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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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Monday, December 21, 2009

IF: UNDONE!

NOEL DANCERS
DianaTing Delosh
Ink & Watercolor Christmas Card


All the weeks of rehearsing their perfectly choreographed routine had come UNDONE with one misstep. Here's my entry for this weeks Illustration Friday prompt.

Hope you're all having happy holidays.
We were walloped with 2 feet of snow yesterday - needless to say - love the look, hate the shoveling.


Wednesday, December 16, 2009

IF: HATCH!

With Egg
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & Watercolor Greeting card

Pappa Rooster and Moma Hen can't wait for their egg to HATCH! They are so in love and happy together. Here's my illustration for this week's Illustration Friday's prompt.

I need to hatch a plan to make oodles of money with my art. And since we're just playing around, let's make it fool proof, quick, easy and fun.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Christmas Polar Bears

Christmas Polar Bears & Wreath
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & Watercolor

Christmas Card available at Diana's Cards

Thought I'd share my latest Christmas Card art on GCU and the 1 I'm using as
my personal Christmas card. Now I'm anxiously waiting for my cards to arrive by Fedex. My address labels are ready to go -just need to buy stamps -and it looks like this year my cards will be out on time. So far it looks like Happy Holidays vs. Merry X-mess.

Wishing all Happy Holidays now in case I get get bamboozled by too much garland later.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Support your local NYC Artists!

If you're in the NYC area and looking for affordable unique gifts please check out The Degenerate Craft Fair. A sort of anti-art-fair, The Degenerate Craft Fair features over 20 artists, designers and their work - in time for Holiday shopping - most items are less than $50.

The fair will take place in 3 separate locations over 3 weeks in December., bringing the artists and their work to very different venues: a DIY performance space, a storefront and a Chelsea art gallery.

For addresses, directions and a complete list of events go to: www.degeneratecraftfair.com
For a PDF of the press release click HERE!
Organised by Amy Wilson and Shannon Broder

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Fall Bear Postcard, CBIG Review, etc.

Bear Walks in the Woods
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & Watercolor, portfolio & used as fall 209 postcard.
This is the illustration I used for my latest postcard self-promo campaign - just sent off aproximately 220 postcards. Needless to say I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will land me a nice juicy assignment or two.

I can't believe it's already December! Yikes where did the time go? What have I been up to? I meant to be better at blogging but it seems November has gone by with nary a peep from me. Well I've been busy with CBIG - specifically the November review and getting the above postcard campaign out - not to mention the usual art biz and family/Thanksgiving stuff. So now that I've fully digested November -I guess it's time to dish.

My CBIG Portfolio reviews with 2 art directors. I'm only using initials out of respect for their privacy and because this is proprietary CBIG info. I opted to see MR from HC a giant publishing house, whose Children's division published infant to YA books and RP from SP, a mid sized publisher whose juvenile division only published picture books. In general the reviews went well - both liked my animals. I also showed 2 dummies but as art only.

MR/HC: wanted to see more angles, varied perspective, view points etc. I sat opposite her as she reviewed my portfolio and as I viewed my work upside down - this flaw was obvious to me. Note to self - look at my portfolio upside down more frequently. Luckily for me 1 of my recent dummies demonstrated the varied persoectives and viewpoints she craved - whew. She also wanted me to create more oomph, drama with my illustrations. Yes - she liked my latest Bear series (the above is 1 of 3 new bear illustrations) YAY they were worth working on late into the night!

RP/SP: liked my animals a lot as well as my dummies. Unfortunately it is just a matter of everything aligning: right story/right art/right time. She also liked my B&W work and some of my book cover samples in my portfolio - she thought this might be something I could develop further. Her company is only doing picture books but many other publishing houses have middle grade & YA dept (and mid-grade/YA market is doing very well right now - maybe more opportunities).

Yup - got some work to do. Make sure my portfolio reflects the fact that I do different perspectives and view points, shows narrative, drama, etc. Create more Jacket & interior spot art to go after the mid grade/YA market. Lastly, write a wonderful picture book manuscript for my animals so next year I can show a dummy as both art and story.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

IF: UNBALANCED!

BIG BEAR LITTLE BUNNY
© DIANA TING DELOSH
INK & WATERCOLOR

Here is my entry for this week's Illustration Friday prompt - UNBALANCED. this is the 3rd in a series of 3 illustrations of these 2 characters. Visit my website to see more of Bear and Bunny.

To the casual observer Bear and Bunny's friendship may seem lopsided, unbalanced even. A small bunny may gain a lot from having a large gruff bear as a friend, but what does a bear gain other than a loyal friend? Hm-m-m is there a story somewhere?


Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!

The Pumpkin Pickers
© Diana Ting Delosh

Ink & Watercolor,
self promotion postcard and greeting card
Tabby Cat looks quite dashing in his pirate costume. Owl is also ready for halloween trick or treats all dressed up as a wizard. As for myself, the Jack o'lantern is sitting on my stoop and the candy bowl is filled. Come on over: Tabby Cat and Owl, pirates and wizards.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

IF: Flying

GRYPHON/DRAGON
© Diana Ting Delosh
Bic Pen

Here's my entry for this week's Illustration Friday Prompt - FLYING. Gryphon and Dragon are flying. In the spirit of Halloween fun I thought I'd do a scary beast or two versus my usual cute whimsical art. Gryphon isn't as fierce as I had hoped he'd turn out but I think Dragon has a nice fantasy feel. It's fun to pretend to be someone/something else.

I've been on a Bic Kick lately - find it relaxing. I guess because I think of it as doodling it short circuits my inner critic and I can let out an inner beast or 2.

BTW Gryphon and Dragon are also the 2 featured creatures on Game 16 on my Which Would You Rather Be? blog.



Monday, October 5, 2009

IF: GERMS

SICK BEAR
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink and Watercolor

"Germs," said Dr. Crow.
"You have a temperture," said Nurse Bunny.
"One big spoonful of our special medicine and you'll be cured!" said the mice assistants.
Bear didn't like the smell of the medicine and he was sure it would taste horrible.

Here's my entry for this weeks Illustration Friday prompt - GERMS!

This image is available as a card at Diana's Cards or click on the store widget in my sidebar. Title: Get Well Bear - product ID: 88484

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Not My Usual

Car on the Road • © 2009 Diana Ting Delosh
• Ink & Watercolor Illustration for Safety Driver's Program.

Recently I took on an assignment for a local business, Paultec Graphics to provide an illustration for a 4-Color flyer for Safety Driver's Program to advertise the debut of their new NY State DMV approved online defensive driving program - easternsafetycourse.com.

The assignment was to create an illustration that was reminiscent of the art on the online site but with more pop. Now, if you've ever taken a gander at my portfolio you'd know that automobile art is not part of my repetoire, however as I've created all types of art for Paultec in the past he trusted me to come through. I accepted the challenge to find a way to meet the client's specs while remaining true to my style. I'm happy to report that both myself and the client are happy with the results.

Now I'm not embarking on a portfolio filled with machines and urban scapes but it was nice to venture out of my comfort zone and explore new territory.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

IF: STRONG!

ANT & SNAIL
• © Diana Ting Delosh • Marker and Watercolor


Ant is very strong for her size. She likes to show off to anyone who comes along. Snail is quite impressed. Here is my illustration for this weeks Illustration Fridays' challenge.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

IF: CAUTION!

HIPPOPOTAMUS & CROCODILE • © Diana Ting Delosh • Marker with Watercolor Wash
Hippo knows that her hide is too tough to entice a croc to take a bite but she still proceeds with caution when she eyes one close by. My entry for this weeks Illustration Friday Prompt.

Just for fun, please hop to Which Would You Rather Be? to play Game 9 - Hippopotamus or Crocodile?

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Art/product

I don't know about you - but I need to create on a fairly regular basis or I get very cranky. Must have that creative fix or else. To make matters worse, lately the creative fix is getting less satisfying. I think the need to make a living with my art is making it all feel like product. Need to put the fun back in creating without loosing sight of my big goals.

Making art for art's sake is 1 way to go - but it still doesn't take the pressure away from the need to be art smart and make it all count. So I'm going to really lower the bar for myself. My goal will be to create "bad art" and lots of it! Take the stress out of creating: sub worthy, portfolio worthy, award winning, saleable, marketable, will they like it, etc. creations. It can be trash worthy. Maybe I'll post it or maybe I'll just toss it. Enjoying the process again is what's important.

Feeling totatlly in awe of the guys on http://pageadaysketches.blogspot.com/
If you're not familiar with this blog I reccomend taking a gander... and they call them mere sketches! Not too intimidating. Yes I know visiting this blog may be totally detrimental to my bad art goal.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

WHAT"S UP?

[PorcupineSkunk.jpg]
PORCUPINE & SKUNK • © Diana Ting Delosh • Ink & Watercolor

These 2 friends are the current featured creatures on Game 7 - WHICH WOULD YOU RATHER BE - PORCUPINE OR SKUNK? This odd blog of mine - well - I'm wondering if it's a mistake. Definitely a distraction and fun for me. Gives me a purpose to do quick doodles, sketches, looser art styles and a place to show more of my art and hang my widgets. It also has the weekly wednesday deadline so it gives me structure. However - have I just given myself another vehicle for procrastinating? As if I didn't have enough of those. I guess as long as I'm having fun with it and it's not getting in the way of anything what's the harm. Now if only I could get the auto post feature to work. To date auto post worked 1 out of 5. Not a very reliable feature!
Note this blog has ads. I wonder what Google ads will be relevant for Porcupines & Skunks?

What else?
Just subbed a new poem (manuscript only - no art) to a kids magazine. Keeping my fingers crossed that they will accept for publication. Now I need to dive into something new. I made a long list this morning of what I can work on besides the above nuttiness, so it's just a matter of making a decision. I hate this in between projects stage.

Last week I blew a circuit - fixed it right away - but decided to stay off the computers, etc for the day - which resulted in the rough draft for the above poem. Realized that sometimes what I need is to be away from all things "E" to get the creative juices to flow.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Animals with or without clothes

I recently showed my portfolio to an art director of a medium sized trade children's book publisher . Her comments in general were good but she did have a thing about animals wearing clothes. In her opinion animals should not wear too much clothes. It made them too human and a wee bit creepy. She also felt that the totally dressed animal was a mass market look.

This comment made me realize that the majority of my animals are dressed. Few are au naturalle. I should also add this was the first time I've heard that trade pubs prefer naked animals. I have had comments that my animals should dress in more trendy garb as opposed to a classic look. Now I suppose I should make sure I have more naked animals.

Which brings me to my next thought - why do most of my animals wear clothes? My decision is based on the text - are the animals really stand ins for people characters or are they behaving like real wild animals? I also like to use clothing as a prop to further enhance the character. And of course it's just plain fun to design patterns and outfits for my characters. Take my Ox or Rat, Game 5 of my Which Would You Rather Be? blog, their robes enhance their character. I guess my next project should be something that calls for animals behaving like animals.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

SKIP & SCOUT, STORY PUBLISHED!

Announcing the publication of my story, Skip and Scout in the August 2009 issue of
Highlights High Five magazine - Bonus Pages: Make Your Own Mini-Book. Illustrated by Anna Currey.

To read about the story behind the story see my April 2, 2009 blog entry - Mice by another name and view my August 18, 2008 blog entry - Pip & Squeak!

Monday, July 20, 2009

IF: TANGO

THE SUNFLOWER CROWS
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & Watercolor

It takes 2 to Tango and Mr. & Mrs. Crow do it so well. They love to dance among the golden sunflower heads all summer long. Here's my illustration for this weeks Illustration Friday prompt - Tango.

FYI: You may buy this image as a greeting card at GCUniverse.com/DianasCards. Put the keywords: Sunflower Crows in the left sidebar of my store.

Friday, July 17, 2009

It's a real Pewter Plate!

The Pewter Plate shown on the July 2008 Highlights High Five magazine open
to pages 12 & 13. Bubble Trouble poem by Diana Ting Delosh - Art by Holli
Conger - © 2008 Highlights.

Yes - It's real pewter plate! And as you can see hard to photograph - at least for me! Now aren't you glad I don't subject you to more of my photos. See previous post for more about the award.


Thursday, July 9, 2009

The Pewter Plate Award!

Yay -The Pewter Plate Award! - © 2009 Diana Ting Delosh, Marker

I'm happy to announce that my poem, Bubble Trouble- July 2008, just won the Pewter Plate Award from Highlights High Five for Puzzle Poem of the Year! YAY! What a lovely surprise.

We had been alerted to look for a gift from R in the mail. Needless to say when the above package arrived we just assumed it was the gift. B thinks it's chocolate when we open the outer package and reveal the inner white box. Surprise, surprise it's the Pewter Plate Award from Highlights High Five magazine! I think it's better than chocolate. B on the otherhand probably prefers a nice yummy box of assorted dark chocolates.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Glitches Galore

Dandelion/Rose
© 2009 Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & Watercolor illustration

Hm-m-m. Experiencing lot's of glitches today. just tried to upload an image but just keep getting the Bad request warning. Also having mucho probs with my speklling. So what else is up? Game 2, Which Would You Rather Be - dandelion or rose? is posted - finally. Had it scheduled to auto post at 8am. Needless to say it didn't. At 8:45 am I checked it and ended up manually posting it. I'll have to investigate to see if I had done something wrong. Anyway the gremlins are definitely active today. Arg-g-g why doesn't anything work the way it should?

Well heavens to betsey it finally worked! Now about my spelling... hm-m-m.