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Gen Con Artist Guest of Honor

February 13, 2015

Its been over a decade since I attended the biggest gaming convention in the country, but this summer I am thrilled to be returning to one of my most favorite cons of all.

Gen Con was where I got my start as an illustrator. The first one I attended was back in 1993 and it totally blew my mind. Look at the size dice they use:

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Throughout the 1990’s Angela and I attended the con every year to celebrate gaming, meet with fans, and have an all-around great time.

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By 2003, I was mostly out of the gaming industry, so it was my swan song appearance. However, it was there that we launched a series of middle-grade books call The Spiderwick Chronicles with Holly Black (seen left, below…and as a pinup model above my noggin).

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With the upcoming release of REALMS, I had the perfect excuse to return. I was delighted and honored to hear that the organizers chose me to be the Artist Guest of Honor. So, I’ll be doing a couple of presentations on art as well as a drawing workshop! Of course, I’ll sign whatever you bring (just don’t bury me with 9 million Magic cards).

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I’ll have more Gen Con news throughout the spring. Hopefully I shall see you in Indy!

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Never Abandon Imagination Tony DiTerlizzi: Never abandon imagination.

Imagination is a world of possibility that exists within each of us. It is what makes us uniquely human. It is our creative fingerprint that touches and influences the world around us. Imagination is essential to art and science; to innovation and prosperity. It gives us hope, calls us to action and leads to change.

Whether it’s fairies, dragons, robots or aliens, all of my children’s book characters are siblings born of my imagination – an imagination strengthened through years of encouragement from family, teachers and friends. While so many others abandoned it during their transition from childhood to adulthood, I fiercely held onto mine, hoping for a day when I could share it to inspire the next generation of dreamers. Innovators. World changers.

Imagination empowers us to envision and create a reality of what could be. We must hold it dear, foster it and never abandon it.