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Friday Fan Art

March 20, 2009

This Friday we have the classic depiction of a unicorn by Harry. I like that he grounded the subject with a hint of background to help tell the story of where it lives, travels, etc…a mistake I often see with art school grads.

Nice work Harry!

Keep on drawin’ everyone!

Wyrm King Cover

March 18, 2009

I am excited to unveil the cover to the third, and final, Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles book. This is also the grand finale to my favorite faerie series.

wyrmcover

This arrangement, of a character facing off with another, is a composition I’ve used throughout all of the Spiderwick books starting with book 1. I thought it would be fitting to use it here as our hero, Nick, faces the “big bad” of the trilogy – a creature not described in Arthur’s Field Guide…

cover-sketch

The preliminary sketch was done in pencils, and a tonal study followed which was rendered digitally. Once the sketch was approved, it was enlarged and transferred to bristol board where the final painting was rendered in Holbien acryla guoache.

covertonal

The art director and I thought the scene would read more dramatic if Nick was reduced in size, giving the creature a more ominous presence. This change was done in Photoshop, and you’ll be able to see the slight difference once the book comes out this September. Below is a quick draft with the scale change:

2p_cvr_wyrm-king

Friday Fan Art

March 6, 2009

Happy Friday everyone – I hope you all had a great week. I received some wonderful scans, via facebook, from a proud mother and her two children living in Spain. Both kids love to draw and enjoy the Spiderwick books.

First up, eight-year old Leo’s take on a brownie:

leo-spiderwick

Next up, twelve-year Cristina’s rendition of the dwarf:

cris-spiderwick

Both were copied in great detail from Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide. I might add that this is exactly how I learned to draw: copying art out of books that inspired me.

Keep it up Cris and Leo! I can’t wait to see where your art takes you.

Spiderwick What if…

February 26, 2009

Angela found this cool post on designer, M.S. Corley’s blog. Here, along with Series of Unfortunate Events and Harry Potter, he re-imagines the Spiderwick series as it could have looked in the style of Penguin’s classics line from the 1950’s and 60’s. Here’s his take on Wrath of Mulgarath:

wrath

Pretty neat, huh? I LOVE seeing re-interpretations, I suppose that makes me a bit of an artsy-narcissist, but its such fun! In fact, you’ll be seeing more Spiderwick interpretations later this year…oooOOOO!

Capt. Coloring Fantastic – Friday Fan Art!

February 20, 2009

As I mentioned before, I have been posting fan art created by yours truly while we are here in Florida to avoid the chilly winter back home in Mass.

Feathered Elton

So, each and every day, I spend some time drawing, coloring and painting with my daughter, Sophia. I do this because:
1. I love spending time with her.
2. I learned how to create art by my mum doing the very same thing with me.
3. One day (hopefully) she can take over, and Ang and I can retire.

Every morning over coffee and sippy cups, I ask Soph what she wants me to draw and we color it. Sometimes its mommy and daddy. Sometimes its Mickey Mouse. Sometimes its Meno…or even a Gzonk or two…and sometimes its Elton John. 1970’s glam-rocking-piano-pounding Elton John. Crocodile Rock Elton John to be exact.

Jumping Elton

Since she saw him on The Muppet Show, she (like her dad) fell in love with the falsetto “la-la-la-la-laas” of my fav bespectacled pop-rocker. We’ve even made him out of Legos (which I will have to take a photo of). But, here now, our tribute to the Elton John of yesterday, as rendered in Sharpie, crayon, markers, paints, and Spongebob stickers…enjoy!

Singing Elton

Soul Train Elton

WordPress problems resolved!

February 17, 2009

A quick note for all of my loyal blog readers,

I’ve been blogging with an older version of WordPress which kept turning off the “leave a comment” feature. MY wonderful webmaster, Anthony, upgraded me this morning, so you should now be able to comment on any, and all, posts whenever you like:)

Heck, I even got the video embedded (with my cameo) from last week!
Yay!

TD Friday Fan Art

February 14, 2009

My personal, Tony D FFA-a-thon continues with a few caricatures I did over 20 years ago.

I LOVE good caricature, and I drew A LOT of them in high school and college. Anybody was fair game – teachers, friends, family…but mostly I focused my novice skills on musicians featured in our family’s LP collection. In fact, in the summer of 1984, I did a caricature a day until I had a three-ring binder full of them. I sent a few out to the subjects and got signed copies back! I thought this was THE COOLEST THING IN THE UNIVERSE!

So a year after I graduated high school, I did it again and got a few more sigs…as exhibited here.

Of course, these were heavily influenced by caricature rock stars like David Levine (with a hint of Ralph Steadman in Elton spec’s). Soon, I realized I was not cut out for this and was better suited at coming up with fanciful stories, creatures, and characters. After art school, I took Billy Joel’s advice (see below), but left the rock-n-roll caricatures behind and chalked it up as a chapter of my artistic development.

NEW Picture Book Series: MENO!

February 11, 2009

I’ve been terribly antsy to unveil my newest project, Adventure of Meno, which was created with my loverly wife, Angela!

The look and design is a departure from my usual style, but was inspired by all the little things that made Ang and I smile (including our kid):
Old Little Golden Books

Hello Kitty

KidRobot

Vintage cereal boxes

The first two titles, BIG FUN! and WET FRIEND! will debut this fall in bookstores everywhere, followed by two more next spring. I hope these little books put a smile on your face too:)

A quick cameo

February 10, 2009

My good pal and fellow kid’s-book-guy, Jarrett Krosoczka, has made several funny documentaries on the world of children’s books. His latest, The Making of a Monkey Man, done for a recent engagement at the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators features a very accurate behind-the-scenes portrayal of yours truly, enjoy:

PS – I couldn’t get the video to embed properly…grrr. So here’s a link.

PPS – okay, got it working:

BOOK BY BOOK: the making of a monkey man from Jarrett Krosoczka on Vimeo.

(A Different Sort of) Friday Fan Art

February 6, 2009

Hi-ho all my friends and fam!

I apologize for not being as active as I’d like to be, but I have been unbelievably swamped with multiple projects. A good problem to have, for sure, and I am hoping I can go into detail about them next week…I am just waiting to hear back from my editor on what I can share and what will have to remain top-secret.

We’ve been in Florida for the winter. This allows Ang and Soph to go off and play for the day while I work. Its been quite an interesting experience for me – as I am surrounded by the world I grew up in, allowing me to tap into the boy-version of myself while I create.

Part of getting set up down here was emptying out an old storage unit which contained personal effects, some old LP records, some puppets I had made, A LOT of Star Wars toys (which I donated to charity this Christmas, sorry Joey B!) and A LOT of my old art – from grade school to college…whoa!

Since we are here for the remainder of February (and not able to get my mail in MA), I’ll post fan art that I have done over the years, starting with these proposed submission which I was thinking of sending to DC comics back in 1993.

I had just finished taking classes with the late Will Eisner and was serious about submitting to my favorite comic titles. But, I never felt I was up to snuff, so these images were tucked away in storage…until now.

Obviously, I was influenced by Tim Burton’s vision of Gotham. However, the Penguin’s outfit bears quite a resemblance to Mr. Spider from The Spider & The Fly.

So I guess this stuff never really goes to waste…in fact, the toying with these mediums (I think I was airbrushing FW inks) helped develop my style for the Planescape books which I started the same year…

(A belated) Friday Fan Art

January 25, 2009

My facebook inbox received a great note from some fans in Italy and pic of this awesome li’l ceramic sculpt of the Spiderwick “Knocker”, check it out:

The sculpt was done by a fella named Federico. His friend, Elisabetta, did the paint job on it. Elisabetta mentioned being a fan of mine since seeing “Catlord” in the Planescape books way-back-when. That’s awesome!

Thanks Federico and Elisabetta, you made my weekend!

Friday Fan Art!

January 8, 2009

Happy 2009!

I hope everyone is having a great new year so far. FFA ’09 was certainly started off in a BIG way for us when these images arrived in Angela’s inbox:

Troy sculpted this one-of-a-kind Spiderwick Leprechaun for his daughter for Christmas(!)

He says:

“My daughter and I are both huge fans and I made this little guy as a Xmas gift for her this year. He’s kind of an amalgam of the two leprechauns Tony has done in (Arthur Spiderwick’s) Field Guide. She (my daughter) had to follow a long trail of gold nuggets to find him on Xmas morning.”

What a dad! What a lucky gal!

AND

WHAT

FAN!

This is AMAZING work, Troy, Ang and I were blown away when we saw these. Your talent is incredible and I thank you for sharing this with us.

PS- here is a link to Troy’s other work.
PS- Tatiana sent us a link on Troy’s process…very cool!

Holiday Fun!

December 18, 2008

Way-back-when, when I had a little more free time on my hands, I would draw holiday versions of my characters around this time of year so that Ang and I could make cards, ornaments, tags, etc.

I was hoping to create some Kenny and the Dragon images to share this year, but I’ve been so darned busy with holiday stuff, book-making and being a dad that I just couldn’t get to it…hopefully I’ll get them finished next year.

But, in the meantime, here are direct links to the holiday images (with directions on how to make ornaments) from my first three books, Jimmy Zangwow, Ted and Spider & Fly…feel free to share them to make with your friends, family or in the classroom. Enjoy and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Jimmy Zangwow Holiday Ornaments pdf file

Ted Holiday Ornaments pdf file

Spider & Fly Holiday Ornaments

Friday Fan Art

December 12, 2008

I don’t want to come across braggy when I say we’ve seen our share of cool DiTerlizzi-art-inspired tattoos…especially when we were attending Gencon on a regular basis. My sis, Jen, in fact has her share of tats that she’s collected over the years including a mermaid by her older bro.

Recently, Jen handed me an issue of “Tattoo” magazine (the Feb. ’08 issue to be exact) where there was an interview with a fellow named Brian. Brian clearly has a passion for art, as he is adorned with images drawn from Seuss, Dali, and yours truly. Feast your eyes on this out-of-this-world ink work:

Thanks for being such a tremendous fan Brian! I am flattered to be in such good company in your collection.

PS – Got any DiTerlizzi-inspired tats? Let me know and we’ll post them here on the blog…

Friday Fan Art

December 5, 2008

I hope everyone has been enjoying the first week of December. It’s been a while since I’ve posted any good ol’ paper drawings for FFA, so I thought I’d share this great Spiderwick Field Piskie by Ella:

Thanks for sending this along Ella, and keep on drawin’ everyone!

New Interview Online

November 18, 2008

Erin, of Miss Erin’s blog, has just posted a great interview up with yours truly. Check it out!

BOOKS: Dover’s Incredible, Inspiring Library

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 TSR, the company which published the Dungeons & Dragons game. I started looking for a reference book which could inspire and (hopefully) help set my work apart from the myriad of other submissions blanketing the art director’s desk.

At a trip to a local art supply shop, I chanced upon a large, black and white book simply titled Animals. It contained over 1,000 highly detailed, if a bit antiquated, images of every type of bird, mammal, fish, insect and reptile you could think of…and it was (drum roll please) $9.95.

$9.95!

Nine dollars and ninety-five cents!?!?

All of this super cool reference (which was copyright free I might add) was mine to take and use for years of drawing, and it would literally cost less than the price of a pizza!? It was this art college grad’s dream!

So off I went. I was copying from old turn-of-the-century woodcuts and morphing them into dice-rolling-saving-throw-causing monsters. Here is an example of a leopard-turned-displacer beast:

…Leopard (from page 21)…

…and my Displacer Beast (from 1994’s AD&D Monstrous Manual)

I soon purchased the next book in my secret Dover arsenal of reference, Historic Costume in Pictures – which gave me clothing and armor reference the world over (and through the ages). I was on my way to doodling out fantastic characters and monsters all drawn from very realistic inspiration and reference.

…so back to where I started on this post…

2008: There I was in my studio, just the other day, designing a new creature for the next installment of the Spiderwick books. I needed some reference to help take my initial thumbnail sketches to the next stage of development. I looked a bookshelf (now FULL of reference books), and instinctively went for my old, tattered, dog-eared copy of Animals.

Keep making these awesome reference books Dover. You are sparking many minds.

PS – Inflation has caused these books to go up in price just a tad, but they are still available AND still cheaper than a pizza! Check out your local bookstore, or try Amazon or Barnes & Noble for more info.

Friday Fan Art!

November 7, 2008

We just received this awesome pic from Maya, of her amazing Halloween costume as Mallory from the cover of the fourth Spiderwick book!

Maya draws magical creatures all the time and also wants to be a professional artist when she gets older.

Kudos to Maya and here mom, Leslie, for making one of the best reproductions of Spiderwicky dwarven-made finery I have ever seen!

Halloweeny Fan Art!

October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Considering the auspicious nature of the day, I thought it would be great to share this awesome handbag made by the very talented Margaret a few years back. I think it would make a great trick or treating bag- after all, spiderwebs and treat bags are both made to fill with sweet delicious things in tidy wrappings.

Thanks for the purse Margaret, it is the only one I proudly own. Happy Halloween sweet creatures!

Secrets inside A GIANT PROBLEM

October 27, 2008

I have been meaning to post this little bit of trivia since A Giant Problem came out last month, but have been so darn busy…anyways, here it ’tis.

I hide all kinds of stuff in the illustrations of my books. Sometimes its characters from other books – for instance, has anyone spotted Hogsqueal in Kenny and the Dragon yet? How about Possum from Alien & Possum? (hint: they are both in the same image)

Sometimes I intentionally repeat the composition of an image used previously. In fact, I do this a lot in the Spiderwick books. It creates a sense of visual rhythm, not unlike music score full of codas and reprises.

For example, here is a scene from the first Spiderwick book, The Field Guide, in which Jared and Simon explore Arthur Spiderwick’s secret study:

Here is the scene again, this time from the fifth book, The Wrath of Mulgarath, where Jared finds Arthur’s study destroyed. The intended purpose here is to initially give the reader a sense of discovery, right along with the heroes, as they find this hidden place…then feel the emotion later when the hero finds his sanctuary desecrated.

Now that you know this approach of mine, you’ll see plenty of it – especially in Wrath of Mulgarath. However, I’ve also started doing it in the Beyond the Spiderwick (BtSC) books to visually connect the two plots as they prepare to converge for the third and final book, The Wyrm King.

So, here’s our BtSC hero, Nick examining a keyring his stepsister, Laurie made:

…and here is Simon Grace examining a melted soldier from Thimbletack’s lair in the The Field Guide.

…pretty neat, huh? Also, I throw in things for my older fans. Take this image of Nick for example, here is trying to formulate a plan to deal with those pesky giants:

…and here is Magic The Gathering card from 1997 aptly titled, “Brainstorm”…I’m pretty sure Nick is a big Magic player.

My goal is that the readers do not notice these sorts of things, but (hopefully) feel the connectivity somehow when they see a visual that they may have seen somewhere before. Now, I wonder if you can find additional examples of it in the other Spiderwick books? get brainstorming…

Friday Fan Art!

October 24, 2008

Here’s a great dragon from a young fan, Alex. I really like the scale diagram. There are lots of cool details in the description as well, for instance you can see the extra sharp claws on the front and back, so he can climb easily both ways – nice touch!

Keep drawin!

Will you walk into my (Spooky) parlor?

October 20, 2008

Sweet creatures! My FAVORITE holiday, Halloween, is fast arriving and I look forward to decorating the house for all of the trick-or-treaters. So, I thought I’d blow the dust off of some old goodies I had made when The Spider & Fly made its debut back in 2002 and color them up with my little gal, Sophia.

These color-n-make wall hangers are lots of fun to do, and will add some nice insect spookiness to any parlor in your home. Here’s the darling Ms. Fly, and J.W. Cricket, that you can print out immediately and get to coloring:

You can download the rest of the arthropod cast on my main site under BOOKS.

Send me pics of your finished ones, and I’ll post them here on the blog for a special “Friday Fan Art”…heck, I may even drop some Spider & Fly goodness in the mailbox to ya…

Kenny and the Dragon Tour pics

October 18, 2008

Ah, life on the road is mostly…well…road. Airplanes, taxis, trains, you name it – most of the time you are in transit going from one event to another. But once you arrive at the store (or school) and see the expecting faces, the road weariness washes away and the adrenaline takes over. Here are some of my fav moments from my recent Kenny and the Dragon tour…when I actually remembered I had a camera with me.

Memphis, Tennessee was the starting point, and my hotel was dow the road from SUN records(!) I was very inspired seeing the modest start of Elvis’ legendary career. It reminded me of growing up in my little scrubby beach town of Jupiter, Florida with dreams of becoming a kids-book guy. Thankyouverymuch!

Here I am drawing for the kids at St. George’s School in Germantown, Tennessee. With a school name like that, I HAD to make a stop and share Kenny with the students.

Before my event at Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi, I had a chat with local literary legend, William Faulkner. He didn’t say much, just stared…

A total highlight on this tour was sharing Kenny with the students of Sophie B. Wright Charter School in New Orleans. Here I am with the school librarian and local author/volunteer Whitney.

My first leg ended at the Decatur Book Festival near Atlanta, Georgia. Despite the 90+ degree weather, I still brought it fashion-wise. It may look like I am reading to the audience here, but I am actually about ready to drop from heat stroke.

Adam Rex, (one of the many fab authors attending the festival), and I battle over who will be remembered for Planescape, Magic cards and children’s books. He sucker-punched me after this photo was taken…then stole my glasses.

…Here I am doing an interpretive dance to Kenny at Ms. Nelson’s in California.

And lastly, I ended each event with requests of drawings which were then given away for all who attended. I always thought that the Spiderwick salamanders could use a little sun screen…I sure could have in Georgia.

Thanks to everyone who came out to support me, it really validates why I do what I do.

PS-fear not San Francisco friends, I will make up those dates and see you early next year.

Elton John is a cat and he LOVES to bake…

October 13, 2008

So, Marlo Thomas’ 1970’s philanthropic children’s bookbuster, Free to Be You and Me is celebrating its 35th anniversary.

Yours truly (along with many other contemporary illustrators) was asked to re-imagine and visually update some of the classic poems. Mine was the poem “Don’t Dress Your Cat in an Apron” by Dan Greenburg, penned in 1972. Its closing stanza of:

A person should wear what he wants to
And not just what other folks say.

…hit home with me as I love fashion and wearing funky, well-crafted clothing. Seriously, its one of the perks of being a professional artist: you can get a cool uniform if you want.

Its theme and its seventies-ish-ness origins, sparked the thought of my fav high-heeled, bespectacled rocker, Elton John. So off I went creating my image dubbed “Baker Kitty Elton”. I hope you like him.

Free to Be You and Me, version 2.0, is available in fine bookstores everywhere. Give it looky and wear whatever you like while doing so.

Friday Fan Art/Design Your Dragon! Epilogue

October 12, 2008

Yesterday Angela received a most awesome “thank you” email from Qing (aka “Mr. Cyan”) which I just had to share. You may remember Qing’s awesome entry from the “Design Your Dragon” contest held a couple of months back. And, after touring, press, etc., I was finally able to send him (and the rest of the winners) a signed/doodled first edition of Kenny & the Dragon (which is now in its fourth printing – wow).

Qing’s thank you note is amazing, and it also exemplifies some of the memorable experiences I had while on tour. I LOVE meeting my young readers and my Spiderwick fans, of course, I am always touched when someone slaps down an old Planescape book to be signed. Your gifts, kind thoughts, and well-wishes inspire me and give me pause to be thankful in allowing me to do what I do for a living

Thanks Qing, and everyone else who participated in the contest. We’ll be sure to do it again very soon!

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.

Friday Fan Art

Wyrm King Cover

Friday Fan Art

Spiderwick What if…

Capt. Coloring Fantastic – Friday Fan Art!

WordPress problems resolved!

TD Friday Fan Art

NEW Picture Book Series: MENO!

A quick cameo

(A Different Sort of) Friday Fan Art

(A belated) Friday Fan Art

Friday Fan Art!

Holiday Fun!

Friday Fan Art

Friday Fan Art

New Interview Online

BOOKS: Dover’s Incredible, Inspiring Library

Friday Fan Art!

Halloweeny Fan Art!

Secrets inside A GIANT PROBLEM

Friday Fan Art!

Will you walk into my (Spooky) parlor?

Kenny and the Dragon Tour pics

Elton John is a cat and he LOVES to bake…

Friday Fan Art/Design Your Dragon! Epilogue

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Tony DiTerlizzi: Never abandon imagination.