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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, February 23, 2012

The Squirrel & Anteater Are Out of the Bag!

HOORAH! Farfaria is now LIVE... and has published the 2 ebooks that I illustrated. Finally -  the gags been lifted. So without further ado I can now show you what I've been mum about. Between mid September and early February I illustrated, An Armful of Acorns by Adrian Riding and The Greedy Ant Eater by Christine Sawinsky.

 Both books were illustrated using my traditional ink and watercolor technique but with a digital twist. As these were going to be for an ebook app or is it just a book app, each page illustration was constructed of layers of individual illos. For example:  P 7 from An Armful of Acorns, the blue sky is the base layer. The tree is a separate illo and another layer. As is the squirrel and the nuts and the leaves. Each page element is individually inked, painted, scanned, cleaned up in Photoshop and than finally combined into one layered Photoshop file. This way the app developer can make the leaves flutter or the squirrel twirl or acorns spin. These 2 are my first ebook projects. They were a fun creative challenge and it helped that Farfaria was very easy to work with.

Below are my favorite illustration from each book. Both now available on the App Store. 
P-7 from An Armful of Acorns © Farfaria
Filbert is nuts about acorns which lands him in all sorts of predicaments.
To view the cover art or to find out more - click HERE
P-10 from The Greedy Ant Eater © Farfaria
Ambrose clowns around with his nose hose to amuse his friends.
To view my cover art or to find out more - click HERE

Yikes - I don't have an i-Pad!!!!  Yup it's on my to buy list. Needless to say if anyone downloads any of my books, I'd really appreciate it if you would let me know if the squirrel twirls or if the anteater rocks and of course if your kids liked the art etc? Just leave a comment. Thanks!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Illustration Friday: TWIRL

Long Tailed Dragon - © Diana Ting Delosh - Ink, watercolor, photoshop
A long curlicue tail is fun to TWIRL
Twirl for Illustration Friday

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Dragons - 1 Sketch to Several Dragons

Dragon  Sketch - © Diana Ting Delosh

I doodled this  dragon with my trusty ball point pen during a TV commercial. The commercials and time limit provide enough distraction so I can ignore any inner critic. I find that I can get started on a few of my back burner projects this way. Helps me get more done without the burnout. This sketch then had to wait it's turn until I had time between assigned work to transfer to paper, ink and paint, but at least the sketch stage was done.

As this Dragon illustration usage was for my Year of the Dragon/Chinese New Year cards as well as a decorative motif on various products I chose not to draw/paint in a back ground. I could add these on with Photoshop, giving me more design options. Leave it plain for a decorative look -great on a T-shirt or a card. Add to the tail to make it longer to wrap around a mug for example. Plop it on a solid background for a card or even my painted starry moonlit scene for a more narrative look. 


Asian Dragon- © Diana Ting Delosh


Long Curlicue Tailed Dragon - © diana Ting Delosh

Starry Night Dragon - © Diana Ting Delosh
You can find my dragons inhabiting my shops at:

HAPPY YEAR OF THE DRAGON!
FYI the Dragon  is supposed to be the luckiest of all the 12 Chinese zodiac animals. The Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days. 2 weeks plus 1 day for good luck. The 2012 Dragon Year is celebrated from Jan 23rd to Feb 5th.

Monday, January 2, 2012

My Chicken Licken Illo entry for the SCBWI TDP Illo Award

Chicken Licken (Chicken Little)
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink and Watercolor

TA DAH! Here is my entry for the 2012 SCBWI Tomie dePaolo Illustration Contest. The winners will be announced very very soon. Keeping my fingers crossed but I'm not holding my breath as the competition is an amazingly talented bunch!

If you'd like to see some of the other entries please go to http://scbwicontest.blogspot.com/. Fellow contestant, SCBWI Houston Illustrator Coordinator, Diandra Mae, has put up an unofficial showcase of the entries. This gallery was created to show off more of the art as the official SCBWI announcement will only show off the winners.

Winners announced on January 9, 2012.
And the winner isn't moi -sigh- back to the drawing board,
The winners can be viewed here

Monday, December 19, 2011

Beary Christmas!

Brown Bear's Christmas Wreath
© Diana Ting Delosh
ink and watercolor.

BEARY CHRISTMAS
and JOY TO ALL!
 

Just thought I'd wish everyone Happy Holidays before things got too hectic around here and I forgot.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Vote for...#22!


Howdy Friends - I entered my Snowman - Christmas in a  Greeting Card Design contest: Let it Snow and now the polls are open for voting. Anyone can vote. You don't have to be a member of the GCU community. Voting ends December 18th. Please view and vote for your favorite design by going to this link: http://gcucommunity.com/2011/12/13/design-contest-let-it-snow-time-to-vote/

Hint hint... my design entry is #22 ...wink wink.

Thanks for voting!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Illustration Friday - Brigade

SNOWMEN!
Ink & Watercolor
© Diana Ting Delosh
Here's my entry for Illustration Friday - A whole BRIGADE of Snowmen to usher in the winter holiday season. I was working on my motley crew of snowmen sketches when IF posted the word of the week and I thought they fit the prompt.

I created these snowmen for my POD stores*. The arts done -now just need to sneak in the time between assignments to make the illos into  "products". I know I'm a wee behind, at any rate the snowmen will be arriving into my various stores and depending on how you look at it they're either too late for this winter season or too early for next year's. In the meanwhile I hope you liked the preview.

Snowmen will be arriving soon at my *stores: 

Note to self: 2012 resolution #1 - create seasonal art 3-6 months ahead of the season for my POD shops. Give them time to build some SEO and all that other good stuff.

Friday, December 2, 2011

YAY -I Completed PiBoIdMo 2011!

I do solemnly swear that I have faithfully executed 
the PiBoIdMo 30-ideas-in-30-days challenge,
and will, to the best of my ability,
parlay my ideas into picture book manuscripts.

WHEW! - so glad I completed the challenge, although with a dry patch in the middle I almost gave up. All in all even with a bit of creative block it was a lot of fun: reading the daily inspiring posts on Tara's blog, hoping to win a prize here or there. Most of all just having fun and knowing that I'm not the only one muttering PB ideas to myself for the month of November.

Now the work ahead and into 2012 is to flesh out at least 1 of these scribbled ideas into a real PB story - a PB dummy even!

For more info about PIBOIDMO please read or Follow Tara's blog at http://taralazar.wordpress.com/  

Friday, November 18, 2011

M-M-M-M It's a PBDummy!

M-M-M-M CUPCAKES
Scan of my Picture Book Dummy
All art and text © Diana Ting Delosh
Web/Portfolio - dianadelosh.com

Tah Dah - I'm so happy to say it's a DUMMY! I've been working  on this dummy , betwixt and between jobs and life and there were many times that I thought it would never be a cohesive piece.  This 32 page dummy is comprised of 2 finished colored spreads and the balance is loose sketches. I even created some yummy cupcake type for the title. Finally, here it is all put together and in time for my big portfolio review last weekend.

So how was M-M-M-M CUPCAKES PB Dummy Debut? I saw 3 reviewers; 2 editors from small to midsize publishing houses and 1 Art director from a large Big Name Publishing house. 

The Big Name Publishing House Art Director liked how my dummy demonstrated that I had a real sense of how a picture book should flow.  However her imprint was not interested in Concept Stories. 

Editor # 1 was also not looking for picture book illustrators although CB liked my portfolio and told me I could send her ideas and sample art. Sigh. 

However I really seemed to hit it off with editor #2. PG seemed to really like my portfolio and my dummies especially M-M-M-M CUPCAKES. She also really liked concept books as this mid-sized house tends to sell to libraries and schools, hence their lists are school curriculum driven. PG even quickly read through the brief text and gave me a few suggestions and permission to formally submit this proposal after I've made her suggested revisions as well as send other new proposals to her. YAY -very exciting! Keeping fingers crossed!

Note I did not mention the Publishing houses nor the reviewers by names. I have a superstition that if I talk too much about something prematurely I may jinx myself. More importantly though is that this is my experience and yours with the same company and reviewers would be your unique experience based on your work.  This review has convinced me to try a new strategy of picking smaller or midsize publishing houses as they seemed to be more open to acquiring new projects/illustrators. 

FYI: I only show my hard covered dummies in person at reviews, conferences etc. To submit this project as a Picture book proposal, I create a multipage PDF  from the 16 spreads (15 internal spreads plus the cover) that I can easily pop in the mail or even just attach to an e-mail, with cover letters of course. 

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

PiBoIdMo 2011!


Here we go again! I just signed up for PiBoIdMo 2011,  Picture Book Ideas Month at http://taralazar.wordpress.com/. The challenge is to come up with 30 picture book ideas in the month of November (30 days). Just ideas - no outlines etc. -keep it simple and have FUN.

Last year I put my ideas onto index cards. Not sure if I'm using the same low-tech method for 2011. I may just scribble them into my journal and enter them on a running list. My 2010's participation in this challenge resulted in the current dummy that I'm almost finished with. Click HERE if you're curious about that project.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

SH-h-h-h -Feeling most mysterious!

It's all Hush hush and mysterious
 -just like my
feline super sleuth character,
Audrey Hepcat.
© DianaTing Delosh
Wow it's been awhile since my last post, but I have 2 good excuses:

1 -  I've been busy with illustration gigs. YAY! Unfortunately they have been mad rush jobs. BOO! Admittedly this is partially due to my own scheduling as everything: personal and professional seems to happen at once and I don't want to miss anything.

2 - Two of the jobs I'm currently working on are confidential. Which means no blogging about them. Drats! One of them is a bread and butter type jobs, so no problems keeping mum about it. However the other project is one that I want to show off some of the illos from so it's hard to be hush hush about it. The only thing I can say is that it's an E-book project and the illustrations are almost all done. Needless to say - I can't wait until it's finished and I can finally burst out with the news.

The only other thing I can say is that the E-book company found me via my web presence. So all this frenzied web activity does do something other than bring you more followers on Twitter and Linked-in. Keep on blogging my creative friends.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

The Fox and The Crow - Process

THE FOX AND THE CROW
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink, watercolor and Photoshop

Decisions, questions and hopefully solutions are a part of my illustration process. As the above illo was my entry for a fun group project, CBIG AESOP'S FABLE Illustration Catalog, the first questions was which Fable. Easy enough something that featured things I like: animals, food, nature. Sure I could've also used this as a challenge to draw things I don't like but as I was already in the midst of juggling other deadlines why stress. I did say this was for fun.

Decisions: the angle perspective of art - lot's of doodling. Decided to keep it simple as I wanted to show the goody falling from the crows mouth  as well as her "OOPs" expression and the triumphant glee in the fox's face and body. Also needed to decide on whether I was going the traditional route and illustrate cheese as the coveted food item. Some of the versions did not specify cheese so I thought I'd have some fun with it and do one of my favorite yummies, the rainbow cookie. Now that's a treat worthy of some cunning.  Ink in the foreground, main characters and paint.

Background Quandaries: Keep it simple or do the whole forest. Usually I'm not this indecisive but this time, who knows, maybe it was the August heat. Couldn't decide and went back and forth during the sketch phase. Decided on simple and then second guessed myself by adding in the forest after I had painted the foreground. OOPS! Painted out the forest with Gouache. Just could not stop myself as I impulsively added just a few trees over to the extreme right.  Muddled it up again! My only excuse for this lapse in judgement was that I was juggling multiple projects and clearly muddle brained myself. Forgot a major rule in illustration: Keep what is important to the story in focus. Thank goodness for Photoshop. Deleted the offending background and replaced it with a sky I had painted for another project. Sigh!

And there you have it the story behind the illustration.

My Fox and Crow illustration is my entry for this years CBIG group project the CBIG AESOP'S FABLE Illustration Catalog. The pdf catalog may be viewed on the CBIG website and all 26 illustrations are showing on the CBIG blogzine from September 1st through October 31st, 2011. See my FOX AND THE CROW  - CBIG Blogzine - September 23, 2011.

Monday, September 5, 2011

CBIG - The Children's Book Illustrators Group: AESOP'S FABLES Illustration Catalog

Wow it's been awhile since I posted on this blog. I've had a busy busy summer with assorted projects. Here, finally, for your viewing pleasure is one of them... the CBIG Aesop's Fables Illustration Catalog.  I'm also happy to be 1 of the 26 illustrators that participated in the CBIG second annual illustration catalog as well as the designer of this group effort. Please hop on over to the CBIG blogzine during the months of September and October 2011 where I'll be posting the illustrations from the catalog.

CBIG - The Children's Book Illustrators Group: AESOP'S FABLES Illustration Catalog: CBIG is proud to show off our 2011 Illustration Catalog, AESOP'S FABLES . Featuring the talents of 26 participating members, listed below in...

Friday, August 5, 2011

2011 Summer Postcard -Cupcake Cat


Here's my Summer 2011 self-promo postcard. As the main focus of my personal art this spring/summer has been my Cupcake dummy and I thought the cover art was bold and yummy looking - decided it would be a natural for the front of my postcard image. I was contemplating doing a larger size but I just wasn't sure if the added expense of printing and postage would equal any benefit in positive responses. One would hope it did but then one could hope for a lot of things.

Went to VistaPrint.com to see if they were running any sales and they were -YAY. Decided to go with my usual standard size but since they were having a sale I added a color illustration to the back. The design above for the back of the card is actually turned sideways but I'm showing it horizontally so you can have a better sense of it. Yes I measured my address label size to make sure I wouldn't be covering up any of my back illo with it. While I'm not sure if postcard size would matter - I think 2 illos maybe better than 1 to get the targeted art director or editor to look at my website.

The cards have been designed & ordered. They should arrive within 3 weeks. Which gives me time to update my mailing list. Maybe this year I'll actually do 3 postcard mailings as I'm always threatening to do.

Friday, July 29, 2011

IF: OBSESSION

ANTICIPATION
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & Watercolor

Here's my entry for this weeks IllustrationFriday.com prompt - OBSESSION.

Kitten has an OBSESSION with cupcakes. He can't wait until they're baked, frosted and ready to eat. YUM. This is another scene from my CUPCAKE, story. Still working on the project between jobs & life. I can't wait until my half-baked Picture book dummy is fully realized. 

For another illustration from my CUPCAKE PB dummy see my June 16, 2011 post.  OR visit my website at DianaDelosh.com.

Friday, July 1, 2011

The Art Hare's Wares: 1 Year Zazzle Anniversary Salebration

The Art Hare's Wares: 1 Year Zazzle Anniversary Salebration: "About a year ago, June 2010 I opened my Zazzle Shop DeloshDesigns* because I thought it would be fun to see what my illustrations looked lik..."

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

IF: MIDSUMMER NIGHT

Arabian Night © Diana Ting Delosh
Ink and Watercolor
Here's my ILLO entry for this week's IllustrationFriday Prompt - MIDSUMMER NIGHT.

Can't believe that the midpoint of this summer and 2011 is fast approaching. What happened to my year?

FYI: this illo is available as a:
Giclée Print
Blank Note Card
Ramadan Greeting Card at GCU and CardGnomes
Postcard

Thursday, June 16, 2011

The Twitter Effect on my PBDummy

Detail from an illustration from my soon to be finished picture book dummy, CUPCAKES
I usually try and do a Picture Book Dummy a year. My standing Deadline is Halloween. Doesn't always work out, but I try. This year with the help of TWITTER I'm ahead of myself.

It all began Nov of 2010 when I signed up to do PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month. See cute monster badge in side bar). A challenge I found on Twitter to come up with 30 picture book ideas in 30 days. Which lead to the #PBDummy challenge on Twitter - brought to you by KidLitArt in January 2011. This last challenge was to complete a picture book dummy by well - NOW. Wish I could say I've victoriously crossed the finish line but I concede I have not. This is by no means an admission of failure or defeat because having accepted the challenge I am that much closer to completing my PB Dummy whereas if I hadn't I might not have even begun the project. Which is what these creative challenges are all about. Helping you to achieve or grow as a creative, while having fun and even possibly interacting with other like minded artists.

So how far do I have to go? Well the dummy is all roughed out and the text, is pretty set. I actually continue to tweak both art and text throughout the whole process as I suspect do most of my fellow illustrator/writers. My "finished" dummy will comprise of 3 colored finished illustrations and 13 spreads of ink sketches. The illustration above is a detail from one of the finished spreads. I've even created some fun hand lettering for the cover. Well to answer the question I've still haven't reached the halfway point but I'm getting a bit done every week between jobs and sundry other art biz activities. Taking part in this challenge has helped me stay motivated despite all the interruptions and distractions. I see myself finishing way before my self-imposed Halloween deadline. In fact, I may even try and squeeze in this other PB dummy idea or at least begin it. Well, we'll see.

Monday, June 6, 2011

The Art Hare's Wares: Father's Day Cards and New Store Promotion!

The Art Hare's Wares: Father's Day Cards and New Store Promotion!: "Howdy all just wanted to announce that I've opened a new POD Store DELOSH CARDS and currently there is a special 20% Discount on FATHER'S..."

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Illustration Friday: ASLEEP

Violet Dreams of Planting Seeds
Ink & Watercolor illustration from 1 of my picture book ideas.

Here's my illustration for this week IllustrationFriday.com prompt: Asleep.

Sometimes I try and dream up solutions to my art, writing or life. I ask myself specific questions about something I'm working on as I'm falling asleep. It doesn't always work but it's great when it does.