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Welcome to my blog , The Hare Illustratère. I'll be posting about my art process and journey as an illustrator/author here.

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Thursday, April 16, 2009

Life after tax day

OX, © Diana Ting Delosh, ink & watercolor illustration

Whew - tax day has come & gone... and at least it's all done & filed. Now to get back to life. It's April 16, mid-point of the 1st month of the 2nd quarter - what's up?

The Year of the Ox is proving true to it's promise that good fortune will be acquired through hard work and patience. Well at least I've got the work and patience routine down and a few proposals pending. Create, promote, submit, wait....wait....wait. Repeat steps 1, 2, 3, many many times.

On another matter - I officially gave notice at my part time job this week. The job had dwindled from 20+ hours to 4+ hours a week... which made me wonder why bother among other questions. Sure I could've stayed on until the inevitable no hours on the schedule. At anyrate I felt the monies lost could be easily replaced by my freelance activites and the 4+ hours could be put to use working on artbiz stuff. The PT job had lost it's purpose, namely to give me a regular funds, so I wouldn't be taking art jobs from hell. Well the regular funds dwindled to a joke and I was back to considering art job's from hell. Now the onus is to make it work without any back-up - again. Not sure if I did the right thing in this economy, only time will tell. So what was I saying about the Year of the OX? Yup - hard work and patience.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Mice by another name?

I recently received a call from my Highlights/High Five editor concerning my poem, Pip & Squeak. It had just come to their attention that there is a picture book by the same title and it also features mice. HORRORS! Needless to say we needed to come up with a new title and names for the 2 characters in our poem. Here I thought I had been so-o-o clever with the title. Pip and Squeak was a play on the word pipsqueak. What fun. Note - I did think of them as mice when it was first drafted eons ago, but when I submitted it to High Five last summer - I left it to the editors to decide: mice, kids, squirrels, geckos, whatever. They came up with mice. Probably because the names Pip and Squeak screams - Mice. So now the renaming begins. I call and suggest Skip and Scamp along with a few others. Skip and Scamp is chosen but then discarded. I think of more names. Skip and Scout, Rose and Bud, Bud and Twiggy, Stick and Twig, Skip and Clover, Skip and Flora. I'm also Googling to see what turns up and low and behold Bud and Twiggy is a famous couple! After a few more rounds of names, a decision is made: Skip and Scout. Just in time for it to get back in the production line to be published in the August 2009 issue of High Five magazine.

Needless to say from now on I'll do a search before I sub...but than again who knows what happens before it actually gets published!

Brush Strokes on Squidoo!

I'm currently a featured artist on Sherry Holden's Squidoo Lens. How exciting! Moi and 2 other artists will be featured for about a month. So if you have a chance please take a gander at: www.squidoo.com/ArtistsAtImagekind.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Spring Gallery Cleaning

Just did some spring cleaning at my Wingedrabbit ImageKind Galleries. My art is now more sensibly grouped. Animals are corraled in the ANIMALS, Florals are blooming in FLORA and anything that is neither animal or flora is in ARDWERX .

My HOLIDAY Gallery will showcase 4 images that are specially priced for the current season. This is my experiment to see if special pricing will effect sales. HOLIDAY is now featuring - Happy Spring & Hoppy Easter!

Just take a gander at the ImageKind banners in my sidebar or hop on over to http://wingedrabbit.imagekind.com where you will find fine art, giclee prints, and cards featuring my whimsical and decorative illustrations. Prints come in various sizes and your choice of quality art paper. Custom framing is also available. Thanks for taking a peek!

Friday, February 27, 2009

IF: BREEZY

Spring Fling
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & Watercolor Illustration

Mr Hopwell and Lady Quack are ballooning on a lovely, breezy, spring day. Here's my entry for this week's IF prompt.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

IF: CELEBRATE!


FRUIT PUNCH!
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & watercolor illustration

Hip, hip hoorah! Pour the fruit punch and make a toast. Cheers - it's time to celebrate. I wonder what good news the animals are celebrating. This is my illustration for this weeks Illustration Friday prompt, Celebrate.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

IF: TIME

Time Expired Portfolio
© Diana Ting Delosh

Unfortunately for the ill-fated illustrator on her way to see the NYC Art Director, her portfolio's freshness time was about to expire. TICK... TICK... TICK... BOOM!
My response to this weeks Illustration Fridays prompt: TIME - 1 of my nightmares.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Fri Illustrator's Intensive: Part II - NYC Art Directors

Tips & Commentary from the 2009 SCBWI Winter Conference NYC Art Director's Panel.The Panel consisted of 3 AD's representing 2 trade pubs and 1 mass market pub. They reviewed previously selected samples from 10 anonymous illustrators. Fresh, New, Exciting, Dated, Cliche, art labeled according to the perspectives of the AD. If the retro look is a current and an exciting new trend what made something else dated?

What they want from our illustrations:
- Strong Characters
- Impact: Does it grab you and draw you in?
- Narration: do they tell a story?
- Dependability
- Creatitivity
- Craft
- Concept: Is there an original ideal? Does it make you want to see more?
- Something accessible yet fresh.

How to get noticed:
- Send Postcards. Make illustration image big. Contact info type to a minimum and smaller. Do 3 or 4 mailings a year.
- Get published in other related markets (kid's magazines, greeting cards, etc).
- Websites and blogs. Websites are great because they can share the url with colleagues when discussing a project. Blogs give insight to the person behind the art.

Misc Tips
- Illustrator source books have gone the way of the dodo.
- If there is a product in your illustration make up your own product logo vs doing a known company logo to avoid possible lawsuits and other complication. Ex: the 3 bears are making porridge don't draw your favorite brand. Design your own!

2009 SCBWI Portfolio Room: No feed back... you only know if someone liked your work if they took a sample and than of course you would only know whom, IF they contacted you. Unsatisfying - but the equivalent of doing a multi-pub house drop off.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Fri Illustrator's Intensive: Part I - Workshops

*I will be using initials, etc. where/when the info is proprietary to the SCBWI.
Fri, 1/30/09. 5am rise & shine - got to catch the 6:38 train! Yikes - glad I don't have to commute daily. Anyway I'm at the Hyatt for the SCBWI Winter Conference, Illustrator's Intensive and I'm very excited about my 2 workshops: Digital Painting and Graphic Novels.

Big Changes in 2009. Publishing is in transition. Time to reinvent , re-define. There are more & newer forms of publishing: electronic, web, etc. but not more $$. What worked before may not work anymore. A crisis is a Terrible thing to waste! Do you see a theme here? Illustrators evolve, adapt or else??? -And this was just the opening!

Leo & Diane Dillon, illustration royalty, gracious and awe inspiring, showed a body of work that was constantly changing. They were lucky to have never been pigeon holed in any particular style, given the freedom to constantly experiment at whim. Through out all from woodcuts to friskets, Sci-fi book jackets to picture books, the one and only constant was the Dillon's aesthetic taste. Somehow they escaped the concept that one must have a style/Brand to successfully market oneself as an illustrator, and were able to create to the project.

A Traditional Aproach to Digital Painting - taught by illustrator William Low. This was an amazing workshop. I'm a traditional illustrator with knowlege of photoshop 7 vs the latest CS whatever. However I went home w/pages of notes and a semesters worth of info and loads of ideas on how to work smarter w/some digital help from PS7. Needless to say I can't wait to buy a new computer and be able to play w/the latest CS.

Attention Picture Book Writer/Illustrators: You Can Create a Graphic Novel: Here's How - This workshop should have been called: Survival tactics for illustrators. Elise Primavera showed how she adapted her style over the years to stay on top of the changing market. From her early work, classic pen & ink to her best seller; Auntie Claus, pastels, to her recent graphic novels, Fred and Anthony Escape from the Netherworld, loose doodlely ink line. She exhorted us to copy (as a way of learning) what we felt was current to digest and ultimately make our own - until the next cycle. She also told us (and this was a theme that ran through the whole conference) to mine our childhood journals/sketch bks/memories for Mid grade/teen & graphic novel ideas. Tips on staying fresh: Get uncomfortable! Try new things, techniques. Welcome the squirmy feeling. Don't be afraid of beginning with a chaotic mess and keep that energy going.

So Yes - I will create a graphic novel and be very squirmy doing it and have it sub ready before the trend expires! GWAH! I'm very uncomfortable now!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Apres SCBWI Winter Conference!

Groundhog Escapes!
© Diana Ting Delosh, Ink & watercolor illustration

This past weekend, I attended the SCBWI Winter Conference. Which meant 3 very early mornings and long days. I'm still recovering and feeling a bit numb. I'll blog in more details once I've digested my experience. So what are my overall impressions of this conference? Any exciting tips to share?

Art directors, editors, literary agents, oh my - apparently are all looking at artists and writers blogs! Yay - or might that be - Uh Oh!

Websites for illustrators are a must. Art Directors prefer to search the web for artists vs illustrator source books.

Publishers paper catalogs will also soon be extinct.

The conference was in general inspiring - but is it my imagination that the 2009 message for the writers was kinder and hopeful, compared to the illustrators message of adapt, evolve or else. Hm-m-m -m. I'll definitely have to give it a few days to percolate before I write about that one!

- Happy Groundhog's Day!
Puxatawny Phil predicts 6 more weeks of winter, but my local groundhogs, Chuck and Mel predict an early spring. I'll go with my local boys.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

CBIG: Illustrator Tips - Endpapers

Recently, I attended a CBIG meeting on Jan 11th, our guest speaker was NW, Assoc Ed from a medium sized NYC trade publisher of Books for Young Readers. Sorry about being so mysterious but some info is proprietary to CBIG. Nor would I want to incur the wrath of NW! Here's what I learned from the meeting that I can share with my fellow children's picture book illustrators/writers:

3 types of End papers and how they effect the Picture Book page count.
Self-Ends: Illustrated by the artist & are counted in the page count. They are printed on the same kind of paper as the interior of the book. They account for 8 pages in a 32 pg bk. Pg 1 begins on the side that's actually glued into the hardcover. Pgs 2 & 3 are the actual illustrated front endpapers. Pg 4 maybe left blank, maybe illustrated, or the © info may appear here facing the Title page on pg 5. Title page is on pg 5. Story starts on pages 6, ends on page 29. Pg 30 & 31 are your illustrated back ends and pg 32 is glued into book.
Colored Ends: Colored paper inserted in book. Not counted in page count and are different stock than the interior pages.
Printed Ends: Artist designed/illustrated but on different stock than rest of book and maybe 1 color vs the full color interior pages. They are treated as Colored Ends and aren't counted in the page count. Rarely used nowadays.

8 x 10 is the most economical size for a PB: PB's are printed on large sheets of paper in signatures of 8 pages. They are then folded, gathered and trimmed. The 8 x 10 size allows for the least amount of paper waste on the most commonly used paper size.

Storyboard your Book dummy. Helps you to make sure art & story isn't static.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

IF: RESOLVE!

Hamster Resolves - © 2009 Diana Ting Delosh.
Ink Illustration.


I, like Hamster, resolve to do many things in 2009. My list, when boiled down to it's essence:


1 - Create art daily!

2 - Do concrete artbiz actions daily!

Felt the need to make Creating Art Daily a Major Focus this year because so much of being an illustrator involves mundane tasks: updating, tweaking,promoting,networking, paperwork, etc. that time for actually creating art seems to be endangered.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Happy 2009

2009 Scribble Type - © 2008 Diana Ting Delosh
I begin 2009 with guarded optimism, despite all the gloomy news around me. For me 2008 ended on a hopeful note that better things may be round the corner art biz wise. So here goes: What worked in 2008 that I plan on doing more of in 2009:

ChildrensIllustrators.com/DianaTDelosh - made a point of doing monthly tweaks that led to increased site exposure, several job leads and work. Will continue with the monthly tweaks.

• New in 2008, my website dianadelosh.com - gave me credibility and exposure which landed the assignments. Continue tweaking & updating site.

• Targeted Submissions - resulted in contracts. Must do more!

• Promo Postcards - Did 2 mass promo campaigns. Did see increased traffic to my website. Yay! As well as direct replies to my mailings. Shoot for 4 campaigns in 2009.

GreetingCardUniverse.com/dianascards - focused on creating cards for holidays and quadrupled my sales from 2007. New goal: double my sales. Add new designs weekly.

WingedRabbit.ImageKind.com - updated to a platinum account in Nov 2008 for the premium site exposure and gallery space. Images are definitely getting more views - which hopefully will lead to more sales!

• Networking via forums, listservs, IF, etc. I get the most referrals to my website and POD stores via SCBWI discussion board and CBIG.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

IF: Balloons!

5 Animal Friends
© 2006 Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & Watercolor

Here's my entry for this week's Illustration Friday word - Balloons. Bright, beautiful, happy balloons. Where are the 5 animal friends off to? Raccoon has a bouquet of balloons.
Perhaps it's a party.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Busy Busy October!

Wow - can't believe I was too busy to post for a month! So what Have I been up to? Loads.

Worked on a flash animation project with a new client, the Woo Agency. Woo found me through my portfolio on ChildrensIllustrators.com/DianaTDelosh. I'll be posting more about this very exciting flash animation project when they're finished with the animation magic.

Added new designs to my GCU store. Now over 250 whimsical cards at Diana's Cards!

And I'm busy helping my fellow CBIG officers prep for our annual CBIG November Portfolio/Dummy Review.

Needless to say October was a very hectic, whirlwind of a month!

Monday, September 8, 2008

IF: CLUTTER

Hamster/Mind Clutter © Diana Ting Delosh Marker

My mind is cluttered: brilliant ideas, daily minutiae,
distracting fears; all muddled together in a mental goulash. The trick is to remember: I am not a hamster.My mind is not my wheel.

Monday, August 25, 2008

IF: ROUTINE

TEA CUP © Diana Ting Delosh
Marker


My morning routine, is to ponder my day over a hot cup of tea with a drop of milk. I'm out of sorts if I can't do this.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Peeping Zombies!

How's this for an eye catching title - Do Dead People Watch You While You're in the Shower? Can you imagine? What a concept! Yes, this is a real title of a book I saw while browsing the shelves of a bookstore. It's non-fiction. Definitely stopped me dead in my tracks and made me look. No I didn't buy it. Now if Hitchcock's movie, Psycho didn't creep you out about showers, here's this lovely thought.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Pip & Squeak!

Down the Hill
© Diana Ting Delosh
1 of 6 original sketches for Pip & Squeak. (not submitted to High Five)


Highlights/High5 magazine just accepted my pre-school verse Pip & Squeak for publication. YAY!

I had originally submitted Pip & Squeak with sketches to Babybug magazine. Recently decided it was time to have it make the rounds again... this time without suggested art to High Five.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

IF: POOF!

BIRTHDAY MAGIC
© Diana Ting Delosh

Ink Line & Watercolor


Wish I could just wave my paint brush and POOF art - from my brain into tangible form. The closest thing I come to magic is pulling serendipitous art out of my flat file. Which doesn't happen too often...but this is 1 of those instances. So here is my entry for Illustration Friday - POOF.

Birthday Magic just happens to be something I'm working on for my Greeting Card Store. It still needs to be spiffed up, loaded, OK'd...before Poof it becomes available as a birthday card.