Saturday, March 5, 2011

People Whom We Cannot See

"I believe when I am in the mood that all nature is full of people whom we cannot see, and that some of these are ugly or grotesque, and some wicked or foolish, but very many beautiful beyond any one we have ever seen, and that these are not far away . . . . the simple of all times and the wise men of ancient times have seen them and even spoken to them."
—W.B. Yeats, The Celtic Twilight

Tony DiTerlizzi — Deep-Forest Sprites
Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You

Tony DiTerlizzi — Perrault's Ogre
Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You

Tony DiTerlizzi — Wood Elf
Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You

Images and text ©2005 Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

5 comments:

Faff said...

Great quote, know what he means sometimes. Fantastic art too. Hadn't seen any of this before but puts me in mind of Brian Froud.

Thomas Haller Buchanan said...

Yes, it is Froudish, but as you say--fantastic.

Annie said...

Hi Thom,

If you haven't seen the actual Spiderwick Chronicles series (five books in the first series, and five more in the second series) I'm sure you'll enjoy the color plates and line drawings. The character, Arthur Spiderwick, looks very much like Arthur Rackham's own caricature self-portraits, often included in his illustrations.

I first became aware of Tony DiTerlizzi, through his first book, Jimmy Zangwow's Out-of-This-World Moon-Pie Adventure (2000). Kids love the book, and every time I use it in a storytime, I have a lot of fun with the story and the voices, and we have a snack of moonpies and milk. When you see the art, you will be reminded a bit of John Rocco's work in Moonpowder.

Unknown said...

One of my favorite illustrators! He is actually the reason I picked up the Spiderwick books. Fans of DiTerlizzi will probably also like Chris Riddell, best known the The Edge Chronicles. It seems many of today's illustrators are inspired by Froud, who is brilliant.They all, however, tie back to the man himself- Arthur Rackham. His influence in illustration is undeniable after all these years.

Jacques said...

Di Terlizzi é simplesmente genial e imaginativamente desprovido de qualquer limite.
Valeu.