The Search Begins 2010
Phew!
Much apologies, dear readers, for not being as active as I’d like to be on here. The last few months have been a blur of steady work.
After the “Spiderwick Farewell Tour” in September, I began rewriting the 2nd draft of my novel – which is due to release this September(!) The writing continued on right through the holidays and I had to really buckle down to keep it on track. That said, I am SO EXCITED to share this story with all of you.
The Search for WondLa is about a girl raised by a robot on an alien planet looking for home. For me, it is an exercise in world-building that reflects the work I did early in my career for role-playing games, like Planescape. It will be about 300 pages and will have illustrations throughout. I can’t say much more at this time, as I want to do a proper reveal once the time is right. I can say that it is the first book in a trilogy of novels that will also include an “Art of” book.
I will be promoting it this fall with a national tour. For that, I am working on a detailed presentation of my creative process. I’m thinking of a slide-show where I’d show my work, and the thinking that went into it, throughout the years. In fact, 2010 marks my 10-year anniversary in children’s publishing with the release of my debut picture book, Jimmy Zangwow’s Out-of-this-World Moon Pie Adventure.
10 years. Wow, that went quick.
What do you think of the presentation idea? Is that something you’d like to see?
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You had me at Planescape. I am deeply excited for this.
Presentation-Tour sounds great except *whimper whimper* I live on the other side of the planet in Australia!! It might be an idea if you shared snippets here on your blog perhaps, so we could at least get a taste of it.
You know, It would actually make for a beautiful book in itself, the information and images you’d be sharing in the presentation, an “Art of Tony DiTerlizzi” type of book
I can imagine it now… vividly.
I promise I will tour Australia soon Monika,
I had been asked to do so before, in support of Spiderwick, but the timing was wrong. I was knee-deep in producing one of the books and did not want to just do a week-long tour. Hopefully, I’ll get invited again:)
Tony,
I am an up and coming children’s book illustrator. I have been a fan of your work since “The Spider and the Fly.” I think the presentation idea would be great. I think when people to see the extreme amount of work that goes into a book, they gain a whole new appreciation for them. Plus, for other illustrators, it is very helpful to share little insights on how we approach our work.
Whoa!
Sounds amazing. Please, PLEASE can you tour somewhere in the Pioneer Valley (Western Massachusetts) PLEEEEEEASE?
Hey Gabe,
I promise I’ll do and event locally this year:)
That would be great! I would love to see the presentation once you are done. I am studying Illustration right now, so any insight into a professional’s process would be much appreciated. Thanks for all of your inspiration– I love your work!
Melissa
I’d love to see the presentation! That would be awesome.
do you come in france ? it will be really great, states is too far at the moment for me but why not one day soon ? have some pretty days with your presentation of you’re new book. Nice work, one more time.
Just a question- I would like to send you some fan art I did- do I send it to the adress listed in the CONTACT section of your site?
Hello Tony
Or maybe I should say Mr DiTerlizzi…. (yes, definatelly)
all my comments comes from observations…and the feeling I have or signals you send in your blog, short videos and pictures.
It’s amazing, By Amazing i mean the blog and my discovery -> the website. I find the presentation as a very good idea, but I hope you will remember about readers all over the world who would enjoy it very much and maybe make a step into the fantasy world you create. I’ve already finished tasting your website (tasting because ‘reading’ is in this case to small word) and I must say that I thought that imagination and hard work let people write fantastic stories and take readers to alternative worlds. HOWEVER,.. I was wrong..Now I see that your books are not made by the imagination and hard work only but as well by the personality you have. Of course I’m not intile to say similar opinions, but I can let myself be a bit subjective
Anyway, I hope you will share with the presentation in a while
I’m writing a thesis about creations of fantastic worlds in fairy stories and fantasy. I would like to write about some of your books ( if you don’t mind…::o)) ) and as well about your and Holly Black’s ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’. lets see …
PD. paintings
nothing left to say!
Best Wishes from Poland
The presentation would be very cool! I’ve always liked to see progress of artwork, and seeing yours in a slideshow would be great indeed.
Please try to come by SE Minnesota sometime!
Planescape ftw! Even though the D&D stuff was some of your earliest work, it still stands as my favorite. I’d love to see a “TDT Art Through The Ages” presentation, particularly focussed on character development and detailing (especially faces, clothing details, etc). I’m sure you get questions about your technique and “how to…?” all the time. Maybe you could include some of that for us would-be TDT style-plegarists?
While you’re rocking the WondLa World Tour Of Wonder 2010, be sure to hit us up in Seattle!
Thanks for the feedback Steve,
I hope to do Seattle again…did you make it out on the last tour in the fall?
I did actually! My wife and I were at the Third Place Books stop you did with Holly. I won your impromptu “Just Because We’re In Seattle” Beholder sketch, which is proudly hanging in our group’s gaming den.
That presentation on the inspiration of old myths and fairy tales on your work in general and the Spiderwick books in particular was lots of fun, we really enjoyed it. Definitely looking forward to the next visit!
I dunno, another question I was wondering about is if/how your “world building” is related to the art, and how those two interact. For example, Planescape was a world-setting of infinite possibilities, and your whimsical, pencil/watercolor art reflected the light-hearted tone of that. On the other hand, Spiderwick grounded mythology in the modern world, and the heavier ink drawings seem to reflect that “solidity,” if you will. I don’t know if that was intentional or not; maybe it’s just the evolution of your style. But if you are on the topic of story/art interactions, I’m curious to hear about that process.
And also if you ever plan on flirting again with the AD&D 2e style, which has inspired more character concepts for adventurers (and their inevitable gruesome deaths) than I care to think about! [/shameless plug]
Hiya Steve,
I remember the Third Place stop – it was a fun event!
I wish I could say that I was sophisticated enough to have controlled my linework in an intentional way while working on my various projects from D&D to S’WICK. But the truth is that it was just an evolution of my style as I played around with mediums and became more confident in my drawing. I think I was more about capturing the spirit of a world in lines and paint.
Have you found the hidden PC sheets on my site? Just roll the dice…
The presentation idea is brilliant Tony! If you can make it to Miami, I promise to put the word out to our very active and very motivated Florida SCBWI!
You had me at world-building.
The presentation sounds neat. It’s great to hear professionals talk about their artistic process.
… wow, that sounded stuffy. It’s fun, really!
Are you planning to visit King of Prussia/the Philadelphia area again in such a tour? I saw you once at the King of Prussia mall, but you didn’t go there again for your more recent tours. :c
Hi Tony,
I really love this idea. I hope you’ll return to Orland Park’s Border’s for this tour. I’d love to see it.
Hi
I am 11. The Search for Wondla is the best book I have ever ever read and I read all the time. I absolutely loved the magic and fantasy of it. Is the new volume “The Search Begins”? How long do I will have to wait. I cannot wait
Thank you so much…Nat
Thanks Nat. I am happy to hear you enjoyed it. I am in the early stage of book 2 now. It will be out early next year…