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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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Showing posts with label editorial illustration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label editorial illustration. Show all posts

Saturday, May 24, 2014

MATS - May Editorial Meditation

Not Meditating © Diana Ting Delosh 5/22/14
ink, watercolor, Photoshop
The May assignment for Lilla Rogers' Make Art That Sells (MATS) Boot Camp was to create an editorial illustration for an article, How to meditate: A Primer For People Who Don't Like to Meditate by Grace Suh. Hence why my meditating lady has one eye sneaking a peek. She's just a wee bit distracted by her  thoughts. 

I was really excited about doing an editorial illustration in my own style. The MATS way: begin by non-threatening doodling. Continue doodling until you're nice and loose and ready to tackle anything. In doodling you find your own way to do the assignment. (My Face warm up sketches are in the previous post.) Read the article and sketch your concept. Very Zen.
40 - Not Meditating Sketch © Diana Ting Delosh 5/12/14
Ball point pen
This assignment felt like it was on familiar ground. My first out of college illustration assignment was an editorial illustration. I had landed it by happy accident as at the time I had one of those dreadful just out of school, everything and the kitchen sink portfolios. You would have thought after that bit of luck that I would've focused my portfolio on editorial art. But NO. I veered towards kid publishing and greeting cards. Partly because editorial illustration seemed to favor very graphic conceptual art and my assignment seemed to be an anomaly. Fast forward to the present:  Lilla showed samples of editorial illustrations that were not created in that ultra clean graphic style and made me realize that there was a place for my art in that market. In fact that's what's so great about MATS every assignment to date has shown me a different market and how I can apply my art/style to it. Pretty happy with my finished illo and added it to my Editorial portfolio.  Now just need to create more editorial illustration samples as I'm really excited about this potential market.

40 refers to my personal challenge, 365 Drawings 2014.

Friday, March 4, 2011

There's Good & Bad Spec Art

Spec art - a Big No No - or is it? Many organizations , like the Graphic Artists Guild routinely advise to "Just Say NO to Spec Art!" On the surface I whole heartedly agree. But I think there needs to be a distinction made between Bad and Good spec art and how to tell one from the other.

Good Spec Art.
Now there's nothing wrong with a potential client asking to see how you would visualize their concept - asking for and paying for it with a fee. Since they're spending money they tend to really narrow the pool of illustrators and there is a good chance that there will be a paying project in the future with them.

There are even some fields where creating spec art is the norm. When I first freelanced for greeting card companies I would submit 3 - 6 finished art for greeting card designs. The companies provided potential freelancers with art specs. Example: size 5 x 7", schedule for reviewing art for birthdays, Christmas, etc. They did not review sketches or samples that were not formatted for cards. They just wanted to see your  available to be acquired art. it should be noted that the companies rarely approached artists to do spec. Rather it was the artists researching the companies to see how to submit art. Yes they bought some and did not buy others. True to it's name it was a speculative endeavor - but if you were interested in freelancing for Recycled Paper Products, Inc and other card companies back than that was the game. I believe it still works the same but I have not approached them in recent year.

Anytime you create a manuscript/picture book dummy, visual activity for a magazine, etc. you are creating spec art. You're taking a gamble on creating your  project and submitting it to the right place. The distinction is that it is a self-generated project and most likely some of it makes for nice portfolio pieces.

There's also a gray area. About a year ago I attended a seminar where the Guest speaker a prominent editor from a kids publishing house. Mentioned that he was looking for illustrators for the following manuscripts that were already under contract. He gave out a brief synopsis of each picture book and invited us to submit appropriate samples. Now if you just happened to have art  that fit  - great. BUT what if you didn't but wanted to be considered. Your only choice would be to create spec art -assuming you had the time. Which is what I did - with eyes wide open that the odds were against me. Did I get the contract - no. But I did get portfolio pieces out of this endeavor as it filled a gap. Maybe next time - I'll be able to just send a sample.

BAD Spec art the kind you should always say NO to - is usually requested by someone else as a sample to show how you would approach a project.... and if they like it ... you get the job, contract etc. The problem is that they are not just satisfied with looking at the samples in your portfolio that already show that you can do "it". What they want is art specifically created with their specs for free. You are handing them a free layout, sketches, finished illustration etc. In other words a cattle call that rarely results in getting the job. Now if you have cute mice in your portfolio, why should you draw 1 more cute mouse  in a flamenco dress for said person/company. Yes this is a request for spec art I actually received after I sent them to my animals portfolio and even sent them lo-res jpg samples of my illos of my mice in various outfits. In this case if you did honor the spec request you would not even get the benefit of having a nice  new illos for your portfolio because it would not add anything new to it. As to getting the job - most of the time it never materializes.

The keywords here are requested, Free art and self-generated.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Spring 2010 Postcard

Sunflower Friends Spring 2010 Postcard Design
(my real e-mail and phone number is on the card - just removed them for purpose of showing the design on the blog)
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink and watercolor

This is my spring 2010 self-promotion postcard. The hardest thing is deciding what to pick as your postcard image. Originally I had wanted to do a totally new image for the card - maybe a fantasy image - or bunnies for Easter etc. However my mind kept turning back to this piece in my portfolio... so Sunflower Friends it is. Just as well as I need to get these cards mailed before the postal rates go up in May. Not sure if the postcard stamps are affected but it's better to err on the safe side.

Just heard from Vistaprint that they've been shipped and I should get them soon. Already bought the stamps. Last year, the post office had run out of postcards stamps in April so this year I bought them early. Now I just need to update my mailing list, print out the labels and I'll be ready to get them out before the Mother's day deadline!

Other news - My blog article, Why an Artist Should Have a Blog, is posted on Greeting Card Designer as part of Kate Harper's Social Media in March series. Please Hop over and read. In fact browse through her blog it's full of useful info for all types of artists/illustrators.

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.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

IF: BABY


TV MAMA
© 2007 Diana Ting Delosh. Ink line & watercolor.

This is my entry for Illustration Friday's word of the week - BABY. It is my attempt at an editorial illustration. I had been reading and hearing on the news about how babies were viewing more and more TV.

My current illustration portfolio is geared towards children's publishing. I'd like to expand my repetoire. Have a few more tricks in my bag and be viable to more markets. Any suggestions, comments, hints would be appreciated.