Category: Books that Inspire
April 26, 2014
Last November the non-profit organization, Reading is Fundamental (RIF), asked if I would donate an original piece of artwork to be auctioned off at their spring “Cat in The Hat” gala held in Washington DC.
April 18, 2014
Disney & Lucasfilm have released some exciting news that I have been dying to share…
November 13, 2012
New Orleans, Louisiana – November 1, 2012 begins the second annual Picture Book Month. Across the globe, schools, libraries, booksellers, and book lovers are coming together to celebrate the print picture book. 2011 marked the inaugural year for Picture Book Month. A resounding success, it went viral through social media and was even featured on …
Continue reading “November is Picture Book Month”
October 30, 2012
Wired magazine’s Geekdad blog features a list of some of my favorite spooky stories for kids. Check it out.
July 1, 2012
In between book tours and summer barbeques, I’ve managed to squeeze in a couple of new pen & ink images of two beloved characters from La Belle et la Bête (better known as Beauty & the Beast) for an upcoming exhibit in Paris, France.
November 23, 2011
Anne McCaffrey passed away yesterday in her home in Ireland at the age of 85. Though Anne authored numerous books, many know her as the grand storyteller of the beloved Dragonrider of Pern series, originally crafted as novellas when they were released in the late 1960’s.
August 22, 2011
Dragons, trolls, nixies, mermaids, giants and fairies. I could be talking about Spiderwick, Brian Froud & Alan Lee’s Faeries, or perhaps this is (yet another) post on old D&D. But, in fact, I am referring to the collection of twelve colored fairy books collected and translated over 100 years ago by Scottish novelist, Andrew Lang, …
Continue reading “BOOKS: The Many Colors of Andrew Lang & H.J. Ford”
August 1, 2011
(In case you missed it, here’s a quick link to Part 1) Back in August of 2003, as I began work for the fourth Spiderwick book, I started thinking about re-illustrating a classic text after the Spiderwick series was complete. I spoke with my editor at the time, Kevin, and he thought it a good …
Continue reading “Realizing Rovender Kitt (Part 2)”
July 28, 2011
As you may have read recently, I’ve uploaded all sorts of activity and coloring pages throughout the site and on my facebook page. This had me thinking about coloring books and the artwork created for these treasured tomes.
March 25, 2011
For those following this blog, you’ll remember my endless waxing about the many incarnations of Tolkien’s masterpiece, The Hobbit, a couple of months back. Subsequently, I was asked to write up a proper essay for the LA Times about the Maurice Sendak illustrated edition of The Hobbit that never came to be. Read on and …
Continue reading “The HOBBIT That Never Was”
January 28, 2011
(Yes, it is Friday, but I am going to file this one under “TD-created Friday Fan Art”) I’m a bit swept away by the response from last week’s homage to Tolkien’s masterpiece about his miniature hero. Between here, Rivendell and facebook I’ve realized that there are many elves, dwarves and orcs who love Middle Earth …
Continue reading “I’m (There and) Back Again”
August 22, 2009
Angela and I were in New York City this week and were able to sneak downtown, away from my many meetings with my publisher, to a favorite haunt of mine, Books of Wonder. BoW is a great indy bookstore for several reasons: 1. It is packed with an amazing cross section of the best books …
Continue reading “BOOKS: Some Awesome Stuff”
November 13, 2008
I haven’t done a “Books Which Have Inspired Me” entry in some time, and I was reminded just the other day about how big an impact Dover Publications‘ books have had on my work. 1992: As I neared the end of my art school life, I began to think seriously about submitting my illustrations to …
Continue reading “BOOKS: Dover’s Incredible, Inspiring Library”
January 24, 2008
My earlier talk of records and album cover artwork has inspired me crack open an old book that I’ve not looked at in some time. Upon opening it, I immediately saw that it was more influential than I realized. I purchased Roger and Martyn Dean’s Magnetic Storm back in 1984 when I was 15 years …
Continue reading “BOOKS: Magnetic Storm”
September 30, 2007
The older I get, the more I am convinced life is but a series of circular motions. But each time your orbit returns to a pivotal point in your life, your journey affects it in such a way that you now see things in a slightly different perspective. I swear. I don’t know…I am certainly …
Continue reading “BOOKS: Dinotopia”
July 19, 2007
Like I said before, both the original AD&D Monster Manual and the 1994’s Monstrous Manual had a tremendous impact on me both as an artist and a creator of books. After binging out on D&D, at 13 I spent an entire summer making my own Monster Manual, which was more a field guide full of …
Continue reading “BOOKS: The Monster Manual (part 3)”
July 15, 2007
The AD&D Monstrous Manual (MM) was my second monstrous assignment for TSR. I had just handed in the artwork for my first job, Dragon Mountain, and received a call from the MM editor Tim Beach. It was 1992, I had just graduated from college, and was living with my parents. My younger brother, Adam, and …
Continue reading “BOOKS: The Monster Manual (part 2)”
July 9, 2007
I realized that many readers may no longer have the aforementioned AD&D Monster Manual, don’t remember the art, or simply have never seen it. So, just to give an idea of how groovy it was, here are a few scans of some of my fav images from this book by artist David A. Trampier. …of …
Continue reading “BOOKS: The Monster Manual (part 1.2)”
July 6, 2007
As a maker of books, I am a collector of books. Actually I am a collector of many things as you will soon see in future posts.I want to share books that have affected me in some way: either by art, story or otherwise. My hope is that it will inspire other young creative minds …
Continue reading “BOOKS: The Monster Manual (part 1)”
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