Last night I got to go to one of my favorite indepedent book stores,
Third Place Books, for the farewell-tour and book signing for the
Spiderwick Chronicles.
We've been fans since the very
first volume. And now own each of the stories as well as many of the peripheral books (the "Field Guide", "The Care & Feeding of Sprites", the giant "Chronicles of Spiderwick"...)
My daughter had me take her out of school to see
Holly Black and
Tony DiTerlizzi the last time they come through on a Spiderwick tour (when we got the first batch of books signed). They are gregarious, humorous and imminently entertaining in person as well as on the page and a couple of my contemporary heroes. Spontaneity abounds - don't even ask about the impromptu audience rendition of "Puff the Magic Dragon"...
As part of their spiel Tony drew a number of on-the-spot characters (I'm always impressed by being able to draw spontaneously, in front of an audience, in pen!) which they then gave away to winners of Spiderwick trivia questions.
I sketched *them* while they talked. Made funner by it being rather dimly lit and their constant movements...
As I was sitting on the front row during their presentation, Tony saw me drawing and to my dismay asked to see my sketch book when we got to the front of the book-signing line. The horror, the horror....
But they are generosity itself when it comes to signing *every* thing you brought with you, in addition to letting you take pictures with them. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Here's hoping that talent rubs off a little?...
We've been fans since the very first volume. And now own each of the stories as well as many of the peripheral books (the "Field Guide", "The Care & Feeding of Sprites", the giant "Chronicles of Spiderwick"...)
My daughter had me take her out of school to see Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi the last time they come through on a Spiderwick tour (when we got the first batch of books signed). They are gregarious, humorous and imminently entertaining in person as well as on the page and a couple of my contemporary heroes. Spontaneity abounds - don't even ask about the impromptu audience rendition of "Puff the Magic Dragon"...
As part of their spiel Tony drew a number of on-the-spot characters (I'm always impressed by being able to draw spontaneously, in front of an audience, in pen!) which they then gave away to winners of Spiderwick trivia questions.
I sketched *them* while they talked. Made funner by it being rather dimly lit and their constant movements...
As I was sitting on the front row during their presentation, Tony saw me drawing and to my dismay asked to see my sketch book when we got to the front of the book-signing line. The horror, the horror....
But they are generosity itself when it comes to signing *every* thing you brought with you, in addition to letting you take pictures with them. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Here's hoping that talent rubs off a little?...
Posts
6 comments:
Oh, come on, Tara, you had nothing to fear from Tony seeing your sketches. I thought they were excellent likenesses.
I agree! You're very talented. Now for me, I could feel that way, but not you!!You are their peer really.
Oooh, look who's rubbing shoulders with the stars! You did excellent likeness's of them both. :)
How thrilling! Sounds like an entertaining duo.
(I'm sure they loved your sketches!)
Tony DiTerlizzi! That sounds so exciting! You just look like a little kid, I'm glad for you.
How cool is all that? :)
Post a Comment