April: KidLitArtPostcard: Kazu

Kazu, Fox girl character © Diana Ting Delosh

One of my  goals for 2022 is to post a #KitLitArtPostcard post every month on Twitter.  Here's my April digital postcard. That means designing 12 different digital postcards for 2022. Which will give me a range of designs to send out to Art Directors and editors when I do an e- mailing.

Rules for myself are: 

• Preferably fresh, recent illustration.

• Has to be an illustration I've never used for a KitLitArtPostcard.

• Post on the Day, the earlier the better.

The pros of creating digital postcards are many.  It's free and you can tailor your design to the recipient. No Printing costs. No stamps. No address labels. No waste. 

The cons: It's harder to get email addresses for art directors and  editors. Hence why #KidLitArtPostcard is such a genius idea for kidlit artists.

#KidLitArtPostcard created by Gina Perry, @ginamarieperry, last spring for illustrators to promote their art on Twitter since the pandemic made snail mailing postcards problematic. Illustrators create a digital postcard and post it on the 1st Thursday of the month on Twitter and now even on Instagram.

My Feb #KidLitArtPostcard Twitter post

Dragon Egg, Mandrake Root © Diana Ting Delosh

Web: dianadelosh.com

twitter: @dtdelosh

Instagram: @dtdelosh

Check out my shops:

Greeting Cards: greetingcarduniverse.com/dianascards

Gifts: zazzle.com/deloshdesigns*

Art Prints: wingedrabbit.imagekind.com

Tick Tick Tick -pssssst

PEEP SINGS ©Diana Ting Delosh
My spread for CBIG Illustrator Day
Ink, watercolor and digital
Notice my hand lettering?

November was a month with a lot of hustle and bustle: an illustrator Day, a first page review with a big important editor; a big portfolio review with an editor, an agent and a designer, egad! Topped off with Thanksgiving holiday! And now I feel like one of the big parade balloons being deflated. Tick, tick, tick... pssst. Feel like all the air has been knocked out of me. Note to self  - do not sign up for 3 events in a month with a BIG Holiday ever again!

So How did it all go?
• llustrator day went well. I need to do more of my hand lettering.

• My first page review was super! And it was super mainly because I was afraid my writing was too spare and it was an experimental piece. So to have her "get it" was absolutely SUPER. Need to go with my gut and just write!

• And my Big Review was 2 Mehs and 1 Yay. Sometimes it's just a crap shoot. And yes -do more Hand lettering. Hey, you can't win them all. It's all good info even if it's to know who not to send to.

So what are my plans for the immediate future? To follow up on all the events I did in November. Still have a few Thank you's to send out. To work on finishing all the things I started in 2016. Do MORE Hand Lettering! Try and wrap up as much as possible by December 31st.

In case you missed it:

Art rep, Nicole Tugeau of Tugeau2 reviewed 3 of my illustrations from my book dummy on Kathy Temean's Blog. Take a gander and read Take A Look Sunday - Diana Delosh  

My post over at Drawn To Picture Books - The Eleventh Month by Diana Ting Delosh.

I was recently interviewed by Dana Carey on the SUB IT CLUB. Take a peek and read  The Postcard Post: Diana Ting Delosh.

Web: dianadelosh.com

Illustration blog: dtdelosh.blogspot.com

Blog: arthareswares.blogspot.com

Group Blog: drawntopicturebooks.blogspot.com

twitter: @dtdelosh

Check out my shops:

Greeting Cards: greetingcarduniverse.com/dianascards

Gifts: zazzle.com/deloshdesigns*

Art Prints: wingedrabbit.imagekind.com

Gifts: society6.com/dianadelosh

Check out my ThumbNailer

The Beauty of Deadlines - D2PB

Embrace the deadline! Yes. They're not all bad. They force you to do things. Case in point: Me without a deadline, I was all loosey goosey and never got around to posting this post. Or posting any post for awhile on this blog. I for one definitely need a deadline even if it's a self imposed soft deadline that I know I can ignore with no ill effects. Just keeps me all fired up to finish stuff. Just in case you missed it, over at the D2PB group blog I wrote a post on the motivating effects of deadlines. Here's the link if you want to take a gander.

 Drawn To Picture Books: The Beauty of Deadlines - Diana Ting Delosh: I'm always amazed at what I can accomplish with a deadline breathing down my neck. It doesn't matter if the deadline is a sale for ...

ZEN RAM © Diana Ting Delosh
Ink, Watercolor, digital

OR just take it from the Ram. Get your Zen mode on and embrace your deadline.

To Share or Not to Share?

Recently at an SCBWI event, the speaker, Grace Maccarone, executive editor of Holiday House warned never to share ideas as someone else could take it and get it out and in the stores first. To wait until you have it in a tangible form before sharing it. After all ideas can't be  copyrighted. Only the specific tangible form inspired by the idea can be copyrighted.

Of course mum's the word when it comes to commissioned art. Unless the client is OK with you sharing. So that leaves sharing sketches and other personal art but not too much of it. Must leave some of it in the bag.

Bag Head © Diana Ting Delosh - Biro sketch

But... but... but if you don't share you're invisible. Plus sharing on social media is fun and gratifying. I'm a twitter girl myself so I know participating in one of the many art challenges and getting all those faves and Retweets is very, very nice. Addictive even. And you never know whose looking. It seems like every other day you hear of someone getting discovered/published/agented due to their Twitter, Instagram, blog, whatever activities. 

To share or not to share could be the digital era's equivalent of to be or not to be. There is no question that you should share your art despite fears of copyright infringement. The question really is how much, what and when?   Quite a few of my illustrator colleagues share some piece of art daily via Twitter or whatever. In fact that's how I discovered a lot of them via their daily art practice of creating and sharing.

So I am wondering if I should make this one of my daily art biz habits. I'm also in the throes of  prepping for the NJ SCBWI June Conference - which means hyper focusing to make  lots of art. Yes, currently creating lots just not sharing yet. Guess I'll be working on my "sharing" after the conference.

web: dianadelosh.com

 twitter: @dtdelosh

 

Make Money from Your Art - 3 Steps

Jester Pig, ink & watercolor ©Diana Ting Delosh

From my perspective it seems to boil down to 3 actions you must do to make money from your art.

1 - Create the Art. Butt in chair routine.

2 - Show and Tell. Add new art: to your portfolio, submit, e-mail, mail out postcards, blog, tweet, FB whatever.  No one knows you created something until you tell them. To expand on this concept, no one knows you exist until you help them discover you. If you want clients with wonderful illustration projects to commission you, they have to know what you do and where to find you.

3 - Do both of the above routinely and on a regular balanced basis. Yup, the old 2-step, Create and Promote with the added crucial 3rd step: routine and balance. Create followed by Show and Tell on a regular, weekly if not more frequent basis.

All well and good in theory, BUT what happens when you're working on a commissioned piece OR a personal project that you want to submit/propose that must remain hush hush, then what??? Sure you're creating daily but you can't do step 2 until it's published. Ah -this is where I trip up.  Here's a list I've made for myself to keep on task: show other work, talk about other projects, tightly cropped sneak peeks*, toss out a hint, if possible - do other art that you can  show off**, etc. The idea is to keep promoting your art and to not totally drop off the radar.

*It may be fine to show sneak peeks of personal projects but I'd be hesitant to do this with commissioned work... unless you've gotten permission to do so.

**This is where all those online art challenges come into play.

OR if you're so busy due to whatever life is currently dishing that one if not all steps are out of whack than what? This one is more complicated but I think the zen approach is best. Don't beat yourself up and just do what you can. When you can... and keep at it...at your current pace. Create, promote, repeat.

#PicturesMeanBusiness - Credit the Illustrators

Logo by Sara MacIntyre
http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/

SO what does the above title mean? or refer to? Well click on the following link and read the very thought provoking post by Sara MacIntyre: #PicturesMeanBusiness

In short, We illustrators mean business. Illustration is a real profession and our illustrations enhance and add value. Too often the author of a book is mentioned but the illustrator is not, nor the designers. BUT would that book have even been given a second glance without the addition of the illustrations or thoughtfully designed type and cover???? The #PicturesMeanBusiness tag is meant to help bring awareness to the illustrators and illustrations in the biz. The post is a call to urge recognition for our profession and credit for our hard work wherever they appear but specifically in publishing. How can the value of illustration be quantified if there is no or limited data?

Happy 2015 - Resolutions

It's that time again. Time for list making and reviewing the past year, all in hopes of making the new year a better year. So what have I resolved to do to make 2015 my best year ever or at least a better year? I won't bore you with my whole list but I will share a few that may be relevant to other illustrators, creatives and freelancers.

FINISH Things!
I seem to have ended 2014 with a slew of unfinished projects or things in need of revisions etc. Probably because in between jobs I worked on personal projects but had to put them aside until...  Now I have a lot of loose ends that need tying up and they're bugging me. So - I will continue to create furiously BUT I will do my best to finish them, beginning with those pesky projects that are haunting me.

Build up my Illustration Portfolio
There's always room for improvement. More Black & White art: line and grayscale art. People. I love drawing animals but I need more people in my portfolio.  Continue having fun with hand lettering. Lastly, experiment with a new illustration technique or two. Have fun. Keep it fresh. If you don't enjoy your art you can't expect someone else to.

4 Postcard Mailings
I've been resolving to do 3 - 4 Postcard mailings for years but last year was the first in long time that I actually did 3 mailings. One of the things I "got" in 2014 because I finally figured it out. Step 1 - Update my Master List as I go. Step 2 - Create lots of new art -so I have something to pick from when it's time to create a new promo postcard. Must create to have something to promote.

Document my creative process
In 2014 I sketched/created oodles more than in previous years but half the time I never posted/tweeted etc. about it. Unfortunately in the digital age it seems as if things only exist if you have posted tweeted or shared it digitally in some fashion. I am resolving to blog/share with purpose to get the "right" eyes on my art.

Wishing all a Happy, Creative, Productive and Prosperous New Year!

2013 New Year - new possibilities

Here I sit with my brand new wall and weekly  calendars, happily anticipating the future that the pages represent. The possibilities of what's to come and what I can accomplish in 2013. Which brings me to that annual tradition of making goals and resolutions. And yes there is a difference between goals and resolutions. Goals are where you want to be by the end of the year. Resolutions are HOW you plan to achieve your goals. 

2013 Animal Fair Calendar by deloshdesigns
Look at other Animals Calendars at zazzle.com

The problem with goals is that if your's are like mine: make gazillion dollars or get a big fat contract with dream client, unfortunately reaching said goal is not 100% within your control. You can not wish it to come true. Sadly other parties have a big say in whether you get that dream assignment so you make mucho bucks etc. Goals are only your north star. Something to focus on so you don't get lost.

Resolutions on the other hand, are something you have control over. Here are mine for 2013:

• Create 10 pitch-ready projects

• Pitch/Submit to 10 different places

• Send out 6 promo-postcard mailings

• Create Seasonal products for my POD stores 2 - 3 months ahead

• Series of Grimm's fairytale inspired illos

• Illustrated type -perhaps a series of sayings or famous quotes

I could go on and on but I think that's plenty to work on as well as plenty of fodder for future blog posts.

Art Biz sites: tried & results to date

OK time to  review the new things I've tried since January 2011 to beef up my illustration biz and any results to date.  Sort of a  review - that I hope you may find useful, keeping in mind that what works for me may not work for you and vice versa.

www.illustrationboard.com  - Free site, created by an illustrator friend. Nice because it just links to my website - dianadelosh.com and I don't have to spend time loading and updating art for  this site. It also has a FaceBook page so you can post news or share new work. Nice and laid back. However this site itself just began in January and to date it has just sent some traffic to my website, but hey, it's FREE and friendly.

arthareswares.blogspot.com - Started a new blog to hawk my functional and wearable art wares. In hopes of boosting traffic and sales at my stores: www.gcuniverse.com/dianascards,    www.zazzle.com/deloshdesigns*, wingedrabbit.imagekind.com. So far the results for this venture have been very interesting and unexpected. Yes, it has boosted traffic to my stores and I believe sales. The interesting news is that this blog, according to Google Traffic Analytic, has been my number 1 referrer to my illustration website since it began! That's going on 3 months in the number 1 spot. It has also made me aware of any weak spots in my stores that need to be addressed. If you don't already blog, definitely begin one and if you do, blog more. 

www.behance.net - FREE site. OK I was invited (anyone can join) but what made me sign up was their job board. They actually had jobs listed under illustration & drawing and not just jobs for someone who knows Adobe Illustrator. YAY. However this is one of those communtiy networking sites where you have to be social and friend other members and join groups etc. and load art etc. Personally between: LI, FB, Twitter, forums, etc. I'm a little overwhelmed by all this socializing and underwhelmed by the results. However you can follow me at: www.behance.net/dtdelosh and I promise I'll do likewise for you.
The Job Listings have been mainly for surface designs for functional ware: water bottles, iPhone cases etc. Which sound like fun. So I've added more florals to my portfolio and plan on expanding my illustration repetoire... and of course applied for a few listings.

hireanillustrator.com - $7 per week or annual fee. HAI gives you opportunities to stand out by submitting news, which they may feature on the home page (prestigious assignment, awards, etc.) or  just posted with thumbnail on the side bar. HAI also puts out a newsletter (monthly?) with some of the submitted news and of course their FB fan page etc.  Plus your item may also get picked up by their related site the thelittlechimpsociety.com. Meanwhile, I'm still figuring out what constitutes illustration news - is my new promo postcard newsworthy? Noticed that some artists announce their POD/Etsey news. Sure I could do this weekly but I'd rather not. I'm probably over analyzing this. Did submit my "Lucky Cat for Japan Aid" news item and I can even attribute a few sales to that. It is referring people to my website. No assignments yet, but it's only been 2 months.  Find me on HAI at: hireanillustrator.com/i/diana-delosh.

I've removed my Kidlitart Blinders as a result  of trying Behance and HAI. Time to create more art - round out my portfolio. Submit. Promote. Get assignments. Make things happen. Make news.