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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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Sunday, October 23, 2011

SH-h-h-h -Feeling most mysterious!

It's all Hush hush and mysterious
 -just like my
feline super sleuth character,
Audrey Hepcat.
© DianaTing Delosh
Wow it's been awhile since my last post, but I have 2 good excuses:

1 -  I've been busy with illustration gigs. YAY! Unfortunately they have been mad rush jobs. BOO! Admittedly this is partially due to my own scheduling as everything: personal and professional seems to happen at once and I don't want to miss anything.

2 - Two of the jobs I'm currently working on are confidential. Which means no blogging about them. Drats! One of them is a bread and butter type jobs, so no problems keeping mum about it. However the other project is one that I want to show off some of the illos from so it's hard to be hush hush about it. The only thing I can say is that it's an E-book project and the illustrations are almost all done. Needless to say - I can't wait until it's finished and I can finally burst out with the news.

The only other thing I can say is that the E-book company found me via my web presence. So all this frenzied web activity does do something other than bring you more followers on Twitter and Linked-in. Keep on blogging my creative friends.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

The Fox and The Crow - Process

THE FOX AND THE CROW
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink, watercolor and Photoshop

Decisions, questions and hopefully solutions are a part of my illustration process. As the above illo was my entry for a fun group project, CBIG AESOP'S FABLE Illustration Catalog, the first questions was which Fable. Easy enough something that featured things I like: animals, food, nature. Sure I could've also used this as a challenge to draw things I don't like but as I was already in the midst of juggling other deadlines why stress. I did say this was for fun.

Decisions: the angle perspective of art - lot's of doodling. Decided to keep it simple as I wanted to show the goody falling from the crows mouth  as well as her "OOPs" expression and the triumphant glee in the fox's face and body. Also needed to decide on whether I was going the traditional route and illustrate cheese as the coveted food item. Some of the versions did not specify cheese so I thought I'd have some fun with it and do one of my favorite yummies, the rainbow cookie. Now that's a treat worthy of some cunning.  Ink in the foreground, main characters and paint.

Background Quandaries: Keep it simple or do the whole forest. Usually I'm not this indecisive but this time, who knows, maybe it was the August heat. Couldn't decide and went back and forth during the sketch phase. Decided on simple and then second guessed myself by adding in the forest after I had painted the foreground. OOPS! Painted out the forest with Gouache. Just could not stop myself as I impulsively added just a few trees over to the extreme right.  Muddled it up again! My only excuse for this lapse in judgement was that I was juggling multiple projects and clearly muddle brained myself. Forgot a major rule in illustration: Keep what is important to the story in focus. Thank goodness for Photoshop. Deleted the offending background and replaced it with a sky I had painted for another project. Sigh!

And there you have it the story behind the illustration.

My Fox and Crow illustration is my entry for this years CBIG group project the CBIG AESOP'S FABLE Illustration Catalog. The pdf catalog may be viewed on the CBIG website and all 26 illustrations are showing on the CBIG blogzine from September 1st through October 31st, 2011. See my FOX AND THE CROW  - CBIG Blogzine - September 23, 2011.

Monday, September 5, 2011

CBIG - The Children's Book Illustrators Group: AESOP'S FABLES Illustration Catalog

Wow it's been awhile since I posted on this blog. I've had a busy busy summer with assorted projects. Here, finally, for your viewing pleasure is one of them... the CBIG Aesop's Fables Illustration Catalog.  I'm also happy to be 1 of the 26 illustrators that participated in the CBIG second annual illustration catalog as well as the designer of this group effort. Please hop on over to the CBIG blogzine during the months of September and October 2011 where I'll be posting the illustrations from the catalog.

CBIG - The Children's Book Illustrators Group: AESOP'S FABLES Illustration Catalog: CBIG is proud to show off our 2011 Illustration Catalog, AESOP'S FABLES . Featuring the talents of 26 participating members, listed below in...

Friday, August 5, 2011

2011 Summer Postcard -Cupcake Cat


Here's my Summer 2011 self-promo postcard. As the main focus of my personal art this spring/summer has been my Cupcake dummy and I thought the cover art was bold and yummy looking - decided it would be a natural for the front of my postcard image. I was contemplating doing a larger size but I just wasn't sure if the added expense of printing and postage would equal any benefit in positive responses. One would hope it did but then one could hope for a lot of things.

Went to VistaPrint.com to see if they were running any sales and they were -YAY. Decided to go with my usual standard size but since they were having a sale I added a color illustration to the back. The design above for the back of the card is actually turned sideways but I'm showing it horizontally so you can have a better sense of it. Yes I measured my address label size to make sure I wouldn't be covering up any of my back illo with it. While I'm not sure if postcard size would matter - I think 2 illos maybe better than 1 to get the targeted art director or editor to look at my website.

The cards have been designed & ordered. They should arrive within 3 weeks. Which gives me time to update my mailing list. Maybe this year I'll actually do 3 postcard mailings as I'm always threatening to do.

Friday, July 29, 2011

IF: OBSESSION

ANTICIPATION
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink & Watercolor

Here's my entry for this weeks IllustrationFriday.com prompt - OBSESSION.

Kitten has an OBSESSION with cupcakes. He can't wait until they're baked, frosted and ready to eat. YUM. This is another scene from my CUPCAKE, story. Still working on the project between jobs & life. I can't wait until my half-baked Picture book dummy is fully realized. 

For another illustration from my CUPCAKE PB dummy see my June 16, 2011 post.  OR visit my website at DianaDelosh.com.

Friday, July 1, 2011

The Art Hare's Wares: 1 Year Zazzle Anniversary Salebration

The Art Hare's Wares: 1 Year Zazzle Anniversary Salebration: "About a year ago, June 2010 I opened my Zazzle Shop DeloshDesigns* because I thought it would be fun to see what my illustrations looked lik..."

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

IF: MIDSUMMER NIGHT

Arabian Night © Diana Ting Delosh
Ink and Watercolor
Here's my ILLO entry for this week's IllustrationFriday Prompt - MIDSUMMER NIGHT.

Can't believe that the midpoint of this summer and 2011 is fast approaching. What happened to my year?

FYI: this illo is available as a:
Giclée Print
Blank Note Card
Ramadan Greeting Card at GCU and CardGnomes
Postcard

Thursday, June 16, 2011

The Twitter Effect on my PBDummy

Detail from an illustration from my soon to be finished picture book dummy, CUPCAKES
I usually try and do a Picture Book Dummy a year. My standing Deadline is Halloween. Doesn't always work out, but I try. This year with the help of TWITTER I'm ahead of myself.

It all began Nov of 2010 when I signed up to do PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month. See cute monster badge in side bar). A challenge I found on Twitter to come up with 30 picture book ideas in 30 days. Which lead to the #PBDummy challenge on Twitter - brought to you by KidLitArt in January 2011. This last challenge was to complete a picture book dummy by well - NOW. Wish I could say I've victoriously crossed the finish line but I concede I have not. This is by no means an admission of failure or defeat because having accepted the challenge I am that much closer to completing my PB Dummy whereas if I hadn't I might not have even begun the project. Which is what these creative challenges are all about. Helping you to achieve or grow as a creative, while having fun and even possibly interacting with other like minded artists.

So how far do I have to go? Well the dummy is all roughed out and the text, is pretty set. I actually continue to tweak both art and text throughout the whole process as I suspect do most of my fellow illustrator/writers. My "finished" dummy will comprise of 3 colored finished illustrations and 13 spreads of ink sketches. The illustration above is a detail from one of the finished spreads. I've even created some fun hand lettering for the cover. Well to answer the question I've still haven't reached the halfway point but I'm getting a bit done every week between jobs and sundry other art biz activities. Taking part in this challenge has helped me stay motivated despite all the interruptions and distractions. I see myself finishing way before my self-imposed Halloween deadline. In fact, I may even try and squeeze in this other PB dummy idea or at least begin it. Well, we'll see.

Monday, June 6, 2011

The Art Hare's Wares: Father's Day Cards and New Store Promotion!

The Art Hare's Wares: Father's Day Cards and New Store Promotion!: "Howdy all just wanted to announce that I've opened a new POD Store DELOSH CARDS and currently there is a special 20% Discount on FATHER'S..."

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Illustration Friday: ASLEEP

Violet Dreams of Planting Seeds
Ink & Watercolor illustration from 1 of my picture book ideas.

Here's my illustration for this week IllustrationFriday.com prompt: Asleep.

Sometimes I try and dream up solutions to my art, writing or life. I ask myself specific questions about something I'm working on as I'm falling asleep. It doesn't always work but it's great when it does.