Art Process Experiments 1 - 3

Recently, I've been trying new ways to work for a variety of reasons including keeping my work Fresh. My usual process is to sketch, ink, paint, scan, Photoshop. Elements are created separately and then put together and further digitally messed with until I'm satisfied. Here's a link to a recent process post.

Experiment No. 1 - Old English Sheepdog:  Reversed my process and No sketch.
Results: It felt daring working backwards. However, I can't imagine doing a whole piece this way. It does open up more possibilities.  I like the less outlined look. I also like that I used less black lines and feel the gray lines give it a softer look.

Painted basic shapes with watercolors. Scan

Added more shadows  and lines with my Wacom tablet and Photoshop. 

Experiment No. 2 - Owl flying in a Pine Forest:  The OWL only - Digital. NO sketch.

Results: Fun and a bit challenging to just draw paint with the Wacom. It has a certain appeal. A sketch would have helped.

The owl is drawn and painted using only the Wacom tablet and added to the Forest. A few Pine trees were hand inked*, scanned than digitally colored and put together for the forest. *I had originally created the pine trees for a different project and before I had the Tablet.  

Experiment No. 3 - Squirrel:  Oil Pastels. NO sketch.

Results: Felt like I was drawing with trees... Doubt if a sketch would've helped. I'd have to do this MUCH BIGGER. Never mind years of practicing. Similar to my Wacom experience but without being able to undo and all the other advantages of digital.

I haven't used oil pastels since high school! Rediscovered why I stopped using them.

Sharing more art process experiments soon.

Web: dianadelosh.com

Illustration blog: dtdelosh.blogspot.com

Product 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

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

It's Illustration Self-Promotion time: Postcards

My original plans for this summer was to take a"vacation" away from kidlit art and work on my projects that had been put on the wa-a-a-ay back burner. After all I had just OD'd on kidlit prepping for the SCBWI NJ Conference and I couldn't think of another PB anything. HA!

Postcard for mailing: Front & Back of card
click to see bigger

But wait a moment, I had created a hand out for the  conference.  Seemed like a brilliant idea at the time BUT it meant that after the conference I didn't have a postcard I could just mail off. Drats! Now I'd have to create a postcard for mailing out. I knew which image I wanted to put on the front - my current Fave, Boy meets octopus, the illo that came out of the conference illustrator intensive. But what about the back? I  didn't want it to be too similar to my conference hand out. My solution - create art to to put the front illustration in context. I had always thought of the front illo as a dream or fanstasy scene. Hence my illo of a boy in bed with a book and his cat for the back of card. If you look closely at the book you can read a bit of the title "Twas... It's a nod to the illustrator intensive brief to illustrate a line from Lewis Carroll's poem, Jabberwocky, which begins, "Twas brillag and the slithy toves..."

Conference handout Front & Back of card
click to see bigger

Snoopy -my studio guest.
Ahem - helping me update my mailing labels. 

About the No Kid Lit Art Vacation and those back burner projects? Well they've moved up a bit on the burners and are simmering nicely. A few have even come to a boil.  You can peek at a few on my ArtHaresWares blog. There's a lot more but they're not ready to share yet.

My posts on the D2PB Blog In case you missed them:
• What I learned when I sprained my ankle: Celebrate the Small Steps
• My NJ SCBWI Conference illustrations: NJ SCBWI 2016 Aproaches

Web/Portfolio: dianadelosh.com

Twitter: @dtdelosh

Product Blog: arthareswares.blogspot.com

Group Blog: D2PB

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

 

Little Red Postcard Design

I'm aiming for 3 postcard mailings in 2016. Here's the first, featuring a detail from my Little Red illustration on the front and Groundhog Waltz on the back. These are large postcards, roughly 5.5" x 8.5" the better to show off the illustration detail and also hoping that it will help make my card stand out. I use VistaPrint.com to print my postcards.

Front of Postcard -Detail from Little Red - © Diana Ting Delosh

As this is a mailing aimed at the kid lit world, I try and pick illustrations that show off my narrative skills. I use  the  market listings from the SCBWI's The Book as well as the names/companies I've amassed from my own research via networking, conferences, workshops, etc. My mailing list is under 200 contacts.

Back of Postcard - Groundhog Waltz - © Diana Ting Delosh

Lately I've heard a lot of advice to use a small targeted mailing list. True this could save you a bundle in printing and postage. While,  I do make a point to target only those places that publish picture books/kid lit art, it's still a fairly large list comprised of my actual contacts, dream places as well as "sort of why not" possibilities. I have found that it's better not to make it a too narrow list. In the past I've gotten work from those sort of/why not send them something places. When you consider that it's only a 49¢ stamp plus 25¢ per postcard print expense - a total sum of 75¢ per card, it might be worth taking a few chances. 

Happy Year of the Monkey!

Monkey © Diana Ting Delosh - Ink, Brush pen, Watercolor
FYI: this illustration is available as a Year of the Monkey Card at GreetingCardUniverse.com/DianasCards

Wishing ALL a Happy, Creative and Prosperous 2016!

Every January I begin the year with my ambitions, dreams and goals and by the time Chinese New Year, February 8th,  comes around, it's time to re-boot the list. It's about a month into 2016 and I can see what's working, what isn't and what needs to be tweaked.

What's been working is making a realistic daily list BUT more importantly focusing in on what task on the list MUST be done before I go to sleep.  This actually has helped my chronic insomnia. So far so good.

Making a point to make more finished art has been good as it's helped me get to the point where it's almost as natural as my old style. However is it distracting me from progress in other areas? Must balance making more finished art with my other goals such as making that picture book dummy.  Part of the only so much time in the day dilemma.

On Self-promoting, I've been experimenting with putting up more art on my twitter feed. Yes it will get you more twitter followers etc. and it feels great when it gets LIKED and RTed.  It definitely builds your web presence as an illustrator. Not sure about actually landing you work. For that I still think getting out the postcards and submitting proposals etc. Next up old school postcards and submission packs. 

Hope your Year is as fun and surprising, in a good way, as a barrel full of Monkeys.

Happy Groundhogs Day!

Groundhog Waltz © Diana Ting Delosh - Ink & watercolor

 

HAPPY Groundhogs Day 2016!

I hope spring is on the way.

Hear that Groundhogs in the area? Do your happy dance and bring us an early spring.

Meet the Artist - Self Portrait

Meet the Artist - Self Portrait © Diana Ting Delosh - Brush Pen, indigo wash, Photoshop

I've been meaning to do a Meet the Artist style of self portrait ever since I started spying them online.  I believe some of the art reps were telling their illustrator clients to create these self-portraits, usually full figure, with their likes and dislikes. Ta -Dah! Here's my Meet the Artist, illustrated selfie.

I opted for a head shot and put in fat marker icons of what I like to draw. Originally I was going to write things like: likes animals, nature, chocolate and dislikes creepy crawly things, darkness, evil. Except that I LOVE monsters and murder and mayhem as long as it's all fictional and the good guys win in the end.

Not sure if you'd recognize me from this but it is me in spirit. Hey what can I say, I'm not a portrait artist.

Little Red - Illustration Process Post

Little Red
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink Watercolor Digital

2015 has been the year of experimenting with different mediums. To create Little Red I used  a Micron Brush Pen and assorted Rapidiographs for the finer lines on watercolor paper. The Rapidiographs are filled with Black India Rapidiograph Brand Ink: Universal 3080-F.BLA Waterproof for Paper & Film. Previously I had tried other brands of brush pens and found them not as waterproof as they claimed they were. The Microns are truly waterproof and I was able to paint right over my line art as soon as the ink was dry. I'm quite happy with the results.

Ink Line Detail for Little Red
©Diana Ting Delosh
Assorted pens

I used the Brush pen mainly on the Little Red and the Wolf as I wanted them to be the focal paint. Most of the finer details were put in with a double zero pen as well as some pencil. This way I could have my thick and thin lines and my details too. The background  forest is done in pencil as I wanted it to be very soft and fade. As you can see they were so fine they barely scanned in.

Illustration for Lucky 2 B Quilting Logo

Lucky 2B Quilting Logo illustration - signage

This summer, I was hired to create Clover, the logo mascot for the Lucky 2B Quilting store. Originally, Cassie the new owner of the shop had inquired about usage of one of my dancing bunnies but I pointed out that my original art for that piece was barely 3" tall. For her store signage she needed something sharp at 14 inches high. Furthermore and perhaps even more importantly, I am using my dancing bunnies for all sort of things and was not planning on stopping. The  solution was to create a bunny dancing with a lucky 4-leaf clover in her mouth just for her store signage. Note I only created the Clover illustration. The logotype and quilt background is someone else's handiwork.

The challenge for this job was that the line had to be sharp and crisp at about 14" high and still clear when reduced for use on a business card or letterhead. Since I work in traditional ink & watercolor vs digital vector art, I had to make sure my ink line would maintain its integrity at both ends of the  spectrum. To figure this out, I enlarged my 3" bunny to 14" and matched pen widths to the blurry outline. Than I reduced the test lines to business card size to see which looked best. 

This was a fun commission and Cassie was a pleasure to work with. If you're into quilting and other fabric arts, please visit Cassie and Clover online or at the store:

Lucky 2B Quilting

421 Main Street

Pecatonica, IL 61063

2015 Color Illustration Promo Page

All Art © Diana Ting Delosh
Bear hugs Hare illustration
Bearish  Fuzzy Initial Caps: D T D
ink & watercolor

Here's my Promo Page in the soon to be released 2015 CBIG Color Illustration Directory. One of the reasons why I've taken on the Directory project for our group is that I believe a group of talented illustrators makes a louder  noise than an individual artist.  More immediately, being part of a group project means that I have to create my promo pages  by a real deadline. Of course you should still promote yourself as an individual illustrator every chance you get.

One of the problems I have with creating my promo pages is deciding on the art. For 2015, I finally decided to showcase my new fat ink style and my hand lettering. I chose my Bear hugs Hare illustration, from my picture book dummy, Bear and Hare, for it's emotional heart. Which in turn led me to design bearish fuzzy initial caps for my name.

The objective of any promo piece is to intrigue the targeted viewer to take a gander at your website. Hope this page does the trick and  leads them to: dianadelosh.com

In case you missed it, click 2015 Black & White Promo Page to view my page.

Note: When the CBIG Directories go live they can be viewed at cbig-nyc.com and cbig-nyc.blogspot.com

Twitter & Creativity: #colour_collective

Ballerina Bunny
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & Watercolor
for #colour_collective Pale Pink 3/6/15
I will probably be making this illo into product designs for my POD stores

One of the things I love about Twitter is the art challenges and artist community. I'm currently doing my best to keep up  with #colour_collective, the brain child of the talented illustrator, Penny Nelville Lee, @PennyNevilleLee .  #colour_collective is a weekly art challenge where participants create an illustration any media/subject - based on the weekly "it" colour and post their illo on Fri on or after 7:30pm GMT (2:30pm/3:30pm NYC time depending on daylight savings time) or as close to it as possible. The next week's colour is announced on Saturday. So you have a week to come up with something to share with your fellow illustrators. From the looks of it, the majority of participants are creating fresh works vs sharing already created art.

Cupcake Fox
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & Watercolor
for #colour_collective Flame Orange Light  2/27/15
Think this will make a cute birthday card.

 I've only done a few weeks of #colour_collective here and there but I'm finding it a lot of fun and a bit addictive. I've decided to do whatever comes to mind. Could be a technique I want to try or my old stand by. My thing is to create something fast and furiously, stay loose, enjoy the process. Even if I can't do an illo for the week I find I must check out everyone else's pieces. I am always amazed and inspired by all the great art.

Thumbelina
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & Watercolor & Photoshop
for #colour_collective Powder Blue 2/13/15
Liked the way how this one turned out may use this on my promo postcard.
- Made the portfolio.

 What I've found is that's it's helped boost my creative productivity. Sure not everything I've done is portfolio worthy but I've brought doodles to finish that I wouldn't have if I hadn't decided to participate. Experimented versus just thinking of experimenting. Best of all I've worked on more personal art than I normally would have. All good stuff.

Puppy Love
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & Digital Color Experiment
for #colour_collective Flame Red 2/6/15
thought this would work as a fun Valentine so it's in my POD stores - ready for Valentine 2016

If you're curious and on twitter, check out: #colour_collective

Follow: @PennyNevilleLee @dtdelosh

Please feel free to join in the fun.

Penny announces the new colour on saturdays

Everyone posts their illos on Fridays after 7:30 pm GMT

Opera Rose Girl
© Diana Ting Delosh
Experimenting with Black Prisma Color Pencil & Digital Color
My first #colour_collective Opera Rose 1/9/15 

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!

Mr. Squirrel's Apples - E Book illustrations

Mr Squirrel's Apples,
story by Olivia Grey,
Illustrated by Diana Ting Delosh,
Published by  Farfaria 2014

Click to preview a few pages of the latest e-book Mr. Squirrel's Apples that I illustrated for Farfaria. A fun math, counting, subtraction, concept story. Another fun ink , watercolor and Photoshop illustration assignment. Below are 2 illustrations from the book. They are page 4 and page 12.

PumpkinEater Promo Postcard

July2012 Postcard front & Back
Art on Front is © Diana Ting Delosh
Art on Back is from An Armful of Acorns © Farfaria
NOTE: I've smudged out some info out of privacy concerns
  

Opted to try the BIG postcard size for my latest postcard campaign. From what I have read on various sites and have heard from other illustrators/art directors and editors - the Big size stands out amongst all the postcards they receive. At almost double the size of the standard size postcard it had better.  They're just shy of 5.5 x 8.5 inches.

I had these printed via VistaPrint.com and as they were running a sale - even printing in color on both sides did not bust my budget. I must say I'm really pleased with how bright and vivid the colors are. Now postage of course is the 1st class rate so that did tack a bit more to the price. Is it worth it? I hope so, however as I just mailed these out it's too early to say. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they get noticed and pinned to that coveted bulletin board. I can even dream that they lead to an actual assignment.

Any other news? Well lots but unfortunately it's all still hush hush.

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.

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.

Rooster, Peacock & Beach

So what do Roosters, Peacocks and Sandy Beaches have to do with each other? Will the couples go on a romantic beach getaway? Do they have a barrel of fun? And how do the penguins figure in? Or don't they? Ah, mysteries abound but will there be a solution? I'm not sure but I hope to find out soon.

With Egg © Diana Ting Delosh Ink & Watercolor.

Peacocks © Diana Ting Delosh Ink & Watercolor

Penguin Beach © Diana Ting Delosh Ink & Watercolor

To see more samples visit my website: dianadelosh.com

Bunny Post #4 - Animal Characters

Mother Hare & Fern Painting in the Garden
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & Watercolor

My friends and family frequently appear in my art as animals. I find basing my characters on someone grounds them, makes them distinctive. The costuming of the characters and the subtle gestures, poses bring a character, human or animal to life. My Mother Hare and Fern characters are based on my mom and my daughter, Renee and the overflowing lush setting is my mom's garden. We illustrators set the stage and cast, costume and direct the actors. Our illustrations are the play.

FYI: This illustration is available as an art print MHare & Fern  at wingedrabbit.imagekind.com and as Mother Hare & Fern - Note at gcuniverse.com/dianascards.com

4 Bunny Posts down and 11 more hopping up. Posting bunnies from February 3rd - Feb17th.  Wishing all a prolific, productive and prosperous Year of the Rabbit.

Golden Mosque - Sketch to Card Art

Golden Mosque

© Diana Ting Delosh

Ink & Watercolor

GCUniverse.com/dianascards

Wingedrabbit.imagekind.com

Non-mainstream holidays are a big seller at my online store Diana's Cards. Most likely because the brick and mortar stores have very little selection if any for the non Judeo Christian holidays. So it was a no-brainer for me to do a new illustration for the upcoming Muslim holidays. Here's my approach  for the subject. As the upcoming holidays are religious I decided to do a mosque as the focus of my design.

What better mosque to be inspired by then the famous Golden Mosque of Jerusalem. Did a Google search and did this rough sketch from the image references on tracing paper. I wanted to use the reference as a jumping point, an inspiration not a true depiction of that famed building - so no print outs for reference. 

This reference sketch was actually done awhile ago and just put aside until I had time to work on this project. Finally yesterday, with Ramadan coming up fast in August - it was time to push this illo out now. Amazing how time creeps up on you and how that ticking mental clock can be a great motivator. 

The art process begins in earnest: 

Step 1 - Resize sketch and transfer onto watercolor paper via my light box. Decide that it's not balanced. Too heavy on the right, needs something more on the left. I add buildings to the sketch, erase it. Sketch in more trees - it's ok -but not inspired. Remember that there is actually a newly built mosque right around the corner from me. It is a rather plain structure accept for the rounded pink scallops on the top of the building. Fills in the empty spot nicely.

Step 2 - Go to ink - I use double 0 and triple 0 rapidiograph pens filled with waterproof ink for my line work. Use the 00 pen for the foreground and 000 for backgound and detail, texture. This goes smoothly and I  scan the line art in case I screw up in the next step. 

Step 3 - Coloring.The painting is pretty straight forward. Take a step back and realize that the pink in the back building is too bright and makes it pop out too much. Change it to purple. Also decide it's too plain and add more lines for texture. Last a moody night sky is added in and stars are painted in white gouache. I like that the white can be more opaque or translucent, gives more depth to the stars and the the night sky.  I could've dropped in the sky with Photoshop but I like the effect of mixing the black, blue and purple directly on the paper. Art is finished.

Final Final Step - Scan and clean up in photoshop and make into product. I did say this was for my card store - yup it's loaded and submitted as 3 designs for 3 different categories and in about a week it will be ok'd and available for purchase. Maybe this design's too late for Ramadan 2010 but there's still Al Fitr in September and Al Adha in early winter. While we're at it - might as well make it available as a print. So better late then never.