SCBWI Long Island March Newsletter Art

Winter Friends © Diana Ting Delosh
Colored Art and digital

Back at the end of 2018 I was honored to be invited to create cover art for the SCBWI Long Island newsletter, Kid LIt News . The only directive was to include a kite. As it was to be a winter/spring issue I decided on animal friends having some winter fun. It was bit tricky figuring out how to get the kite to work as logical part of the illustration but I think I came up with an interesting solution.

Winter/Spring 2019 Kid LIT News Cover

There is even a lovely interview by fellow illustrator, Stephen Ingram about my art process and more for an article in the Kid Lit News Winter/Spring 2019 issue, which I'm happy to announce went live, March 14, 2019.

If you don't live on Long Island, NY and want to find out more about the SCBWI click here: scbwi.org

Web: dianadelosh.com

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Art Process Experiments 4 - 6

As I mentioned in the previous post, I've been experimenting with my art process. Hoping to shake things up a bit in 2018. SEE Art Process Experiment 1- 3 

Experiment No. 4A and 4B - Squirrel with Snowdrop: Semi Reverse Process
4A: Sketch. Watercolor. lines added with brush Scan. Add digital details. 
4B: Sketch. Watercolor. Scan. Add all the lines and details digitally. 

Results 4A: Similar to my usual style. But there's less black line, a Limited Palette and the squirrel looks younger because overall he's rounder. I love his Buffalo plaid jacket.

Results 4B: Felt my digital brush lacked the accuracy, smoothness and expressiveness of a real brush. At least at this point my brush skills are light years ahead of my Wacom pen skills. Frustrating. Trashed this effort hence: Art not shown.

Squirrel wrapping his scarf around an early bloomer -Posted this on Twitter for my #colour_collective illustration for the prompt, Cinnabar Green. Not sure if this counts for much, BUT it is my most popular illustration to date on Twitter.

Experiment No. 5 - Sleeping Giraffe: All digital with sketch.

Results:  Did this late at night and perhaps my judgement, focus, and coordination had gone to bed without me but I found the process clunky and frustrating. IF given many more hours of practice, perhaps I could come up with something more satisfying.

Sleeping Giraffe - Hate the colors. Had problems picking colors amongst other snafus.

Experiment No. 6- Sleeping Giraffe: Semi reverse Process Plus Digital Flourish: Sketch, Paint with watercolors. Scan. Added some additional digital flourishes. Note: Giraffe, Weedy Bits and Night Sky are are created separately. scanned and put together digitally. 

Results: Felt happy with the final art. The loose digital weedy flourishes seem to tie it all together in a new, for me, way. I want to explore this direction.

Sleeping Giraffe - Note, I used the same sketch for both Sleeping Giraffe  illustrations. Yes, I know, I should've done ALL the experiments using the same sketch BUT I didn't think of it earlier.  Posted this on Twitter for my #colour_collective for the prompt Delft Blue.

CONCLUSION: To be honest, there were times that I felt the last few weeks were an exercise in procrastination. I was afraid that I was going to just go back to my same old process but with only a few minor tweaks, experiment 4. Which would not have been the worst thing except for the time lost. Luckily experiment 6 came along.

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

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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

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INKTOBER2016: Inks 20 - 31

Whew -I survived INKTOBER2016!!! Yes! I  did 31 illustrations with various inky implements within the 31 days of October. What I learned from this challenge other than I enjoyed it immensely? Found that even though I do a lot of inking, that a lot of days I need to work on pencils or just Paint all day. Needless to say I did Inktober in clusters. The hardest part was posting/tweeting & blogging about it. Hence this blog post wrap up is a few days into November.

20 - Owl Sings © Diana Ting Delosh
Biro, ball point pen preliminary doodles for a project.

21 - Owl Character © Diana Ting Delosh
Biro, Character doodles for a project.

It's just as easy to do preliminary sketches and doodles with a biro as it is to do them with a pencil.

22 - Owl Sings © Diana Ting Delosh
Brush pen warm up.

23 - Leaves © Diana Ting Delosh
Brush pen warm up

24 - Hedgehog Bride © Diana Ting Delosh
Brush pen doodle

It's fun to do quick doodles with a fat brush pen and no underlying pencil sketch.

25 - Peep Sings © Diana Ting Delosh
Brush pen -Line art 

26 - Village in the woods © Diana Ting Delosh
Radiograph double zero point and some pencil left in for texture.

27 - Lady on the Train © Diana Ting Delosh
Biro - quick sketch on train.

28 - Man on the Train © Diana Ting Delosh
Biro - quick sketch on train.

The problem with sketching people on the train is that sooner or later they have to move or get off. It's also really hard to sketch on crowded trains.

29 - Another Owl Sings © Diana Ting Delosh
Brush pen -Line art

It's not deja vous numbers 20, 21, 22, and 29 are all related to the same project.

30 - Fall Squirrel © Diana Ting Delosh
Brush pen -just for fun

31 - Pumpkin Cat © Diana Ting Delosh
Brush pen - just for fun

And that's a wrap for INKTOBER2016! 

If you're interested in seeing the rest of my Inks click on: INKTOBER2016: Inks 1 - 9 and INKTOBER2016: Inks 10 - 19

In case you missed it:

My post on Drawn To Picture Books: The Eleventh Month by Diana Ting Delosh: It's that time to rally one last huge effort before times up. Tick... tick... tick...BOOM! It's November, the eleventh month and a f...

AND

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

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Twitter: @dtdelosh

Product Blog: arthareswares.blogspot.com

Group Blog: D2PB

ThumbNailer a book of boxes for your creative process

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.

Promo Postcard: Dancing!

Front & Back of 2014 Bear & Hare Dancing Postcard
Front & Back. all art © Diana Ting Delosh

Tah Dah! My first Promo postcard for 2014.  Here's my printed Bear & Hare Dancing Postcard, front & back, Freshly unpacked from the Vistaprint.com box.

For the front, I chose my current fave, an illo from my latest Picture book dummy.

For the back, I have all my contact info plus another illustration, just in case it lands on their desk face down, a sample of my hand lettering from the same book dummy. I don't always pick something from the same project, usually it's another illustration just for variety. There's plenty of space left for the address, stamp and even a bit of room if I need to write a short note.

Now off to update my promo list and get this round of Postcards off.

MATS February: Kookoo for cuckoo clocks & Drawings 23 - 28

What have I been up to lately? I signed up for Lilla Rogers' Make Art That Sells Boot Camp. What attracted me to this e-course was Lilla's attitude and the "doability" factor. The course is structured as 1 assignment a month, starting in February, with April off and ending in July. 5 assignments designed to help build a more commercial illustration portfolio. Sounds like just what I need.

First day of class, Feb 3 the warm-up: Cuckoo Clocks. A prompt? But I don't know what the end use will be? Find it unsettling to not know what the end game is. We are told to just have fun. So I doodle away. I even make a horrific mess with dip pens and a bottle of ink.  Discover I'm not in love with Cuckoo clocks. I like the leaves, the bird, the pine cones, the rustic, folksey vibe but not the clock.

Feb 10th - The Assignment: design a cellphone cover. OK- Now I have my end use. More doodling - this time trying to think of how it will look on a cell phone cover.  BTW the assignment needs to be handed in by Feb 23, 3pm EST time - IF I want to be part of the MATS February Boot Camp Class Gallery.

#23 - Cuckoos - 2/3/14
© Diana Ting Delosh 

#24 - Our Cuckoo - 2/4/14
© Diana Ting Delosh

#25 - everything but the Cuckoo - 2/5/14
© Diana Ting Delosh

#26 - Squirrel Cuckoo - 2/10/14
© Diana Ting Delosh

#27 - Sunflower Cuckoo - 2/10/14
© Diana Ting Delosh

#28 - Bird Flower Cuckoo - 2/10/14
© Diana Ting Delosh

Having fun with this class, doodling Cuckoo clock cell phone cover ideas. Some of these doodles won't end up on my phone cover BUT I see lots of things I want to explore further. Lilla told us to think of icons. I'm not used to thinking this way. Also not used to doing a product mock up. Have lots to ponder and learn.

So did I finish? YES - and I'll show you in my next MATS post along with the link to the Bootcamp Gallery this Tuesday 2/25! I'm really excited about viewing all my class mates work on the gallery. Can't wait until it goes public.

And whats with the numbers? # 23 -28 refer to my personal drawing challenge of 365 drawings in 2014. Yup I'm falling behind. I admit it. But I think I'll continue to keep tabs for the hell of it. Who knows the year is young and I might just catch up still. On the other hand - theres' a lot of drawing I'm not counting because I'm not able to show them as I do them. So do I feel bad that I'm not current? Nah.