Friday Fan Art

Wow! Obviously with the onslaught of Spiderwick-edness that has been barraging everybody over the past month, I have received buckets of fan-mail with all sorts of well-wishes and amazing stories of how my work has affected others. I am so touched – what a validation.

I’ve been so busy cranking out the final edits on my upcoming chapter book, Kenny and the Dragon, that I have been holding onto a few stars in the “Friday Fan Art” category – but this one needed to be shared with you all immediately as the timing is perfect.

I’ve been chatting with Joe for years now, encouraging his imagination and obvious talent…which, honestly, he already has plenty of. I do this, because folks like William Stout, Jim Gurney and Brian Froud encouraged me along my way – and I never forgot how much a simple “follow your dreams” note from someone you look up to really keeps you going.

Along with his neato “Thank You” painting came this REALLY cool book on gadgets.

THANK YOU Joe, for the awesome image! Now finish your dream book, and get a website up, with all the cool art that you’ve been sending me, so everyone else can see it.

PS – Send fan art/money/babysitters/toys/books to:
Tony DiTerlizzi
PO Box #442
Amherst, MA 01004

UPDATE: With a tip-off from his wife, here is Joe’s other work!

We got some more excellent Spiderwick an art this week, check it out! Thanks to Annie, Anna, Andrew and Marisa!

Some serious Spiderwicky goodness arrived in my mailbox this week. Check out these gems:

These are just AWESOME guys (and gals)! Keep’em comin…

7 year-old Jake is a big Spiderwick fan and sent us this killer drawing of a goblin running through the woods!

What’s awesome in this piece is his sense of background AND perspective. I’ve seen college student work that don’t tackle this sort of thing – only focusing on the character design and missing the environment to house it. So KUDOS to you Jake! Keep on drawin!

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?

This is a special edition of “Friday Fan Art”. Its an homage to that raspberry-colored pal-o-mine!

Despite all the love I have for Spiderwick, and its incredible successes, I must confess that my second picture book, Ted, is still a favorite.

Sure, it’s a little long for a picture book (especially nowadays) but I was proud of my boldness at such an early point in my career to make a statement about being a working parent (even though I wasn’t one yet) and holding onto your childhood. Heck, even Mrs. Cheney liked the book. She read it back in 2002 as part of her campaign, “No Such Thing As a Vacation From Reading“, for (you guessed it) summer reading.

A couple of years ago, my brother Adam, blew me away with one of the coolest birthday presents ever. Ted rendered in various animated styles. I simply HAD to share these as I think they are so cool! Enjoy! (Thanks bro!)

Yeah, yeah its Saturday and I am posting the fan art – it has been a hectic couple of weeks here in DiTerlizziland. Speaking of DiTerlizzis, I have received some art from Celia, a distant cousin of mine who also can push a pencil and paint around:

…and here is an oldie-but-goodie from my brother Adam, who just graduated with a degree in animation and teaches up in northern Cali.

…my sister, Jenn, also does art and is quite the make-up artist. For us DiTro-kids, we have our mom to thank for spending all that time painting and drawing when we were little:)