Category: Musings
January 22, 2014
The creation of the logo for the Amherst public library was a feature article in our local paper, The Gazette.
November 21, 2013
Last month I visited with Sharon Sharry, Library Director of our public library, the Jones Library. At the suggestion of author extraordinaire, Norton Juster, she’d asked if I could discuss a new award honoring the Pioneer Valley’s local literary luminaries.
October 25, 2013
Our friend, Stacy, and her son, Brody, just finished a school project involving 2 pumpkins, some pink paint, and my favorite picture book.
October 17, 2013
If you’ve been following this blog for the past couple of months, you know I have been sharing much of my process for the upcoming cover to the third and final book in the Wondla trilogy, The Battle for WondLa.
September 20, 2013
The final stages of creating the artwork for The Battle for WondLa dust-jacket required me to set down my pencils, pens and paper and grab a mouse, Wacom stylus and keyboard.
August 27, 2013
71,000 words later, the final chapter of Eva Nine’s story is off to my editor at Simon & Schuster for final tweaks and copy-editing.
August 23, 2013
Throughout the year I am fortunate to receive letters, drawings, and the occasional package from fans around the world. These notes contain questions, inspired art and ideas, and conversation all sparked by my work or common thread of interest in the fantastic, art, or books. I love to read these letters and I am always …
Continue reading “Friday Fan Art for You Beetleheads”
August 9, 2013
Patrik is a teenage artist from a small European country named Slovenia (located next to Italy, Austria, and Croatia) who has been inspired by The Spiderwick Chronicles. He read the series about four years ago, in his native language Slovene, and became inspired to create his own fantastical project, which took him three years to …
Continue reading “A Fantastic Field Guide Friday Fan Art”
August 2, 2013
After many concept sketches, refined drawings, and color studies, I was finally able to begin the execution of the final artwork for The Battle for WondLa.
July 12, 2013
Invigorated with feedback from my readers, and my sketch approved by the team at Simon & Schuster, it was time to develop the mood of my cover concept sketch through use of color.
July 12, 2013
This week’s Friday Fan Art comes from a wonderful local bookstore called The Odyssey Bookshop, located in South Hadley, Massachusets. To help celebrate The Spiderwick Chronicles’ 10-year anniversary, the staff held a nationwide contest asking Spiderwick fans from near and far to submit a drawing of their favorite character from the series.
June 29, 2013
While my first draft of The Battle for WondLa was read by my editor and trusted beta-readers, I switched my focus from writing to drawing. In particular, drawing the perfect cover image to depict the climatic conclusion of the WondLa trilogy.
June 3, 2013
Fellow Orbonians, the first draft of The Battle for WondLa is completed and with my editor. While he reads it over (along with my beta-readers), I am beginning to design the third and final cover.
May 10, 2013
Since I am celebrating the 10-year anniversary of The Spiderwick Chronicles this week, today’s Friday Fan Art is appropriately themed. It comes all the way from a small town in Brazil where a young artist turned to the story of Jared, Simon and Mallory for inspiration.
April 30, 2013
Just as we launched The Spiderwick Chronicles a decade ago, Holly Black and I are returning to a locally-owned independent bookshop to celebrate the Grace kid’s birthday.
March 22, 2013
I’ve been a fan of paperfolding since my mom bought a copy of Robert Harbin’s Secrets of Origami back in the 70’s.
February 21, 2013
For my loyal readers following the adventures of Eva Nine and company, I can finally reveal the title of the third and final book in the WondLa trilogy.
February 1, 2013
June Gallagher is a New York artist who has had an affinity for the fantastic ever since she was a child.
January 26, 2013
Entertainment Weekly has the exclusive reveal of the redesigned jackets for the first five books in The Spiderwick Chronicles.
November 15, 2012
In 2002, Angela and I said farewell to my Favorite City in the World and moved out to Amherst, Massachusetts. We were excited to hang out with artist-friends already living in the Pioneer Valley who were part of its thriving kid’s lit community, but it was the opening of a grand museum dedicated to the …
Continue reading “Metamorphosis”
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”
November 5, 2012
If you are in the Pioneer Valley and a lover of kid’s lit, you may want to plan on visiting the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art this Sunday (11/11).
November 2, 2012
I do hope this Friday finds many of you still enjoying Wednesday’s haul of Halloween booty. For our friends in the Tri-state area, I hope you are safe and recovering from that dreadful storm.
October 31, 2012
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays ever. I loved it as a kid. I love it more as an parent.
October 30, 2012
Wired magazine’s Geekdad blog features a list of some of my favorite spooky stories for kids. Check it out.
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