Peek inside the minds of leading authors and filmmakers to explore how imagination informs the creative process. New York Times-bestselling children’s author Tony DiTerlizzi (The Spiderwick Chronicles) details the precedent-setting augmented reality used in his new Simon & Schuster novel The Search for Wondla; LAIKA President/CEO Travis Knight (lead animator, Coraline) explains his studio’s commitment to bold subject matter; artist/writer Mike Mignola (creator of Hellboy) pinpoints how and where inspiration strikes; director John Stevenson (Kung Fu Panda) explores how creativity is enhanced by artistic collaboration in moviemaking; and graphic novelist Doug TenNapel (Earthworm Jim) describes exactly how a blank page comes to be inhabited with his compelling imagery. Join moderator Geoff Boucher, reporter and HeroComplex.com blogger with The Los Angeles Times, for this fascinating panel discussion and Q&A.
PS – Simon & Schuster will be giving away signed advanced copies of WondLa and the limited edition sketchbooks at Comic Con. I’ll update with details soon.
Simon & Schuster has released a couple of finished illustrations from my upcoming illustrated novel, The Search for WondLa, so I thought I would post a few here. You may even recognize the early versions of these images that were shown in the teaser which was posted last month.
These are shots of some of the color printer’s proofs that I received this past week. Wondla is printed in an old-fashioned manner with a second spot color throughout (in fact, the green is inspired from Alphonse Mucha’s palette). The book is printed on a heavy ivory-colored paper (the same paper we used for Spiderwick). The separation process on these was tough, but the end result is rich. I hope you like it.
The Search for WondLa will be available on September 21st, 2010. The book is 500 pages with 70 2-color illustrations. I will be touring the US and the UK this fall in support of it.
It has been a number of years since I released a self-published, limited edition sketchbook. Actually it was back in 2003 when I was a guest of honor at the Gencon Game Fair. There, I did a retrospective sketchbook to coincide with the exhibition showing a decade of illustrations I’d done for role-playing and collectible-card games.
I am about to release a NEW limited edition sketchbook, this time marking a decade of creating books for children. With The Search for Wondla’s release fast approaching (Sept. 21), I thought this would be the perfect time to create a new sketchbook sampling the visual development that went into the characters, artifacts and settings.
With slick layouts from award-winning designer John Lind, Simon & Schuster has produced a beautiful two-color, 32-page limited edition sketchbook which we will give away FOR FREE at upcoming summer conventions. And we are going to start with this weekend’s American Library Association Conference in Washington, DC (June 24-29th).
Simon & Schuster will be holding an in-booth reception for Wondla at 3:30 this Saturday, June 26th (booth #2644). The first 200 friends to stop by will receive a signed advanced reader’s copy as well as the limited edition WondLa sketchbook.
If you cannot make it to the ALA conference this weekend, don’t fret. Our next big giveaway will be at Comic Con International held in San Diego on July 22-25th. I have also set aside a number of copies to give away on my site and on tour this fall. But hopefully I’ll see some of you this weekend!
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
I’ve been selected as a judge for a very cool contest — the 2010 PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest where children (ages K-3) across the country were encouraged to submit their original stories and illustrations. The folks at PBS Kids culled through the over 25,000 submissions and I am lucky enough to select the finalists for the 2nd and 3rd grade submissions (awesomeness!). These young writers and artists have done a fantastic job! It has been tough to pick just one winner each.
Best of luck to all who entered, I am thrilled to see such creative little minds hard at work imagining new tales for the next generation.
PS – If you didn’t submit this year, you should seriously consider it for 2011. Check out the website — the winners will be posted there and they have all sorts of cool stuff for kids who like to write or draw: PBSkids.org
I had meant to post this last week, but (as usual) I’ve been swamped. Here’s a lengthy interview I did for Celebrity Cafe right before the holidays. Enjoy!
13 year-old Emily of Georgia sent me a link to her wonderful watercolor rendition of the Spiderwick Nixie. Check it out.
Well done Emily, the facial proportions are nice and you rendered it in watercolors – which can be tricky. I started playing around with them when I was your age and I still enjoy painting with them. Keep up the great work!
One of my favorite morning activities with my daughter, Sophia, is drawing and coloring. We’ve drawn and colored all sorts of subjects. We’ve illustrated favorite nursery rhymes:
…getting dinner at a well-known restaurant…
…and even rendered other fun 2 1/2 year-old activities. You know, like bubble-popping.
In fact, I now let her tell me what to draw and we then color the pictures. What I love is that Sophia will pick day-to-day moments which I then conjure from memory, as many are actions I have seen repeatedly. Like, washing your hands with green monster foamy soap:
…catching dragonflies…
…and watching dad work (I really do have the computer on a stack of books in my makeshift Florida studio. It seems to lessen neck and shoulder tightness from a long day’s work).
There is something sort of delightful to me in these. I think its the spontaneity of the sketch along with the simple tools (crayon, markers, and stickers). Anyways, I thought they were fun enough to post, now I am back to work drawing aliens and robots…maybe one day I’ll have a helper.
