MATS - May - Faces

Make Art That Sells, MATS BootCamp is back from April break... and on the 1st monday of May, we got our mini assignment - FACES! This is a biggie - being able to illustrate people in your own fashion is important as it opens up more markets for your art.

36 - Doll Doodles © Diana Ting Delosh 5/7/14

Lilla suggests we  doodle from dolls as they have already been simplified/stylized and like photos they don't move. I'm not having an easy time doodling doll heads. I'm one of those people that find dolls a wee bit creepy.  In fact there are a whole slew of sketches that I'm not showing because they are really, really bad. No idea what the actual assignment will be yet. I suspect since Lilla mainly showed us Adult Doll images that it will be an assignment involving adults. Guessing not kids books.

37 - Three Dolly Girls Sketches © Diana Ting Delosh 5/8/14

Looked around for more Doll images and came across these friendly cloth dolls. Find these don't have the creep factor and I'm able to loosen up and enjoy the process.

38 - More Dolls Sketches © Diana Ting Delosh 5/8/14

Think I'm "getting this warm-up"  - Finally!  I'm starting to see how sketching dolls can lead to your own style of drawing people. Yup! Happy with it.

39 - dolls/Kids sketches © Diana Ting Delosh 5/8/14

Now I do draw people but I prefer drawing animals. As can be seen by my website, dianadelosh.com: 57 illustrations in the Animal portfolio while my People portfolio only has 16. Granted I could probably cull some of the animal illos  but the People portfolio could use some beefing up. So here's to doing loads more people illos and snagging more illustration commissions.

In case you were wondering, the  MAY MATS Assignment is to do an Editorial Illustration. It's actually already done as the deadline is May 25th but I will blog about the illustration process in the next post.

Numbers: 36 -39 refers to my personal challenge, 365 Drawings 2014. 

365 Drawings 2014 - Gelatin, kettles , Apple

Catching up on a backlog of 365 drawing posts. Realized that it's already mid-may and I never posted my drawings from March! So here they are, better late than never.

32 - Gelatin molds and Gelatin see March MATS Jelée post.
© Diana Ting Delosh 3//414
Red ball point pen

33 - Tea Kettles
© Diana Ting Delosh 3/5/14
Red ball point pen

34 - Golden Delicious Apple
© Diana Ting Delosh 3/12/14
colored pencil

#Twoodle - Heron Wizard Shoe

I happened to be on Twitter when I saw a #Twoodle Tweet and as I was in Sketching mode -just had to join in and I'm glad I did. It is so freeing and relaxing to do something nonsensical and for fun's sake. Here's my Twoodle sketch inspired by the words:

Heron, Shoe by @KimieLampers

Wizard by @deuhlig

You can follow me on Twitter @dtdelosh

HeronWizardShoe
© Diana Ting Delosh 5-7-14
Ball Point Pen Doodle #35*

This Heron has found some wizard's hat and wand and has accidentally conjured a shoe much to the delight of his fishy audience.

So what's Twoodle you may ask.
Go here to find out more: http://twoodle.wordpress.com/about-twoodle/ and for this weeks
Twoodle words click here: http://twoodle.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/twoodle-words-for-may-7th-2014/

*I'm counting this doodle as #35 of my 365 Drawings in 2014 exercise. From now on I will be numbering them As I post. I seem to have slacked off with my sketching and posting in April. Have been sketching and have reasons for not posting but will save it for another post.

Hoppy Easter from Down the Rabbit Hole

Down the Rabbit Hole © Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & Watercolor.

Have you ever wondered what happens down a rabbit hole? Well, IF you happen to peek during the time leading up to Easter and the warren belongs to the Easter Bunny this is what you'll see.

This illustration was originally created for the NJ SCBWI 2013 June Conference's Juried art show theme "Down the Rabbit Hole".

Wishing you an

EGGSTRA HOPPY EASTER!

MATS - March Jelée Joy!

The March assignment for Lilla Rogers' Make Art That Sells (MATS) Boot Camp was to create a gelatin mold inspired bolt fabric design. We did not have to know how to do repeats although that would be a bonus. (Whew - as I don't know how to do repeats. Although I intend to learn how.) We were to focus on the icons. She also introduced us to a  nougat inspired color palette: muddy pinks, creams, pistachio green, mint, citron, etc.

Here's my design: Jelée Joy.
© Diana Ting Delosh

My Gelatin Bolt Fabric design, Gelée Joy is in the MATS March Boot Camp Gallery - it's on page 3. Feast your eyes on 8 pages of delicious art from my super talented Boot Camp mates.

I enjoyed this assignment and I believe it shows in the final art. The gelatin theme made me think happy thoughts: bright jewel colors, jiggly desserts, sweet and tart all at once. I like drawing food at least desserts. I wasn't sure about the nougat colors as I couldn't get the bright gem like tones out of my head. Decided to keep my jellies as brights and use the nougat tones in the background.

Here's my process from doodles to finish:
1 - On the first monday in March Lilla sent us our Warm-up theme: Gelatin molds. BUT the end purpose wasn't revealed until the following week. I did several doodle pages in preparation. Here's one.

A few warm up doodles
© Diana Ting Delosh

2 - Sketch - Ink - Watercolor! Began in earnest. decided to only paint the gelées and to leave the supporting cast of fruits, leaves and flowers as line art. Scan all in and arrange with Photoshop.

Jelée Joy WIP
© Diana Ting Delosh

3 - Continue layering and arranging and tweaking in Photoshop. UNTIL... DRUM ROLL PLEASE... (bouce back up to the top)  Ta Dah -  Gelée Joy!

I will be making this into a print and other items on my Society6.com/dianadelosh  store - first. But not before I tweak some more.

The Art Hare's Wares: My Spanking New Store at Society6

The Art Hare's Wares: My Spanking New Store at Society6: I had originally planned on "launching"  my new Society6.com/dianadelosh store when I had a few more products and maybe even a ba...



Please hop over to my other blog and read about my Society6.com/dianadelosh store and the Special Promo offer. Special ends March 9th, 2014 midnight PST.

365 Drawing 2014: 29 - 31 Vegetables

Realized I better post these as it's already March.  This trio of ball point pen sketches were done on 2/22/14. Can You guess what we had for dinner?

29 - Golden Beet © Diana Ting Delosh

30 - Asparagus
31 - Garlic head & Cloves
© Diana Ting Delosh

If you guessed roasted golden beets, and broiled asparagus with olive oil and garlic you are correct. We also had broiled pork chops glazed with orange juice and soy sauce But the vegetables were the stars.

MATS - Cuckoo for Cell Phone Cover

Drum roll please and now for the reveal. Ta Dah! Here's my final Cuckoo cell phone cover design that I submitted to the MATS February Boot Camp Gallery.  You can view mine and my amazing class mates designs on the CLASS GALLERY. Please take a gander.

Cuckoo Cell Phone Cover Mock-up
Ink watercolor Photoshop
© Diana Ting Delosh

So what are my take aways from the class so far other than I have so much to learn and I should let loose more? Specifically:

JAZZ UP MY PRESENTATION:

To begin with I need a logo. I have an old logo from my ancient graphic design days that I have been using on my invoices etc. It looked fine on my invoices but when I put it on my mock-up page it looked so-o-o heavy & dated.  Did not match the breezy fun vibe I was aiming for. Even changing the colors to a current trendy palette did not help. As you can see I used my bird "ICON" as my logo. Will probably keep it as part of my logo but I need to work on the type. 

LOOSEN UP:

I think for March I'll doodle with my inking pens or markers from the beginning. This way I can just use it as an icon and not have to re-ink. Saves time and keeps the freshness of the original doodle.

There is no specific right way to design a cuckoo inspired cell phone cover but there are many interesting ways to do it.

To paraphrase Lilla Rogers: They Buy Your Joy!

You can view my warm-up doodles for this assignment on this previous post: MATS/February: Kookoo for Cuckoo Clocks 

Yup it's an actual cell phone cover/skin in my Online stores:
zazzle.com/deloshdesigns*  - Spring Cuckoo Clock Bird i-phone cover
society6.com/dianadelosh  - Spring Cuckoo Clock Bird i-phone skin

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. 

365 Drawing 2014: No. 18 - 22, Kitties +

I find it best to sketch/doodle first thing in the morning while I'm having my  tea.  My preference is to sketch from life or to draw from my imagination. Although I do draw from photos from time to time as an exercise. It's a great warm up for other creative endeavors and it helps to set the tone for the day. No matter what happens afterwards at least I did this one thing that feels really, really good. Unfortunately my schedule doesn't always allow for AM doodling. A friend tells me to try getting up earlier. As a natural owl, I find it easier to stay up later. Perhaps I should work with my insomnia.

18 - Kitty Sleeping, Pencil
© Diana Ting Delosh
1/20/14

19 - Bottle, Ball point pen
© Diana Ting Delosh
1/19/14

20 - Me at 3, Ball point pen
© Diana Ting Delosh
2/2/14 

21 - Strawberries,  Ball point pen
© Diana Ting Delosh 2/2/14

22 - Kitty starting to nod while sitting. Ball point pen
© Diana Ting Delosh 2/4/14

365 Drawings in 2014: Sketches 16 &17 Nutcrackers & Orchid

2 quick Ball point pen sketches.

16 - Nutcrackers
© Diana Ting Delosh
1/17/14 

17 - Orchid
© Diana Ting Delosh
1/17/14

Been getting busier. Now comes the big test. Can I continue drawing, scanning , blogging, on a regular basis  even as my calendar fills up?  Hm-m-m-m.

365 Drawings 2014: No. 15 - Peek-a-boo Skunk

Here's another peek at what's on the drawing board. A cart wheeling skunk.

Skunk
ink & watercolor
© Diana Ting Delosh
1/16/14

FYI - the sneak peeks are at a personal project. I would never allow a peek, sneaky or not, at a hush hush assignment.

365 Drawings 2014 #14 Crab Sandwich #Twoodle

Drawing #14 & Twoodle - CRAB SANDWICH 

with words  brought to you by:

Crab - @aliciapadron

Sandwich - @Readitdadday

Feels good to twoodle again -haven't done this in a loooong time!

Crab Sandwich © Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & colored pencil twoodle
1/15/14

A twoodle is a doodle game on twitter. Use #twoodle to find out more.

365 Drawings 2014 - # 8 - 13, Includes a Sneak Peek!

Getting the hang of it. Sketch, doodle, draw, ink, paint, then scan whatever in the morning. Here are 6 more - almost caught up! 

I find drawing for fun first thing in the morning is a very relaxing way to begin my day before the madness ensues. While doodling at night is a nice way to wind down. These am/pm drawings are usually not project driven, no planning, no angst, not even a finished piece at the end. Could be a drawing from life or my imagination.

Needless to say, drawing happens through out the day - but those usually have a purpose whether it's prep for a project or it is the project.

8 - SHRUBBERY
© Diana Ting Delosh
1/8/14
Ball point pen doodle
Inspired by prompt from the book, 642 Things to Draw, Chronicle Books

9 - Ball point pen Study of Skunk coloration for a current project. 
© Diana Ting Delosh
1/9/14

10 - BEAR - Sneak Peek at what's on my drawing board.
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & Watercolor
1/10/14

11 - CABIN
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ball Point Pen Doodle
1/13/14
Inspired by prompt from the book, 642 Things to Draw, Chronicle Books

12 - HEN© Diana Ting Delosh
Ball Point Pen Doodle
1/13/14

13 -  KITTY IN BED
© Diana Ting Delosh
Pencil from life
1/14/14

365 Drawings in 2014: # 2 - 7

I'm actually drawing on a regular basis what I seem to find more problematic is scanning and then posting them on a regular basis. Although I hope this will come easier once I fit it into my daily rhythm. At the moment I'm tripping all over my feet. Anyhow here are a clump of drawings. With more to come shortly.
Sketches numbered 2 through 7 were all done with a ballpoint pen.

2 - Eggs in a Glass Bowl 1/5/14
3 - Spent Tea Bag 1/6/14
© Diana Ting Delosh

 Sketches numbered 4 - 7 were all done on 1/7/14

4 - Rolling Pin Mice 
© Diana Ting Delosh
Inspired by the prompt, A ROLLING PIN, from 642 Things to Draw, Chronicle Books

5 - A Skunk or 2What is the black and white striped pattern on skunks? 
© Diana Ting Delosh
Inspired by the prompt, SKUNK, from 642 Things to Draw, Chronicle Books

6 - An Ottoman 
© Diana Ting Delosh
Inspired by the prompt, AN OTTOMAN, from 642 Things to Draw, Chronicle Books

7 - Sleeping Hubbie 
© Diana Ting Delosh
Note to friends and family NEVER dose off in front of an artist with sketchbook and pen in hand.

Sneeze - SCBWI Tomie Illo Contest

Elephant Sneeze © Diana Ting Delosh
Ink watercolor and a smidgen of Photoshop

I couldn't resist, I went for the funny with my illo.

However after Reading Tomie's comments I guess I should have followed my first instincts and gone for the sweet and cuddly.

Whatever  - I entered the contest for the fun of it and I must say painting this illo was a blast. Looking forward to more illustration contests for the challenge and of course the opportunities to show and be seen amongst my fellow illustrators. And I must say they are a very talented and awesome bunch and wonderful company to be amongst.

365 DRAWINGS 2014: Hammock Lion #1

Happy 2014!
Here I go again with high hopes and big plans for the New Year! One of the things I'd like to do is just DRAW MORE in 2014 and get back into blogging. Planning on doing 365 Drawings* to be exact - one for each day of 2014 and posting about them.

Here's my debut Drawing,  Hammock Lion, Drawing  #1, Jan 2, 2014. My 1st with 364 more to go. Needless o say I may have to double up or quadruple a few here and there.

Hammock Lion © Diana Ting Delosh 1/2/14 Pencil Sketch

Inspired by the prompt, HAMMOCK in 642 Things to Draw, Chronicle Books 

*Rules for my personal challenge.
• Planning on doing 365 drawings and posting them on this blog. Meaning no work or other hush hush illos will be shown under the 365 Drawing header. The 365 will be additional drawings.

• May not draw or post daily BUT I will do: 31 drawings in Jan, 28 in Feb, 31 in March, etc.

• Drawing = sketch, finished illo, doodle, ink, etc. in any medium but must take some thought. No five second wonders to fill my monthly quota. And yes there may be different versions of a subject. Example: I may decide to do a finished version of my Hammock Lion - which would count as another "Drawing".

• All Drawings will be numbered and dated. And posted when I can.

Hoppy Holidaze!

HOPPY HOLIDAZE!

Ink & watercolor
© Diana Ting Delosh

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It's PiBoIdMo time

It's November and PiBoIdMo Time once again. Or 30 Picture Book Ideas in 30 Days -November 2013. I swear to come up with at least 30 Picture book ideas during November 2013.

Yes you too can Officially Register for PiBoIdMo 2013.  Or Just read some inspiring and motivating posts about creating picture books at Tara Lazar'a blog .

FYI -PB generating Idea tip: Do NOT lay in bed and try and will yourself to have a PB idea before you fall asleep. You may have a dream that may be a good PB but if you're me you will have a bizarre operatic dream or two but they will not make good PBs. Do keep Pens and paper handy in case you do get a great PB idea in your sleep. I confess to date I only have 1 Picture book idea but after a couple of years of doing this excerise I know by the end of this month I WILL have 30 ideas.

Year of the Horse - Illustration Process

I'm working on a Year of the Horse card design for the upcoming, Chinese New Year. Before you know it, it will be January 30, 2014 and of course I need to have a Year of the Horse design. Thought I'd share my process.

My original thought was to do my version of The Running Horse -however that is an iconic asian horse image - and I thought I needed to come up with something more me. Then I thought of doing the Horse version of my Year of the Ox design. Somehow it seemed too simple and safe a solution.

OX! Happy Birthday card © Diana Ting Delosh
click on the above image to see more details -including what years are OX years. Click HERE to see more of my  Chinese Zodiac Animal Birthday Cards. To date I only have 6 out of the 12 animals: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake.   

Decided to do a horse in a Mandarin style outfit but on all fours as opposed to being upright like the Ox and very anthropomorphic. Here's my final sketch.

Horse in a Mandarin suit - pencil sketch © Diana Ting Delosh

Here's the ink. I"ve inked in a geometric camelia pattern to the jacket with a Ying & Yang pattern on the cuffs. Originally I was going to do the pants too but it made me think of the pattern on a giraffe. FYI - I'm using double and triple zero radiograph pens on watercolor paper.

Horse in a Mandarin Suit -Ink © Diana Ting Delosh

Incidentally I always scan my inks -just in case I mess things up when I paint.  I'll be painting my horse in a bit and I'll share the finished version shortly.

Illustrator Intensive/Workshop/Day - Worth it?

Illustrator Intensives, Illustrator workshops or just plain Illustrator Day; by whatever name they go by,  are they worth it?

They all have basically the same format with a few variations:

• You get an illustration assignment from an Art Director (sometimes you can pick your AD sometimes you can't)

• You pick your assignment and do the sketch of the spread or whatever and e-mail it by the deadline. (time given varies)

Velveteen Rabbit story By Margery Williams.
Sketch for Scene where VR  first meets the wild rabbits.
Pencil Sketch © Diana Ting Delosh

• You get feedback from your AD (anywhere from a few words to paragraphs.)

• Using your feedback, you finish your art which you bring with you the day of the event.

The Velveteen Rabbit Meets the Wild Rabbits
Ink, Watercolor and Photoshop © Diana Ting Delosh 

• Depending on the specific format of your event, your work may be:

1.  Reviewed in front of a group, along with everyone else's project. There is NO personal review or crit. You learn a lot from your fellow illustrators. You also get and inkling of your AD's tastes and their company preferences. I personally found this the least satisfying of the 3 formats.
2. Reviewed in front of the group and the AD also gives a quick individual review and also views your portfolio. The best of both worlds. You learn from your colleagues and you get some valuable face time with the AD.
3. Reviewed on an individual basis along with your portfolio. You really get a feel for whether the AD really likes your work or if you have a rapport with that person.
4. Sometimes there is an Observer option. IE: you do not do the assignment but get to be the fly on the wall. While you may be perfectly happy that you didn't stress over an assignment - there maybe better ways to spend your time/money than being an invisible non-participant at an event. 

Needless to say, I would prefer to have Group AND Individual review. BUT if I could only pick Group OR Individual, I would always pick Individual.

So, Back to my original question are they worth it?

PRO: These events give you a  a chance to show your stuff, from sketch to final, to an AD and possibly make a good connection. Gone are the days of drop-offs and portfolio reviews and it's hard to stand out as 1 postcard amongst gazillion.

CON:

1. They  can be costly. 
2. Time consuming. Some of these events are 1 day of a weekend conference.
3. Stressful. As a freelancer, no matter how well you planned, you may find it hard to give the assignment your all while in the midst of a killer deadline or 2.  I mean, Would you really turn down a gig because you signed-up to pay to do an assignment? Heck no, you need to take the gig so you can pay to do that assignment.

I have a few illustrator friends who swear by them. Personally, I can see their merits BUT I still wonder are they really really worth it.  Would I be better off working on my PB dummy and  signing up for an individual review with an AD?  I partook in 3 of these illustrator Days this year would I sign-up for another? Perhaps, if it was with an AD/publisher I was really interested in.

Fox Promo Postcard

Just sent out a batch of my latest postcard design. I actually had these printed up for me to hand out at the 2013 NJ SCBWI June Conference and at the 2013 July NY SCBWI Illustrator workshop* - so a few of you out there may be familiar with my Fox promo postcard already. This card features my current favorite ink and watercolor illustration. On the back I have a sample of my illustrated type something new that I've been exploring.

I chose the LARGE postcard size because the proportions of my illustration fit on the large card with very little cropping. As I was already splurging on the oversized postcard I decided to go cheap on the back and picked a line art image. I had ordered 250 Fox Promo cards, enough for handouts for both  events with enough leftover for my second mailing of 2013. I'm really happy with how the printing came out and the usual fast service at VistaPrint.com .

Front of postcard - Ink & watercolor © Diana Ting Delosh

Back of Postcard - hand inked decorative type © Diana Ting Delosh

Now that the Fox promo cards  have finally been sent out, I should start thinking of what will be on my next card. Better get cracking on new illos. Need a new darling - fast. Geez this promo thing never ends - just goes round and round.

*I've been meaning to write a blog post about my experiences at these two SCBWI events. I promise I'll get to it soon. Really.