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Author Information
Tony DiTerlizzi
 Tony DiTerlizzi was born into an artistic household on September 6, 1969. At an early age he began embracing the whimsical, the wondrous and the surreal, all of which sparked his wild imagination.
Tony grew up in South Florida amid palm trees and year-round sunshine. While he enjoyed collecting insects, snorkeling and camping, he also loved to draw and read. During this time he was introduced to the works of Norman Rockwell, Arthur Rackham, Dr. Seuss, Roald Dahl and Jim Henson, all of whom inspired him and became major creative influences. With the support of family and teachers, Tony was able to cultivate his natural artistic talents. In college, he honed these talents at the Florida School of the Arts and later at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, where he earned a degree in Graphic Design in 1992.
After college, Tony began a freelance illustration career, working for TSR's Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. He continued to illustrate within the gaming field for most of the 1990s, working on games such as Planescape, Changeling and the trading card phenomenon, Magic the Gathering.
After seven years of successful work as a fantasy artist, Tony entered a new field: that of creating children's picture books. With the publication in 2000 of JIMMY ZANGWOW'S OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD MOON PIE ADVENTURE, Tony fulfilled a childhood dream of writing and illustrating his own book. Critics loved the book; this was followed the next year by TED, which also received high praise, including the 2002 Zena Sutherland Award. Tony has also illustrated the ALIEN & POSSUM series by Tony Johnston, RIBBITING TALES, and the star-studded ONCE UPON A FAIRY TALE, in which all proceeds benefit Steven Spielberg's Starbright Foundation. However, it is his spooky picture book of Mary Howitt's classic poem "The Spider and the Fly" that brought him much fame and accolades. His fantastic vision garnered him the 2003 Caldecott Honor Medal and the moniker of New York Times bestselling author/illustrator.
Continuing with his passion for fantasy, Tony has lent his vision to an array of noted authors' works including J.R.R.Tolkien, Anne McCaffrey, Greg Bear, and Peter Beagle.
Tony currently lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Holly Black
 Holly Black was born in November 1971 in a decrepit Victorian house in New Jersey. Her mother, a painter and doll-maker, fed her books on ghosts and faeries that formed much of her later views on the world. She also developed a fear of the dark. Nonetheless, Holly spent a happy childhood cooking up imaginary witches' brews with her younger sister, Heidi, and taking care of her pet rats.
Adolescence brought Dungeons & Dragons, punk rock, boys, and an unhealthy habit of reading books until 3 a.m. During this period, Holly wrote a lot of poetry, as well as a play and a novel titled KNIGHTS OF THE SILVER SUN. She also met Theo Black, a painter who was attending private school. They moved to Philadelphia together to attend college.
After graduating, Holly got a job in New York while working at night on an independent gaming magazine, d8. It was through d8 magazine that she met fellow writer Steve Berman and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi. It was also during this time that she began the suburban fantasy novel, TITHE: A Modern Faery Tale.
Today Holly lives in West Long Branch, New Jersey with Theo, who she married in 1999. She is an avid collector of rare folklore volumes, spooky dolls and outrageous hats.
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INTERVIEW
 November 10, 2005
Kidsreads.com contributing writer Marya Jansen-Gruber interviewed close friends and joint collaborators Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black about ARTHUR SPIDERWICK'S FIELD GUIDE TO THE FANTASTICAL WORLD AROUND YOU. Tony and Holly discuss the amount of time, effort and research they each put into this long-awaited companion to The Spiderwick Chronicles, and describe the working dynamic that has made their projects so successful. They also cite the authors and illustrators who mutually have influenced their work, as well as share stories about their readers who have had plenty of fantastical observations of their own.
Kidsreads.com: How long did it take you to gather all the material for THE FIELD GUIDE?
Tony DiTerlizzi: Holly and I have been sorting
through Arthur's research for several years now, as there was a lot of information
to organize. That's a challenge when it comes to categorizing the fey, but I think
Holly did a great job by doing it via environments versus trying to organize it
through a traditional taxonomy.
Holly Black: Meanwhile, Tony had the daunting task of going through literally piles and piles of half-completed paintings and sketches. Some of them were damaged --- either from being stored in a less-than-archival environment for decades, or from rough treatment. Just sorting through all that work and deciding which pieces to include, which to restore, and how to arrange them all was a heroic endeavor.
KRC: What kind of research did you conduct that allowed you to complete such an amazing project?
HB: Part of what I did was compare Arthur's notes to existing faerie folklore. There is an enormous amount of research on real people's experiences with faeries, although a great deal of it is anecdotal. Using that, I was able to streamline and refine Arthur's notes.
TD: I studied natural history books quite a bit. I wanted to see if there were corresponding creatures in the animal kingdom that had traits similar to the world of Spiderwick. For instance, the mermaids don't have lungs, but breathe through their "hair." This is very similar to sea slugs that live in the ocean today.
I also looked at the amazing work of John James Audubon. As I "restored" Arthur's faerie paintings, I frequented many of Audubon's books. No one comes close to him and his meticulous attention to detail --- it is truly awe-inspiring.
KRC: Tony, do you use human models for your drawings? What tools do you use to create your fabulous color illustrations?
TD: I did use a handful of models to pose as I worked on Arthur's plates. They were children mostly; in fact, Jane Yolen's granddaughter, Maddison, posed for a couple of the images.
True to the spirit of Audubon, the plates are pretty much paintings over highly-detailed drawings. The color was added in layers of watercolor and gouache.
KRC: What role, if any, did you play in the design and layout of THE FIELD GUIDE?
TD: I am pretty hands-on with design, so the book dummy that I created is very close to the final version. I saw the antiquity and authenticity of the FIELD GUIDE in my mind and I just had to figure out the perfect harmony of paper textures, fonts, color, etc., to give it the overall feel that the final book has.
HB: My role was to provide a lot of ooooohing and aaaahhhhhing. Now, I don't want to brag, but I think I was pretty successful with that.
TD: This, of course, would not have been possible without the fabulous team at Simon & Schuster. Though my name and Holly's are on the front of this book, a lot of people worked VERY hard on it. It was a true labor of love for many.
KRC: Did you know that you were going to produce THE FIELD GUIDE when you first started The Spiderwick Chronicles series?
HB: This is the book that we wanted to do even before we decided to do the series of chapter books. It is so exciting to finally see it completed.
TD: Yep, we thought it would be more interesting to release it after we told the Grace kids' story. I think anyone can pick up this book, even if they have not read the series, and really enjoy it at face value. However, for the readers who have enjoyed the books, I think they will appreciate this one on a whole different level. There is a lot of Arthur's back story in the GUIDE.
KRC: Did you work independently when you created the series, or did you work together and discuss what was going to happen next?
TD: Holly and I are terrific friends and have always collaborated very closely throughout the series. We have shared ideas from plotting the books to illustration sketches. We both exhausted our bag of tricks to create the best books possible.
HB: Being able to sit down with Tony and figure things out is one of the real pleasures of working on The Spiderwick Chronicles. It is a lot of fun and I think it really leads to the text and the illustrations dovetailing. Tony has said that if I describe something in great detail, that's the part he won't illustrate. Instead he'll choose to draw a part that is less developed. Likewise, if he tells me about a part he's excited to draw, that's a part I'll be deliberately spare with, so he can create it just the way he's seeing it. The process, hopefully, makes for books where the parts are fully integrated.
KRC: Have you been interested in fairy tales and folklore for many years? Did you read stories about the faerie folk when you were children?
TD: Brian Froud and Alan Lee's book, FAERIES, was a huge influence on me. I got that when I was at the age of wonder and imagination (about 10ish) and it really had an impact. It meant so much to me to have Brian quote us for this book.
HB: FAERIES was a really important book for me too. It was what first got me into reading folklore. From that, there was a natural segue into reading and writing urban fantasy.
KRC: Do you receive a lot of letters from readers who think they may have had an encounter with creatures from the Invisible World? What is the most memorable note that a reader has sent you?
TD: We do receive quite a few letters with encounters. In many ways, that is why we came out with THE NOTEBOOK FOR FANTASTICAL OBSERVATIONS. It helps you accurately record what you see and determine what it may be...
HB: I think the most memorable ones are where kids tell us about eerie things they've seen. We've gotten a couple where kids report little men that disappear within a blink of an eye or glittering lights in an old tree. They're creepy because they seem so real --- and apparently not that uncommon!
KRC: Do you plan to collaborate on future projects that will continue to reveal the secrets of the faerie to the human world?
HB: We have a couple of things in the works. The Grace kids' story is finished, but there are some other stories that we are thinking of telling.
TD: Like I said, Holly and I are great friends. I will always cherish the experience of creating these books with her. I cannot imagine doing it with anybody else. So I think it is safe to say you haven't heard the last from us...
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