WHAT"S UP?

PORCUPINE & SKUNK • © Diana Ting Delosh • Ink & Watercolor

These 2 friends are the current featured creatures on Game 7 - WHICH WOULD YOU RATHER BE - PORCUPINE OR SKUNK? This odd blog of mine - well - I'm wondering if it's a mistake. Definitely a distraction and fun for me. Gives me a purpose to do quick doodles, sketches, looser art styles and a place to show more of my art and hang my widgets. It also has the weekly wednesday deadline so it gives me structure. However - have I just given myself another vehicle for procrastinating? As if I didn't have enough of those. I guess as long as I'm having fun with it and it's not getting in the way of anything what's the harm. Now if only I could get the auto post feature to work. To date auto post worked 1 out of 5. Not a very reliable feature!
Note this blog has ads. I wonder what Google ads will be relevant for Porcupines & Skunks?

What else?
Just subbed a new poem (manuscript only - no art) to a kids magazine. Keeping my fingers crossed that they will accept for publication. Now I need to dive into something new. I made a long list this morning of what I can work on besides the above nuttiness, so it's just a matter of making a decision. I hate this in between projects stage.

Last week I blew a circuit - fixed it right away - but decided to stay off the computers, etc for the day - which resulted in the rough draft for the above poem. Realized that sometimes what I need is to be away from all things "E" to get the creative juices to flow.

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.