Archive for December 2007

Happy New Years!

I hope everyone has had a great holiday season so far. I just wanted to post a New Year’s message to all of my fans, friends and fam out there who made 2007 such a memorable year for me.

I have so many things to be thankful for: My best friend and wife, Angela, gave us a beautiful little girl in May and our lives have been much more richer (and hectic) forever since. My other child, The Spiderwick books, that I’ve created with Holly have been more successful than I ever could have imagined. The first sequel book, The Nixie’s Song, came out this fall and debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list! Say wha!?

And, of course, I am terribly excited about the upcoming film. This is the stuff of dreams-come-true for me. Whether the movie is received well by critics, or does great opening weekend, I can tell you that I absolutely enjoyed it and that it upheld the spirit of the stories, and the visual world that I created – you can’t ask for much more than that.

2008 should be an exciting year with the film, video game, toys, Happy Meals, etc, releasing in February. There should be lots of Spiderwicky-goodness out there for even the most die-hard fans. And we’ll be releasing the second book in the sequel, A Giant Problem, in September.

Before that, I will be debuting my first solo middle-grade novel, Kenny & The Dragon, in August. The 200-page illustrated book is a retelling of The Reluctant Dragon, and I am so anxious to hear what readers think. I am really happy with how it is shaping up (as of this writing, I am almost done with it.)

There will be book tours, both in the US and UK, and a BIG announcement from yours truly on a new project that is aimed for readers a little older than the Spiderwick crowd. So stay tuned, and THANK YOU for allowing me to do what I do for a living.

All the best to you and your family (especially the troops overseas) from our family,
-Tony, Ang & Sophia

I think it would be erroneous to say that only books, and illustrators of books, were the primary influence on my artistic style.

I was in a very music-loving household growing up a child in the 1970′s and 80′s. My parents had quite an LP (Long-Playing record) collection, as did I. Many a night, I would sit with the headphones on listening to my favorite bands and artists while I poured over the lyrics and oft-times surreal album cover artwork. Sometimes, the lyrics came in the form of a booklet – and even that would be illustrated.

Bear in mind that this was in the days before CDs. Record albums were 12″ in diameter and so the packaging was large, thin, sometimes textured with printing effects (like embossing, lamination, etc) and the lyrics books (if they were illustrated) were almost like…a picture book for the listener. Of course, The Beatles‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band from 1967 exemplifies this type of visual packaging best.

…as does The Rolling Stones’ Their Satanic Majesty’s Request.

These spawned a plethora of lushly illustrated albums in the 70′s by such artists as Cat Stevens, Yes, Pink Floyd, and my favorite from that decade: Elton John.

In fact, Elton’s autobiographical 1975 album Captain Fantastic & The Brown Dirt Cowboy is still a fixture in my studio today. The pseudo-symbolic-Bosch-like world, depicting the hurdles of the music industry and the price of fame, was magnificently rendered by British illustrator Alan Aldridge. It is no surprise to me that Alan also illustrated many children books of the day, as there is a children’s-book-like quality to his rendering style despite the subject matter.

As we all know, compact discs are now the norm for packaging today’s music (yet I wonder for how much longer). Though the visual real estate has receded from the 12″ album sleeve to the 4+” of a jewel case, there are still some wonderful examples of great packaging. Maroon Five’s debut album, Songs About Jane, comes to mind…

…as does Keane’s Under the Iron Sea, both of which utilize a simpler, more graphic style, which I think suits the package size better.

I can’t think of any of my artist-buddies who haven’t dreamed of rendering an album cover for their favorite band. I even toyed with the idea of contacting Elton John when I heard he was recording a sequel to Captain Fantastic – instead, I held out hope that perhaps he would return to Alan to work his magic, but alas it didn’t happen.

But I did get to design the cover for the band Roi and the Secret People. This actually holds some significance as the lead singer, Mike Roy, has been my friend for many years. He even introduced me to a funny, young gal named Angela way back in 1995…

PS – Okay, so I have never prompted for replies before, but I know I didn’t mention a lot of awesome album covers (80′s bands had some great ones like Journey and Asia). So what is your fav album cover?

I have been putting off my commentary on the wonderful, strange feelings that go through my mind on the realization that Spiderwick will be a feature film released across the world in a couple of months. I can tell you that recently I attended a screening for all the folks at Simon & Schuster who work on the books, and they really enjoyed it – which is a good sign to me.

I was thirteen years old In 1982 when I saw Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal. That movie blew my imagination wide open and I immediately began drawing the many muppet denizens that I saw on the screen.

It is exciting, and somewhat dreamlike, to be on the other end of the equation. When I recieve drawings of my characters rendered by imaginative young artists, like Anna here, I am truly touched.

I get giddy thinking that my visuals, and the fantastic world Hol and I created, will perhaps inspire and ignite the next generation of imaginologists…what an awesome Christmas present!

Happy Holidays!

Today we received a warm and wonderful gift for Sophia from fellow children’s book creator, Timothy Basil Ering It was a warm fleece blanket and winter boots to keep her toasty through the winter. Taped to the side of the box (yes taped) was this awesome drawing of a “Hornly Scratcher”.

Thanks so much Tim! Um…when do we get to read a Field Guide to Eringland?