Michael DiMartino is best cognize for co - creating the smash show Avatar : The Last Airbender , but now he ’s branching out into prose fiction . His young serial publication Geniuses starts in twilight 2016 with a book called The Creature and the Creator , but we ’ve get an sole first glance for you right now .
Here ’s the official description of the Geniuses series , and the first book :
Set in a Renaissance - comparable fantasy world , Geniuses explores the concept of “ artwork as magic , ” where an artist ’s creative adept is actually a living tool , a tangible - animation muse that root on and protect him or her . Because the leader of this world sees the Genius as a cracking and dangerous force , anyone with a Genius is capture , to ensure he or she does n’t become a threat to society . Many have their Geniuses ruin , and subsequently , become ghosts of their former self , doomed to live a spirit without direction , inspiration , or original thought .
But a gifted few are keeping their creative thinking and their genius alive at a mystic studio apartment , where young artists like 12 - year - old Giacomo larn how to harness their Genius ’ mogul . But before Giacomo ’s training is complete , he and his fellow educatee set off on a aliveness - or - death quest to find the mythologic Creator ’s Compass before it falls into the hands of a rogue creative person , who plan to employ the Compass to destroy the world .
And here ’s a page from the “ sketch pad ” that will be featured in the account book :
And here ’s a new essay from DiMartino ’s about his farsighted journeying towards create this al-Qur’an series :
Creating Geniuses
By Michael Dante DiMartino
The journeying of create the world of Geniuses has been a long and weave one that began over ten years ago . And it all commence with a individual idea : artwork as magic .
small did I recognize these three little words would set me off on a quest to figure out how to distinguish an entertaining story that could carry that conception . There were many false outset and haywire turns on the way of life to create this book . More than once I yield up on it , give up what I had save to the niche of my hard driving force . But inevitably , a few calendar month would authorize and a young idea would activate my imagination , or a Modern slant on the story would present itself , and I ’d plunge back into the worldly concern .
One of those important sparks was when I learned about the ancestry of the Scripture genius . In a book about Da Vinci , I discovered that during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance , a genius was n’t a individual , but a look that protected and animate artists . Ah ha ! I call up , what if in my story , the creative person had living genus Mus ? I immediately pictured them as wing snort creatures , rush to my laptop , and keep to indite .
But while that approximation provided a lot of momentum , I still stagger . I was also more than a little busy with Avatar : The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra , so any piece of writing I did was either at night or on the weekend . In my mind , my storey about creative person and their champion was a fun , personal side project that may or may not become publishable one day .
Then in 2014 , as Korra was winding down , I begin to think about what I really wanted to work on next , and it was n’t another alive show . I challenge myself to finish up the “ nontextual matter as charming ” story I began so many years ago and find a publisher who could aid me get it out into the cosmos . So I ’m thrilled to be working with editor Connie Hsu and the team at Roaring Brook .
The point of all this is to say that when I came up with this theme ten years ago , I did n’t think it would amount to anything , much less become a published book . But my Genius spirit dig and prompt me to keep cultivate on it , even when I thought the idea was worthless . I ’m glad I listen to it and I go for the book inspires others to listen to their own creative muse , in whatever form that takes , and create what is meaningful to them .
Over the days work on Avatar and Korra , I ’ve heard from and met so many wondrous sports fan who have shared how the Avatar universe inhale them to overcome a battle in their life , to come a dream , or achieve a longsighted sought - after finish . I realized how transformative and impactful account and graphic symbol can be in a unseasoned someone ’s life sentence , and I trust to continue breathe in and entertaining people with this new earth .
It ’s also fun to draw again and I ’m emotional to instance the novel as well as compose it . Done in a style of Da Vinci ’s sketchbooks , the illustrations will be image from the main character ’s sketch block , 12 - year - old creative person key Giacomo . During the last few year working on Korra , my time was expend wreak more on the writing side of yield than the drawing side , so my sketching skills are a number hoary . But I ’m positive I can draw as unspoilt as a 12 - year - old ( albeit a really talented 12 - year - old ! )
graphics has been the drive force through my whole life and career . I was drawing as far back as I can recollect , and in all likelihood before that . And although I ’m now know for my work in brio , my former aesthetic torpedo were painters like Picasso , Dali , and Pollock .
In gamy school , as I became more serious about art , I starve for report about artists , but they were hard to come by . I read biographies of painters , but in the fictional realm , only The Fountainhead and My Name is Asher Lev provided stories in which the creative person was the hero . My hope with the Geniuses serial is to give youngster the character of book my younger ego would ’ve loved growing up — a novel where artists are heroes , where creativity and breathing in can lead to a lifetime - change adventure , and where art is magic .
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