s an exciting adventure for any child to hear, with heartfelt lessons about love and relationships, friends, trust and courage. The Muthr/daughter one is especially beautiful. Tony has created powerful and colorful characters, you can’t help but love or love to hate. It was a pleasure to be a part of this audiobook production.” –Teri Hatcher

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BOOKS: Some Awesome Stuff

August 22nd, 2009 | Category: Blogroll, Books

Angela and I were in New York City this week and were able to sneak downtown, away from my many meetings with my publisher, to a favorite haunt of mine, Books of Wonder. BoW is a great indy bookstore for several reasons:

1. It is packed with an amazing cross section of the best books in print created for children.

2. It also carries a serious amount of out-of-print and antiquarian books.

3. There’s a cupcake bakery inside the store. You read that right.

I’ve known the owner, Peter, since I started making kid’s books and he’s always been supportive of my work. He and I enjoy a good banter on Golden Age illustrators and some of their lesser known books. One treasure that I was very happy to find on this visit was a second edition of Arthur B. Frost’s Stuff & Nonsense from 1888.

If you don’t know Frost’s work, you should. He was an illustrator, painter and cartoonist. He illustrated for Lewis Carroll and Joel Chandler Harris’ Uncle Remus stories. His action packed images, matched with captions paves the way for sequential art (like comic strips and comic books). And he was an awesome ink master. Check this out:

This is from a short comic in the book called “the Fatal mistake” about a poor cat that eats rat poison. I discovered this sequence back in high school in a library book. I photocopied the images and taped them into my sketchbooks – that’s how far back my love of Frost goes.

I think it is his ability to freeze action, like looking at an animated cel, and caricature at the same time, that blows my mind. There are not many that could, or can, do this (though Peter DeSeve does come to mind).

Though I dedicated the Spiderwick books to Rackham – and he certainly was my main influence, I also looked at a lot of Frost. I like the frenetic ink style and the bony blocky form of the figures. Rackham’s line was calligraphic, elegant even when he was drawing gnarled old oak trees. Frost looked like he was painting with the line…on a half-dozen cups of coffee. Trust me, that’s hard to do.

Here are some larger jpegs to check out – just click them for a bigger view:

Also, it looks like Fanta-Graphic Books might have brought Stuff and Nonsense back in print in 2003. Pick up and copy and be ready to weep – this work is untouchable.

PS – I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that though Frost rocks it, he was active during a not-so-politically correct period of American history. That said, his caricatures of minorities are typical of the period and not nice. There were only a couple images in the entire original edition of Stuff & Nonsense (and I am not sure if the Fanta-Graphics edition pulls them), but I just thought this was worth mentioning. Of course, I don’t endorse such imagery in any way.

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The Universe of Dragons

August 07th, 2009 | Category: Blogroll, Books, Gaming Stuff

Galerie Daniel Maghen is a fantasy-themed art gallery in Paris, France. In addition to selling fantastic artwork, they produce exquisite books (with my new favorite, Jean Baptiste-Monge). They’ve also done some collections with American artists like The Universe of Dragons (you’ll never guess what that book is about).

When they contacted me to do a piece for their collection, I was absolutely excited, but pressed for time. So I opted to (digitally) blow the dust off of an old favorite of mine “A Golden Afternoon” done in 1997 for Dragon magazine.

This was quite an ambitious piece for me at that time. I conjured up an image from Kenneth Grahame’s The Reluctant Dragon as the basis for the image. I remember I was looking at a lot of Maxfield Parrish and Scott Gustafson then, and I think their influence can be seen in the handling of the background and environment. Of course, I am nowhere near the painter these masters are, but I was happy with the final painting nonetheless – I felt I had grown a bit after completing it.

One thing I never was truly happy about, though, was the boy. At that point in my career, I had hardly rendered a child in any of my work. As time went on, I was able to understand a little more about the anatomy and structure of little ones. And so, I was able to create a new head for this reprint. Now I am reeeaaallllly happy.

There is a great gaggle of contributors in this collection (the second volume, I might add) like Tom Kidd, Todd Lockwood, Paul Bonner and William Stout (to name some favs). If you are interested, it looks like you can order the book directly from the gallery or through Amazon France…Stuart Ng may even have it. Also, check out Volume 1, its got some nice images in it as well.

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BOOKS: Dover's Incredible, Inspiring Library

November 13th, 2008 | Category: Blogroll, Books, Musings

I haven’t done a “Books Which Have Inspired Me” entry in some time, and I was reminded just the other day about how big an impact Dover Publications‘ books have had on my work.

1992: As I neared the end of my art school life, I began to think seriously about submitting my illustrations to TSR, the company which published the Dungeons & Dragons game. I started looking for a reference book which could inspire and (hopefully) help set my work apart from the myriad of other submissions blanketing the art director’s desk.

At a trip to a local art supply shop, I chanced upon a large, black and white book simply titled Animals. It contained over 1,000 highly detailed, if a bit antiquated, images of every type of bird, mammal, fish, insect and reptile you could think of…and it was (drum roll please) $9.95.

$9.95!

Nine dollars and ninety-five cents!?!?

All of this super cool reference (which was copyright free I might add) was mine to take and use for years of drawing, and it would literally cost less than the price of a pizza!? It was this art college grad’s dream!

So off I went. I was copying from old turn-of-the-century woodcuts and morphing them into dice-rolling-saving-throw-causing monsters. Here is an example of a leopard-turned-displacer beast:

…Leopard (from page 21)…

…and my Displacer Beast (from 1994’s AD&D Monstrous Manual)

I soon purchased the next book in my secret Dover arsenal of reference, Historic Costume in Pictures – which gave me clothing and armor reference the world over (and through the ages). I was on my way to doodling out fantastic characters and monsters all drawn from very realistic inspiration and reference.

…so back to where I started on this post…

2008: There I was in my studio, just the other day, designing a new creature for the next installment of the Spiderwick books. I needed some reference to help take my initial thumbnail sketches to the next stage of development. I looked a bookshelf (now FULL of reference books), and instinctively went for my old, tattered, dog-eared copy of Animals.

Keep making these awesome reference books Dover. You are sparking many minds.

PS – Inflation has caused these books to go up in price just a tad, but they are still available AND still cheaper than a pizza! Check out your local bookstore, or try Amazon or Barnes & Noble for more info.

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BOOKS: Magnetic Storm

January 24th, 2008 | Category: Books, Musings

My earlier talk of records and album cover artwork has inspired me crack open an old book that I’ve not looked at in some time. Upon opening it, I immediately saw that it was more influential than I realized.

I purchased Roger and Martyn Dean’s Magnetic Storm back in 1984 when I was 15 years old. I was blown away the dynamic, colorful dragons that adorned the book jacket (and the then-popular band, Asia’s album cover).

Now that I look at it, their designs most definitely influenced my creature designs in Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide, especially the colorful patterning.

More importantly though, I remember copying their totally cool hand-drawn-lettering. This element has become an integral part of my book-making philosophy to this day.

In our digital world of “Anything can become a font”, I have relished the fact that most of my books have hand-drawn titling – something I seriously first took notice of while copying images out of my copy of Magnetic Storm. Seriously, why wouldn’t the titling to a piece of art not come from the same mind-space, the same vision, the same hand, as the image it is meant to compliment?

Roger and Martyn have done many tomes on their various contributions to books, albums, conceptual art, and architecture. Give their site a look-see, and by all means check out one of their titles – I guarantee it will inspire you.

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BOOKS: Dinotopia

September 30th, 2007 | Category: Books, Musings

The older I get, the more I am convinced life is but a series of circular motions. But each time your orbit returns to a pivotal point in your life, your journey affects it in such a way that you now see things in a slightly different perspective. I swear. I don’t know…I am certainly no student of philosophy, but I can’t be the only one who thinks this.

Consider the CURIOUS and AMAZING interaction I have had with Dinotopia deity James Gurney. Actually he goes by Jim…I am not sure if he has any other nicknames like “Jimbo”, “J-Dog” or “The Gurnster…I’ll have to find out.

1992: I am 2 years away from art school graduation, and in the school library, I spy a tome which is wonderful to behold. Just like the time I found William Stout’s Dinosaurs in high school, once again the little boy in me is giddy with renderings of prehistoric pretties realistically rendered in a Jules Verne-esque world.

On top of that, I have the cursory knowledge to recognize the influence of Sir Alma Tadema (and perhaps a sliver of John Waterhouse?) combined with the observational design so prevalent in books by the late Dutch master, Rien Poortvliet. In short, the combination is somewhat familiar and comfy, while being presented in a completely new fashion. Not since Brian Froud and Alan Lee’s Faeries had I been so blown away by a book.

The idea alone was novel enough: turn-of-the-century father and son travelers explore an island inhabited by humans happily co-existing with civilized dinosaurs. But the combination of Jim’s quick oil-wash sketches contrasted against majestically realized vistas – not to mention his wonderful calligraphy, made this book an instant classic with kids and adults alike. And it certainly was in my mind when I designed Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide.

Many years later, I got to meet Jim at a picnic-party he was holding at his home in upstate New York. Michael Kaluta had invited me to join him on what was a bit of tradition among the Hudson Valley artists (like Stephen Hickman, Jeffrey Jones and Berni Wrightson) where there was food, music, and lots of art show-and-tell. Needless to say, I was seriously intimidated by that talent pool as we drove up from the city. However, all fears were washed away after I met Jim and all of his friends – they were a warm and inviting bunch.

From then on, Jim and I kept in touch either by phone or by mail. I’d send him my books for his library; he’d do the same with his later installments of Dinotopia. I even coerced him into supplying a blurb for Dinosaur Summer, a (now out of print) book I illustrated for Greg Bear. Here’s what Jim had to say:

“Tony DiTerlizzi has given a labor-of-love treatment to the artwork, with evocative illustrations throughout.”

Wow. A quote for me from a guy who redefined dinosaurs. I barely knew how to paint when I received this praise.

It gets better – earlier this year, Jim asked me to blurb his new Dinotopia book, Journey to Chandra. Here’s what I had to say:

“With lush settings reminiscent of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, colorful characters cast from Norman Rockwell, and vivacious dinosaurs conjured from the spirit of Charles Knight, Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara is a window into this modern master’s mind. Children and adults alike will enjoy exploring this rich world of Jurassic proportions.”

Yesterday, Ang, Sophia and I went to see Jim speak and sign at the Eric Carle museum. He and his wife, Jeanette, were so happy for all of our successes and our new family. I had to pause at one point and just soak in the moment – it was really cool.

See? Life + continual reoccurrences = Tony’s “Circles” theory! I can’t wait to see where it goes from here…

PS – Jim’s joined the blogosphere as well. Check it out!

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BOOKS: The Monster Manual (part 3)

July 19th, 2007 | Category: Books, Gaming Stuff, Musings

Like I said before, both the original AD&D Monster Manual and the 1994’s Monstrous Manual had a tremendous impact on me both as an artist and a creator of books.

After binging out on D&D, at 13 I spent an entire summer making my own Monster Manual, which was more a field guide full of fantastical creatures from a strange island called “Gondwanaland” (after the ancient super-continent). But instead of giving statistics and game points, I wrote about natural habits, habitats, and even created scientific names for my menagerie.

I never forgot about that idea of a fantastical field guide from a naturalist’s point-of-view and that passion went into every image that I did for Spiderwick’s Field Guide – which was full of goblins, trolls, ogres and faeries – very much like the Monster Manuals.

I still love the Tolkien-inspired world of Dungeons & Dragons. And, even though I don’t do any illustrative work for the game anymore, I still doodle out some of my favorite monsters just like I did back in 1981.

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BOOKS: The Monster Manual (part 2)

July 15th, 2007 | Category: Books, Gaming Stuff, Musings

The AD&D Monstrous Manual (MM) was my second monstrous assignment for TSR. I had just handed in the artwork for my first job, Dragon Mountain, and received a call from the MM editor Tim Beach.

It was 1992, I had just graduated from college, and was living with my parents. My younger brother, Adam, and my good friend Mike, had encouraged me to submit stuff to TSR and the Monstrous Manual was a dream-come-true project for me.

Adam and Mike had encouraged me because they had seen the drawings I had been doing in my sketchbook for the past year of Beholders, Shambling Mounds and Mind Flayers – some of which had been in my initial submission to TSR. So when Tim called me to see my interpretation on their classic creatures I simply just sent him my sketchbook.

At that point, he wanted me to illustrate the WHOLE book – over 300 illustrations! But the deadline was so tight there was no way I could do it, so we decided on half (which was still over 100 drawings!)

I had no money (I was still waiting for my payment from Dragon Mountain). So I used leftover school supplies consisting of pencils, Berol Prismacolor markers, and pastel pencils all rendered on laser paper. You read that right. Crappy, crummy, thin-n-flimsy laser bond paper. Of course, it works well for blending the alcohol ink for the markers, but it hardly will stand the test of time.

You can see some of my favorite finished images in the ART/GAMING section of the site. In the meantime, here are some snapshots of the sketchbook that I sent to Tim.

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BOOKS: The Monster Manual (part 1.2)

July 09th, 2007 | Category: Books, Gaming Stuff, Musings

I realized that many readers may no longer have the aforementioned AD&D Monster Manual, don’t remember the art, or simply have never seen it. So, just to give an idea of how groovy it was, here are a few scans of some of my fav images from this book by artist David A. Trampier.

It was a surreal moment for me to be able to get the opportunity to render some of these classic monsters for 1994’s Monstrous Manual, but I’ll yammer about that in the next post.

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BOOKS: The Monster Manual (part 1)

July 06th, 2007 | Category: Books, Gaming Stuff, Musings

As a maker of books, I am a collector of books. Actually I am a collector of many things as you will soon see in future posts.I want to share books that have affected me in some way: either by art, story or otherwise. My hope is that it will inspire other young creative minds like me or, at least, give a clue to my influences.

After the last post, I thought of focusing on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. But I think I will save that one for later and, instead, hop to another book that had a tremendous impact on me: the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual.

First let me tell you that I did not own this book until about 10 years ago when I bought a used copy at a flea market in Brooklyn – its true. So how could this book have such an impact on me?

It is 1981, and a game craze has swept the nation. Next to the Rubik’s Cube and Atari 2600, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D for short) has all types of people rolling dice and casting spells before it recedes to a crowd of brainy intellectuals and geeky nerds. I am in 7th grade, and I fall under that latter category.

I attend Murray Middle School (we called it Murray Mental) and I still look like I am 9 years old even though I am 12. At this point in my life I love to draw, and have done so since I was very young – but so too have other kids, so I don’t think I am doing anything out of the ordinary.

One of my good pals, Rob, has all things D&D.

I have the basic boxed set – and that I have to share that with my younger brother and sister. Rob has all the hardcover books, even the Cthulhu version of Deities & Demigods.

I have notebook paper to create my characters on. Rob has pre-printed “official D&D player sheets”.

I have one adventure, “The Keep on the Borderlands”, that came with the boxed set, Rob has every adventure module you can think of and the little lead miniatures to boot.

But my favorite thing of all that Rob owned was the Monster Manual – an encyclopedia of all the D&D monsters. Immediately I loved the simple, high-school-student-folder-doodle pen & ink drawings of David Sutherland, Erol Otus and, (my fav of the bunch) David Trampier (or DAT, as he signed his art).

Trampier’s woodcut-like, tattoo-inspired graphic renditions of goblins, dragon turtles, lizard men and giants just blew me away. And I wanted to draw just like him. So I used a tried-n-true technique that all grade schoolers know, and asked, “Hey Rob, can I borrow this book tonight and bring it back to you tomorrow?”

Sure enough, he was cool about letting me take the sacred tome home where I meticulously copied as many of the images as I could before returning it. He also let me borrow it so that I could use the schools art dept. opaque projector to copy some of my favorites. In a time before copy machines, scanners and jpegs, this was the only way I could get a copy of some of these cool images for my own library. And I loved these drawings so much. I still have them to this day.

To say that this had an impact on my art and career would be an understatement. Next, I’ll ponder on just how much of an impact it truly had…

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S&S Press Release: Teri Hatcher to Narrate WONDLA

BOOKS: Some Awesome Stuff

The Universe of Dragons

BOOKS: Dover's Incredible, Inspiring Library

BOOKS: Magnetic Storm

BOOKS: Dinotopia

BOOKS: The Monster Manual (part 3)

BOOKS: The Monster Manual (part 2)

BOOKS: The Monster Manual (part 1.2)

BOOKS: The Monster Manual (part 1)

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