Animals with or without clothes

I recently showed my portfolio to an art director of a medium sized trade children's book publisher . Her comments in general were good but she did have a thing about animals wearing clothes. In her opinion animals should not wear too much clothes. It made them too human and a wee bit creepy. She also felt that the totally dressed animal was a mass market look.

This comment made me realize that the majority of my animals are dressed. Few are au naturalle. I should also add this was the first time I've heard that trade pubs prefer naked animals. I have had comments that my animals should dress in more trendy garb as opposed to a classic look. Now I suppose I should make sure I have more naked animals.

Which brings me to my next thought - why do most of my animals wear clothes? My decision is based on the text - are the animals really stand ins for people characters or are they behaving like real wild animals? I also like to use clothing as a prop to further enhance the character. And of course it's just plain fun to design patterns and outfits for my characters. Take my Ox or Rat, Game 5 of my Which Would You Rather Be? blog, their robes enhance their character. I guess my next project should be something that calls for animals behaving like animals.

SKIP & SCOUT, STORY PUBLISHED!

Announcing the publication of my story, Skip and Scout in the August 2009 issue of
Highlights High Five magazine - Bonus Pages: Make Your Own Mini-Book. Illustrated by Anna Currey.

To read about the story behind the story see my April 2, 2009 blog entry - Mice by another name and view my August 18, 2008 blog entry - Pip & Squeak!

IF: TANGO

THE SUNFLOWER CROWS
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & Watercolor

It takes 2 to Tango and Mr. & Mrs. Crow do it so well. They love to dance among the golden sunflower heads all summer long. Here's my illustration for this weeks Illustration Friday prompt - Tango.

FYI: You may buy this image as a greeting card at GCUniverse.com/DianasCards. Put the keywords: Sunflower Crows in the left sidebar of my store.

It's a real Pewter Plate!

The Pewter Plate shown on the July 2008 Highlights High Five magazine open
to pages 12 & 13. Bubble Trouble poem by Diana Ting Delosh - Art by Holli
Conger - © 2008 Highlights.

Yes - It's real pewter plate! And as you can see hard to photograph - at least for me! Now aren't you glad I don't subject you to more of my photos. See previous post for more about the award.