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Welcome to my blog , The Hare Illustratère. I'll be posting about my art process and journey as an illustrator/author here.

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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

IF: AHEAD!

Bear Walks in the Woods
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & Watercolor

Bunny noticed that when Bear walked in the woods he looked straight ahead. He did not look side to side or behind him . That's because , thought Bunny, He's a bear. And bears don't have to worry about anyone sneaking up on them. They can just march forward. This is my post for this weeks Illustration Friday prompt: AHEAD.

I'd like to be more like Bear. Confidant, looking ahead, going forward. So what's coming up? My HBF Library Show has been extended by popular demand until the end of May. In June, I'll be trying something new as a directed study advisor to 2 grad students. Advising them as an Animal Watercolor expert (AWE). Aside from that - I'm sending out the final balance of my sunflower friends Promo postcards. Always on the prowl for the next assignnment.

To see more of Bear and other animals - see Animals on my website at DianaDelosh.com.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

IF: DETECTIVE

Audrey Hepcat
Ink & Watercolor

Audrey Hepcat, is the glamour puss and the brains. Her partner, Cary Gruff is the top dog and the brawn. Together they make up the detective duo of Hepcat & Gruff.

Here's a character sketch for a mystery story I'm working on. I still have a ways to go on the writing. But here is Audrey Hepcat fleshed out. She's chic, sleek and stylish. The absolute cat's meow.

Here's my entry for this weeks IF prompt: Detective.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

IF: DIP!

Boy's Koi Pond
ink & Watercolor
© 2007 Harcourt Achieve

The boy and his Koi are good friends. All he had to do was dip his finger in the pond and all the koi would come and play with him. Here's my entry for this weeks IF prompt: DIP. Better late then never - right?



Monday, April 5, 2010

HBF Library Show - March Report.

Tah-Dah! The first month of my Harborfields Library Spring Illustration show has come and gone. So how is it going you may ask? Unfortunately I have no earth shattering news to report. My postman did congratulate me on my library show, as did my banker and other community members -which is very nice. Having the illustration exhibit did raise local awareness.

According to the Google Analytics on my website - my website had a 79.59% increase in traffic! The tracker compared the period between Feb2 - March 4, 2010 to March 5 to April 4, 2010. This is quite impressive. While there were many other factors that could have accounted for the increase. For example: Childrensillustrators.com at the Bologna Book fair in mid-March, joining Twitter March 22, other social networking activities, etc. I can only attribute the big uptick in Direct Traffic to the Library show. Which is lovely.

Other than the increase in website traffic there were no other obvious occurrences to report. Unfortunately the trackers on my POD stores only tell me how many viewers/clicks and the sales reports just tell me the general location - state and or country. So I have no idea if this helped my art shops in any form or shape.

The show will be up until April 3oth. Hopefully it will continue to point more traffic to my website, card shop and gallery and all the possibilities that can lead to.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Spring 2010 Postcard

Sunflower Friends Spring 2010 Postcard Design
(my real e-mail and phone number is on the card - just removed them for purpose of showing the design on the blog)
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink and watercolor

This is my spring 2010 self-promotion postcard. The hardest thing is deciding what to pick as your postcard image. Originally I had wanted to do a totally new image for the card - maybe a fantasy image - or bunnies for Easter etc. However my mind kept turning back to this piece in my portfolio... so Sunflower Friends it is. Just as well as I need to get these cards mailed before the postal rates go up in May. Not sure if the postcard stamps are affected but it's better to err on the safe side.

Just heard from Vistaprint that they've been shipped and I should get them soon. Already bought the stamps. Last year, the post office had run out of postcards stamps in April so this year I bought them early. Now I just need to update my mailing list, print out the labels and I'll be ready to get them out before the Mother's day deadline!

Other news - My blog article, Why an Artist Should Have a Blog, is posted on Greeting Card Designer as part of Kate Harper's Social Media in March series. Please Hop over and read. In fact browse through her blog it's full of useful info for all types of artists/illustrators.

Monday, March 22, 2010

USA Artists - © ADVOCACY ALERT

ADVOCACY ALERT

The Obama Administration is asking creators to send in their stories on how
intellectual property infringement affects our ability to earn a living,
and hurts the US economy.

Victoria Espinel has been appointed and confirmed as the first U.S.
Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator. She has put a call out for input on
the costs and risks of copyright infringement. As she states in her blog,
"My job is to help protect the ideas and creativity of the American public...
I believe it is enormously important that the United States remain a global
leader in these forms of innovation -- and part of how we do that is by
appropriately protecting our intellectual property. Our intellectual property
represents the hard work, creativity, resourcefulness, investment and
ingenuity of the American public."

Click here to read the full posting.

PLEASE SEND IN YOUR COMMENTS.
Please share your experiences on how intellectual property rights are
important to you and your business, and how you've been negatively impacted by
copyright infringement.

• Email the White House at intellectualproperty@omb.eop.gov. Be
sure to include your name, location, and occupation. Remember that all
comments will be posted publicly on the White House website, so don't include any
information which you don't want broadcast.
• Forward this email to your friends and colleagues, and
encourage them to send in their stories of copyright infringement!
• Broadcast this call for comments on any social networking site
you participate on: Twitter, Facebook, etc. You can retweet the Guild's
Twitter post.

THE DEADLINE IS MARCH 24, SO PLEASE RESPOND BY THEN!

To read the PDF or for comments, click here.

Graphic Artists Guild
http://www.graphicartistsguild.org

Friday, March 19, 2010

IF: EXPIRED!


DEAD/UNDEAD • © Diana Ting Delosh
Black Bic Pen

Someone should tell the Corpse Bride that she's passed on, Dead, EXPIRED! Here's my image for this weeks Illustration Friday Prompt.

Last October I experimented with drawing outside my usual cute, whimsical, illustration mindset. This is one of my doodles from that period. I had a lot of fun while vacationing away from my style and came out of it feeling refreshed and I'd like to think better than ever. It helped to expand my parameters. Draw like someone else for fun - try it if you're in a creative rut and your usual block busting techniques are not working.

Friday, March 12, 2010

13 Whimsical Spring Illustration Exhibit


My illustration exhibit at the Harborfields Library.
See previous posts starting March 5, 2010.
Photos © Diana Ting Delosh.

Thought I'd attempt to share the experience of seeing the show live. Imagine these 2 photos side by side. Beginning on the left with Frog and Castle illustrations going all the way across the long wall to the Big Bear. Click on the photos for a slightly larger view.

The exhibit will be up until April 30. 7 more weeks to go.
For a more detailed look at the individual illustrations please visit either http://dianadelosh.com and or www.childrensillustrators.com/DianaTDelosh.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

HBF Library Show Postcard

Self-Promo Postcard for the general public
© Diana Ting Delosh

Just received the Postcards I created for the HBF Exhibit (see previous post) that I ordered from Vistaprint about 12 days ago. I should have used the 7 day delivery option but I had to be a wise guy. Previously I had used the slow deliver, cheapest option and always received my order within a week. Why pay extra for 7 days if I don't have to - right? Ta-dah... because.. when you most need it in 7 days - they change their delivery methods. Anyhow it's here now. Not too bad. It could've been March 21st which is the original slow delivery date. While it would have been nice to have all my handouts out at once - it's not crucial. I do have an art list flyer with all my website, GCU and IK URLs out and I have also designed a few bookmarks.

Did consider having a "Guest sign in/comment" book until I looked at the featured artist's "book" in the main gallery - I was surprised to see negative comments!?! sprinkled throughout and very few - e-mails - which is the purpose of a guest book. The negative, snarky comments were a bit of a shocker after all who needs that! Incidentally I liked her images. So no guest book for me.

So far my out-of-pocket expenses for this promotion experiment has been the cost of 3 pre-cut mats, 11 frames/hanging wire and 250 Postcards. Luckily I had some hanging wire and enough white mat boards to cut out 9 mats. Thankfully the library is taking care of the art list and bookmarks.

Now I'm off to drop-off my postcards - about 30 should be fine to start with and I'll check back weekly to see if they need to be replenished.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Now Showing at the HBF Library!

Clip from the Harborfields Public Library March 2010 newsletter.

13 of my Spring themed illustrations are now hanging in the children's room gallery at the Harborfields Public Library. They will be on exhibit from March 5 - April 30th - so if you're in the Greenlawn, NY area drop in and take a peek.

Just installed this morning and I must say they look pretty good - hanging up in their white mats and thin black frames. We started installing at 9:30 am and finished before things got too busy at the library. I'm glad I decided to show the originals as nowadays - most people just see the printed or the online versions.