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.

Now on HAI!

I've been eyeing this illustrator's portfolio site hireanillustrator.com for about a year and I've finally made the leap. What I like about HAI is that it focuses on illustrators only. Not illustrators, designers, writers and etc.  However it is a general illustration site versus a childrens illustrations only site. Which I'm hoping will be a plus, showcasing my work to new uncharted markets.  I've also heard from illustrator friends that HAI is very proactive in promoting and that they've gotten inquiries and work through this site. Sounds great but I know from experience that just because it worked for them doesn't mean it will work for me. There are many X factors - such as timing and luck as well as tastes, trends and the economy. Not to mention the energy level of the illustrator in generating buzz. One small con is that it's a UK* based site -but with the ability to send art as files etc. location does not seem to matter. Yup I've signed on and am keeping my fingers crossed. So without further ado - Here's the link to my HAI portfolio:  hireanillustrator.com/i/diana-delosh.
*childrensillustrators.com/DianaTDelosh is also a UK based site - how I know location does not matter.

Bunny Post #15 - Hoppy Dance!

BUNNIES DANCING © Diana Ting Delosh Ink & Watercolor

Bunnies doing the Hoppy Dance - because Spring is on the way - YAY!
I'm doing a hoppy dance too - as I've actually fulfilled my obligation to post bunnies for 15 days.  


Posting bunnies from February 3rd - Feb 17th to celebrate the Chinese New Year 2011. 15 Bunny Posts and that's all folks. Happy 15th day of the Year of the Rabbit. Wishing all Good Luck and Good Fortune for the remainder of the Year.


Be on the look out for these dancing bunnies as they will soon be hopping onto my cards at www.gcuniverse.com/dianascards and other nifty things at www.zazzle.com/deloshdesigns*. I'll probably announce their debut at arthareswares.blogspot.com 

Bunny Post #14 -5 Friends

5 Friends, © 2006 Diana Ting Delosh, Ink & Watercolor

Hare and her friends are running through a field of wild flowers. They have balloons, plans, carrots, wonder what they're up to. This illustration is available as a giclée print at wingedrabbit.imagekind.com

Posting bunnies from February 3rd - Feb 17th to celebrate the Chinese New Year 2011. 14 Bunny Posts down and just 1 more hopping up. Happy 14th day of the Year of the Rabbit.

Bunny Post #13 & IF: SWEATER!

BUNNY SWEATER - © Diana Ting Delosh - Ball Point Pen

The SWEATER looked different than how Bunny imagined it would.

Here is my illustration for this weeks illustrationfriday.com prompt - SWEATER and it's also doing double duty as a Bunny Post*.

Sometimes this is how my writing progresses. My story is all mapped out in my brain  - concise and elegant prose. It should just flow onto the paper. Then I sit down to actually write and it morphes into bloated, awkward text. Only after much angst and many revisions does it match the original dream.

*Posting bunnies from February 3rd - Feb 17th to celebrate the Chinese New Year 2011. 13 Bunny Posts down and 2 more hopping up. Happy 13th day of the Year of the Rabbit.

Bunny Post #12 - Valentine's Day

Picnic Hares © Diana Ting Delosh

HOPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

The Picnic Hares design is available as: Valentine, and Anniversary cards at www.gcuniverse.com/dianascards.

Posting bunnies from February 3rd - Feb 17th to celebrate the Chinese New Year 2011. 12 Bunny Posts down and 3 more hopping up. Happy 12th day of the Year of the Rabbit.

Bunny Post #11 - Surprise!

The Egg Artist © Diana Ting Delosh Ink & Watercolor

Sometimes when you least expect it, your work surprises you.

Bunny Egg Artist design is available as an Easter card in my store, www.gcuniverse.com/dianascards.

Posting bunnies from February 3rd - Feb 17th to celebrate the Chinese New Year 2011. 11 Bunny Posts down and 4 more hopping up. Happy 11th day of the Year of the Rabbit.

Bunny Post #10 - Hare with Laptop

Hare with Laptop © Diana Ting Delosh Ink & Watercolor
Detail from illustration used on a self promotion postcard announcing my Illustration Website.

I have to make like this hare and get to work on my latest Picture Book dummy venture. Sometimes I draft the whole story first than thumbnail than draft etc. This time around I find I'm doodling, then outlining, than sketching than back to scribbling words. My text isn't ready for me to type up yet  but the art is taking shape in a very rough form. Working in a random pattern rather than linear. Not saying one method is better than the other, just that this is how my current project is unfolding.

Posting bunnies from February 3rd - Feb 17th to celebrate the Chinese New Year 2011. 10 Bunny Posts down and 5 more hopping up. Happy 10th day of the Year of the Rabbit.

Bunny Post #9 Baking Bunnies

Baking Bunnies, ink & watercolor, © Diana Ting Delosh
Kitchen Calamities ensue when this family bakes together. 

Currently I'm working on another Picture Book* idea; drafting the story and trying to decide what animal characters to use. The only thing I know for sure is that it will have an animal characters. They will be clothed and there are some cooking/baking scenes and of course baked goods. The question remains what type of animals? Rabbits as in the above illustration? Bears? Cats? Squirrels? Will have to mull this over in my sketch book.


*I'm participating in the #PBdummy challenge over at the KidLitArt blog. Read more about the challenge HERE - scroll down to the 1/4/11 post.


Posting bunnies from February 3rd - Feb 17th to celebrate the Chinese New Year 2011. 9 Bunny Posts down and 6 more hopping up. Happy 9th day of the Year of the Rabbit.

BakingBunnies Art Prints by Diana Delosh - Shop Canvas and Framed Wall Art Prints at Imagekind.com

Bunny Post #8 -UGH!

UGH © Diana Ting Delosh In & Watercolor

Sometimes things just don't work the way you want them too.

Posting bunnies from February 3rd - Feb 17th to celebrate the Chinese New Year 2011. 8 Bunny Posts down and 7 more hopping up. Happy 8th day of the Year of the Rabbit.

IF: REVERSE & Bunny Post #7

REVERSE © Diana Ting Delosh Pen sketch

This is a quickie ball point pen sketch for this weeks IllustrationFriday prompt, REVERSE. If you're not going forward, you may be going in reverse. On the otherhand there are many times I wish I could hit REVERSE and UNDO a few OOPS. Here's to moving forward to better times and reversing our misfortunes.

Posting bunnies from February 3rd - Feb 17th to celebrate the Chinese New Year 2011. 7 Bunny Posts down and 8 more hopping up. Happy 7th day of the Year of the Rabbit.

Bunny Post #6 -Yah

Amy, Crow & Yah - ©Diana Ting Delosh - Ink & Watercolor

Yes - it's a stuffed toy bunny, but it still counts as a bunny.   When I was very young my favorite stuffed animal was a yellow bunny that I called Yah. Leap over to my portfolio at http://dianadelosh.com.


Posting bunnies from February 3rd - Feb17th to celebrate the Chinese New Year 2011. 6 Bunny Posts down and 9 more hopping up. Happy 6th day of the Year of the Rabbit.

Bunny Post #5 - Dream Hare

Dream Hare © Diana Ting Delosh Ink & Watercolor

Hare dreams of growing wings and flying to the moon.

Here's to dreaming big.

Posting bunnies from February 3rd - Feb17th to celebrate the Chinese New Year. 5 Bunny Posts down and 10 more hopping up. Happy 5th day of the Year of the Rabbit. 

Dream Hare is available as a New Year, Birthday and Note cards at www.gcuniverse.com/dianascards. You may change the inside greetings of any card to suit your needs.

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.

Bunny Post #3 -Hare or Tortoise

Tortoise/Hare

ink & watercolor

© Diana Ting Delosh

Slow and steady like the tortoise or fast and in leaps and bounds like the hare? As an artist I'd like to be steady and reliable like the tortoise but create fast and reach new creative heights like the hare.


Happy 3rd day of the Year of the Rabbit.  3 Bunnies posted, 12 more to come. A bunny post a day (from February 3rd to February 17th) for hoppiness in 2011.

Bunny Post #2 -Wormy Apple

Yuck!

© Diana Ting Delosh

ink & watercolor

This is an illustration from Bunny Apples,  my picture book dummy and manuscript that I'm currently shopping around to the publishers. I've got all my fingers and toes crossed for this one. Hop over to my portfolio at dianadelosh.com to see more.

Happy 2nd day of the Year of the Rabbit.  2 Bunnies posted, 13 more to come. A bunny post a day (from February 3rd to February 17th) makes the bad luck go away.

Happy Year of the Rabbit! - let the Bunny Posts begin!

Robed Hare

© Diana Ting Delosh

Ink & Watercolor

Wishing all a Hoppy, Creative, Prolific and Prosperous 2011!

To Leap into the Year of the Rabbit I'm going to post a Bunny a day for the first two weeks of the Chinese New Year. Starting today Feb 3 - Feb 17th -  that's 14 bunnies plus 1 for good luck! Here's Bunny Post #1.

This hare brained idea was cooked up between Me and my illustrator friends, Ginger  and Mark . We'll also be posting bunnies on the IllustrationBoard Facebook site. 2 ways to Join in the fun by commenting and sharing a link to your blog's bunny post for me to see and OR Posting your bunny pix on the Illustration Board's FB page. 

FYI: this illustration is available: 

as a Giclée Print - wingedrabbit.imagekind.com

various Greeting Card Designs: gcuniverse.com/dianascards

on Nifty Stuff: zazzle.com/deloshdesigns*  

Happy Groundhog's Day 2011

Groundhog Awakes!

© Diana Ting Delosh

ink & watercolor

It's been so brutally cold and snowy this winter that I want to believe in the power of groundhogs. According to news reports, Puxatawny Phil did not see his shadow which means spring will come early. YAY! Happy February 2nd -Groundhog's Day!

Tomorrow February 3rd is the start of Chinese New Year, The Year of the Rabbit. To celebrate I'll attempt to post a  rabbit illustration a day for the first 2 - weeks of the Chinese New Year. Having 14 bunny illos isn't a problem - after all I am the the Hare - it's the daily posting that may bamboozle me. That and the fact that I'll be on call for jury duty for part of this period. I guess I better plan ahead to post.

Fellow artists: I hope you'll join me by posting your own bunny images on your respective blogs. Let's make it a Hoppy 2011.

Judy Adamson's Art and Design blog: Guest Post by Illustrator/Author Diana Ting Delosh...

Recently I had the pleasure of being interviewed by my friend and fellow GCU and Zazzle artist, Judy Adamson. Please click on the link below to jump to her blog and read the interview.

Judy Adamson's Art and Design blog: Guest Post by Illustrator/Author Diana Ting Delosh...: "Our guest post this week is an 'email interview' with Diana Ting Delosh, illustrator and author, whose work I have very much admired ever s..."

IF: CHICKEN

CHICK CHAT

© Diana Ting Delosh

ink & watercolor

Here's my illustration for this week's Illustration Friday prompt - CHICKEN. It's an oldie but it fits and it still makes me smile.

CHICK CHAT is my homage to my days as a production artist in what was then called the stable. I miss the comraderie of those days. I don't miss the insane deadlines but wait as a freelance/independent artist I still encounter insane deadlines. Originally this illustration was a design that I had submitted to  several greeting card companies that I freelanced for. They all passed on it - but I still believed in this design. Today you can find it as an Easter card in my store - greetingcarduniverse.com/dianascards