Most of this work was created late in 1994 and throughout 1995. I had been illustrating for Dungeons & Dragons and Planescape for a couple of years at that point, and was visualizing how my art would look in books for children. Though my style and technical skills were becoming more apparent in these images, they all lack any real sense of exhibiting action or portraying a sincere moment. At that point, all I strove for was to create finished scenes in a style emulating my favorite artists.

Interestingly, I (temporarily) moved away from pen & ink for many of these samples and used a combination of colored pencils over acrylic paints. (I had yet to discover the acryla gouache that I use almost exclusively for my painted illustration nowadays). This early technique was certainly influenced by the style of illustration that dominated during the mid-1990′s. Artists like Gary Kelley, Carter Goodrich and Chris Van Allsburg primarily used pencils (or pastel in the case of Gary’s work) which gave their images a grainy texture.

On top of that, I was (obviously) looking at Brian Froud and Arthur Rackham’s fantastic work. However, there is a lot of composition and figure placement inspired by Maxfield Parrish. Though these artist’s stylistic influence is strong in these pieces, their process was also affecting mine. I began using model reference, just like Parrish would have done, for this image of a traveling elf listening to directions from a dragon…

…in fact, the elf’s pose is taken from my old college life-drawing book, The Human Figure by Erik A. Ruby.

Also, I began drawing trees and plants from life, just like Froud and Rackham would have done, as can be seen in this image titled “Lost in the Wood”.

I remember completing this piece and beginning to write a story to go with it. Methinks I see a proto-Thimbletack hiding behind the limbs on the left.

I also played with various sorts of watercolor paints (tubes versus cakes) and colored ink combinations. This would have been happening concurrently with the illustrations I was creating for the Planescape and Changeling role-playing games. In these samples I tried to mesh the line-work into the painted illustration so the image was less outlined. I tried inking my drawing prior to painting, and inking it afterwards, as can be seen in this sample of Mr. Toad from The Wind in the Willows where only certain details were inked.

These unpublished samples mark a huge learning period in my life. I became comfortable with certain mediums and techniques allowing me to shift my focus away from my artistic inspirations and create images drawn directly from my own imagination.

As 1995 came to a close, the spec piece below was completed and the seed for  Jimmy Zangwow was planted. I didn’t know it then, but I had bridged the gap. And it was not a gap created by lack of understanding artistic mediums and compositions – it was one caused by relying too heavily on my influences and inspirations. All I simply needed to do was put them aside and draw from my gathered knowledge and imagination.

Its a certain style of illustration, that which entices little ones to color while allowing freedom to be creative while doing so. As the father of a four-year old, I’ve been reminded how relaxing coloring can be. Perhaps its because I can shut off my mind and fill in-between the lines of a completed image while basking in the scent of waxy crayons or inky felt-tipped markers.

I remember I colored A LOT when I was young. My mom actually made a deal with us DiTerlizzi kids that, “if you complete a coloring book, I’ll buy you a new one.” That was a pretty awesome deal and I took great pride in my colorized masterpieces. I’m excited to share with you a few of my favorites, thanks to a recent discovery exhumed from the strata of my parent’s old storage unit.

Like many grade-school boys, dinosaurs were alive and well in my bedroom. From the Aurora Prehistoric Scenes models on my book shelf to posters of Charles Knight’s lush paintings taped to my wall, you stepped back into the Mesozoic when you stepped through my door. Lying on the shag carpet, among the Hot Wheels cars and Marx dinosaur playset, you would have found the above gem published in 1975 by Whitman. The scenes inside were begging for you enter them with a box full of Crayola ammunition.

…hmmm, I’m not sure why Gorgosaurus is labeled as a horned dinosaur here…but then again, scientists didn’t know as much back in the 70′s as they know today.

Some years later my parents bought me this one beautifully drawn by Anthony Rao and published by Dover.

I loved the art in here so much I didn’t dare mar it with my sub-par coloring ability. It remains pristine to this day (spare for the colored pteranodon, a personal fav). Here’s a page for you to enjoy Anthony’s line-work (click the image for a larger file):

As I said, my Hot Wheels collection was right in this prehistoric mix, and the official coloring book (also published by Whitman in 1978) allowed you to dream about owning a tiny garage full of the Hot Wheels classics like “Poison Pinto”, “Spoiler Sport” and “Super Van” painted any way you like. A little over half of my copy was colored, and I think my rule then was only to color the cars that I actually owned. Too bad my parents didn’t find those bad boys in their storage unit…sigh.

Vrooom! Here’s a little 1970′s Hot Wheels action for you to color up (click the image for a larger file):

But the golden-tinted memory of coloring, for me, was in 5th grade. Now I know what you’re thinking, “That’s a little old for coloring books, isn’t it, Tony?” Not when it was one of Troubador Press’ cherished coloring albums.

The Troubador coloring albums debuted in the 1970′s and covered a wide variety of subjects, however, their main focus was wildlife – from North American Sea Life to Bird Life and even Ice Age animals. They were large in size (11×14″) and contained detailed descriptions to accompany the flowing line-work of artist, Gompers Saijo, who illustrated many of the books in the series.

They were available in the nicer indie bookstores and art supply shops where I grew up. I even saw them in the early 1990′s at the local The Nature Company store. Sadly, like The Nature Company, Troubador Press went the way of the dinosaur in the 90′s, but the memory of these beautifully designed albums still lingers. Here, give one page a try and see what I mean (click the image for a larger file):

Today, the Troubador coloring albums are available in the used and secondhand market, some with hefty price tags. As I poked around searching for my old favorites, I came across a 1979 coloring album for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons(!) How could 10-year old Tony have missed this?

Do you feel robbed too? Below is one of the pages for your enjoyment (just click the image for a larger file) . There are lots of images from this 70′s gem out there if you do a search (I even found a pdf of the entire book). Time to bust out my pack of rainbow markers!

I have some favorites, of course, such as make-your-own “Ted’s Birthday Hat” (where you have to write the name of your imaginary friend on it).

(click image for a hi-res file)

…and some holiday images, which I created specifically for crafting flat ornaments to decorate your home, presents or Christmas tree. (In fact,  I should create some new images this year…perhaps Kenny, Grahame and company?)

(click image for a hi-res file)

…there is even a “Color-n-Make” set of puppets from The Spider & The Fly where you can create jointed paper dolls of Mr. Spider, Ms. Fly and the ghost bugs!

(click image for a hi-res file)

…and, since there was no appropriate place for these, here is a set of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons player-character sheets designed and decorated by yours truly for use on your next adventure (click for that hi-res image). Have fun!

This was on the heels of my reminisce of breaking into the RPG industry for Wizards of the Coast’s creative director, Jon Schindehette. On top of that was a revisit to Planescape (sort of) for Black Gate magazine’s series on the history of gaming illustration.

The editor for Black Gate had asked me to create a new piece using the same mediums and tools I had used in my 90′s heyday. However, I was down in Florida at the time working away on the final art for WondLa and had very limited time and art supplies. Instead, I opted to create a piece that was a more modern approach. The result was a hybrid of both art styles found in WondLa and Planescape.

Despite the fact that the drawing style for WondLa was cleaner and tighter than Spiderwick, the inking process for the illustrations involved the usual warm-up exercises. Leading up to the Black Gate piece were a handful of old D&D and Planescape warm-up drawings (something I’ve done before).

Most of the warm-ups I do are a hodgepodge of doodles, usually focused on an aspect of the piece I am preparing to ink (like hair, buildings or plants). Sometimes, I will stick with the warm-up and complete an entire image. However, the drawing is then discarded as I slide right into inking the final art. Its sort of like stretching and jogging in place before beginning a morning run.

Many times these doodles are inconsequential to what I am working on. They can be favorite scenes from books, explorations for possible new characters for a story, life drawing and studies. So here’s an ink warm-up done last summer during the WondLa art session of a D&D goblin.

Recognize the pose? You old timers will, it’s after David Trampier’s goblin done for the AD&D Monster Manual back when boomboxes and Rubik’s cubes ruled. And as many remember, the enigmatic Trampier simply signed his work DAT.

As you can see, I’ve been a fan of this piece for many years.

…and wanted to do a new version 29 years later(!) I hope you like’em. (Click for a larger image)

As I came off of the Black Gate piece and returned to my work on WondLa I thought of the journey I had taken thusfar. Its a journey that I am happy to say I am still traveling on and sharing with my longtime fans.

Jon Schindehette, the Creative Art Director for Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast, invited me to participate in his “How I Made it” series over at his blog in hopes that my story may offer up some seeds of inspiration for up-and-coming fantasy artists. In fact, I found his blog to be INCREDIBLY informative for any who are interested in breaking into the field – where was your blog when I was getting started, Jon!?

Of course, there were no blogs in 1992 when I submit my artwork to TSR (the fine publishers of D&D back then). But you can read all about what I did do on Jon’s blog here.

As a bonus, I found a pile of my original submissions that were sent to TSR. Jon posted them on his site, but here they are bigger and with some additional comments:

Preparatory sketches of orcs drawn in the spring of 1992. These orcs were certainly inspired by Brian Froud and Alan Lee’s work as well as the goblins in Rankin & Bass’ animated movie of The Hobbit.

Finished ink drawing of an elven player-character done for my initial submission to TSR in September, 1992. I remember I was looking at a lot of Jean-Giraud Moebius’ work back then and you can see it the overabundance of tic marks done in this one.

Finished ink drawing of a trio of were-rats done for my initial submission to TSR in September, 1992. There was no color work in my submission samples because all of their gaming books were only printed in black & white throughout. It was a well-known fact that the color cover work was done by TSR’s staff artists, a highly coveted position I figured I was not worthy of.

A year later (just prior to Planescape starting) I was offered a staff position but turned it down because I was dating this really cool girl back in Florida…who I eventually married and adore more than ever. Fortunately, there were no hard feelings with the team at TSR and I continued an amazing and prosperous working relationship with them throughout most of the 1990’s.

AD&D Monster Compendium sample mock up with my artwork, done for my initial submission to TSR in September, 1992. (click image for detail)

Sample page layout of a gaming module mocked up with my artwork. This was done for my initial submission to TSR in September, 1992. This harem-inspired medusa drawing actually was colored and used in 1993’s AD&D Monstrous Manual. Of course, the ethics of TSR’s publishing had changed since the 1980’s and a top was added prior to completing. (click image for detail)

Pencil sketch of a dwarven player character done in preparation for my third submission to TSR in 1992. This dwarf was based on one of the player characters in the D&D game that I was participating in at that time.

Ink drawing of a cleric preparing to animate a clay golem done in preparation for my third submission to TSR in November, 1992. The idea here was to illustrate an otherwise unseen action and make it interesting.

Sample page layout of a gaming module mocked up with my artwork. Done for my third (and final) submission to TSR in November, 1992. These illustrations of player characters battling and finding treasure were the images that finally got TSR to take a chance and use me. Looking back on them today I wince at how overdone the ink work is, but at that time no other artists were really working in this style for TSR’s gaming products. (click image for detail)

Snapshot of my workspace in Florida, 1994. I couldn’t find any shots of me working on the initial submission pieces for TSR, but I did find this gem from my Planescape years. The desk was one my parents had bought for me for art school which I held onto for years (my brother owns it now) and you’ll note a few favorite illustrations of mine tacked to the wall including my 1982 Displacer Beast next to my 1993 rendition.

Doing a school report titled “Your Favoritist Book Creator of All Time”?

When is your college term paper on “The Most Stupendous Writer-Artist-Guy of the 21st Century?” due?

Perhaps you want to break into the industry of making books for kids…or perhaps you just need to know more about me than my own parents.

Whatever you fancy, there is lots of questions answered in my FAQ section of the site. And they’ve been updated from some of the insightful questions I was asked from various interviews last year. Read on…

…and, because I was feeling nostalgic, Wolf coerced me into doing a sketch of my take of the AD&D Monster Manual 2′s “Quickling”, which they are giving away to one lucky visitor at their site. I haven’t drawn D&D stuff in a loooong time (and I likely won’t be in the foreseeable future), so stop by and win a sketch from yours truly. Good luck!

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.