I've been thinking a lot about creativity. Probably because I've just crawled out of a creative black hole. Usually I don't worry too much about feeling blocked as I think it's like insomnia eventually you will fall asleep. So I figured this uncreative state would just pass as I went through my daily rituals and worked on current projects. However this time around my lack of creative thought was lasting much too long. I felt like all my receptors were coated in slime so nothing triggered an inspiring thought.
First I thought it was because I was sleep deprived. I remember when I was a new mom my creativity suffered. Getting more sleep did help my overall well being but the numbness remained. I did continue to slog on with whatever was in the studio. After all the real thinking part of those projects was already done -now it was just doing the work. So at least being productive, although lacking omph.
The last time I was in such state was right after 9/11. I remembered feeling insignificant and helpless. I found comfort watching bumble bees buzzing around my garden and thinking that nature would prevail even if we humans were bent on killing each other. What broke me free last time was an illustration commission and a rush job from 1 of my regular clients. Maybe I wasn't significant but I was still needed in my small world. So I, and the world moved on.
Which brings me to my current state of unease. Since the election, I've felt that all I've taken for granted as life in a democratic society is under attack. Even common sense notions about protecting our planet because we live on it have been sacrificed in the name of greed and stupidity. My new routine includes contacting my congressman and senators about things I'm outraged over. It's the effects of all those NYC signs that say if you see something say something. There is no hiding from what is going on. No peace or comfort that nature will prevail.
Unfortunately, this time around there were no calls from dream clients or rush jobs to distract me. This time around it was a string of small acts. Slogging forward on my current PB dummy revision. Even if it's going too s-l-o-w. Looking into yet another, as my hubby would say, harebrained scheme: opening an Etsy store. (I'll let you know when it's open). But the thing that really flipped my switch was submitting my picture book dummy out yet again. Which at first I thought was odd but I was still happy that something finally worked. Now, I don't think it's so odd. When you submit something you are saying you believe in your project/yourself. Whether the submission get's an acceptance or a rejection is a different story.
What do you do that helps to buoy your spirits and keeps you creative?
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Monday, January 30, 2017
Happy Year of the Rooster!
Rooster © Diana Ting Delosh Ink, pen, brush, watercolor |
Bye Bye 2016.
Hello 2017!
Don't know about you but for me, 2016 was one of those years, as a friend tactfully said maybe it's your transitional year. Perhaps. Whatever. On the plus side and going forward, I did have a few AHA moments that I'll share with you. I guess these are my sort of resolutions.
• To only apply/submit to things that are appropriate for my skills, and tastes. I tried a few paths last year that I knew probably wouldn't work in the name of being open and trying new things. Mind you there are problems with tunnel vision too. Still, I need to be mindful of being true to me and not waste time on long shots... just because it's an opportunity. Balance is needed between the two extremes.
• Try NOT to wait until the last minute to submit something before the deadline. Unfortunately, if it's a submission opportunity sometimes they close that window of opportunity early due to a flood of submissions. Yup, it happened to me in 2016. Create and submit, ASAP. Also, my theory is that they start forming their opinions as the submissions come in. So if you wait too long your submission has to be that much stronger. As I said, it's only my theory.
• Must Create Faster. Come up with something unique and beat the crowd to the finish. Of course it's has to be wonderful but sometimes all the fussing may mean that you'll miss out. And then your wonderful idea is no longer unique. You ever notice that as soon as you have a great idea for a star-nosed mole character or other odd animal, that there seems to be a trend for them while you're working on your idea? It's like the universe spied and snitched on your plans.
• BE BOLD. Believe in yourself, ideas etc. - create and submit. Sure you may know everyone else will be creating ABC but if you're thinking MNOP do it. Never mind what everyone else is doing and what you think is expected of you. Follow your instincts. When I did, it worked out really well for me.
Here's hoping we all have something good to crow about SOON!
• BE BOLD. Believe in yourself, ideas etc. - create and submit. Sure you may know everyone else will be creating ABC but if you're thinking MNOP do it. Never mind what everyone else is doing and what you think is expected of you. Follow your instincts. When I did, it worked out really well for me.
Here's hoping we all have something good to crow about SOON!
If you missed it, take a peek at at my latest post on D2PB: Happy 2017 Reboot
Web: dianadelosh.com
Illustration blog: dtdelosh.blogspot.com
Group Blog: drawntopicturebooks.blogspot.com
twitter: @dtdelosh
Check out my shops:
Greeting Cards: greetingcarduniverse.com/dianascards
Gifts: zazzle.com/deloshdesigns*
Art Prints: wingedrabbit.imagekind.com
Gifts: society6.com/dianadelosh
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Monday, November 28, 2016
Tick Tick Tick -pssssst
PEEP SINGS ©Diana Ting Delosh My spread for CBIG Illustrator Day Ink, watercolor and digital Notice my hand lettering? |
November was a month with a lot of hustle and bustle: an illustrator Day, a first page review with a big important editor; a big portfolio review with an editor, an agent and a designer, egad! Topped off with Thanksgiving holiday! And now I feel like one of the big parade balloons being deflated. Tick, tick, tick... pssst. Feel like all the air has been knocked out of me. Note to self - do not sign up for 3 events in a month with a BIG Holiday ever again!
So How did it all go?
• llustrator day went well. I need to do more of my hand lettering.
• My first page review was super! And it was super mainly because I was afraid my writing was too spare and it was an experimental piece. So to have her "get it" was absolutely SUPER. Need to go with my gut and just write!
• And my Big Review was 2 Mehs and 1 Yay. Sometimes it's just a crap shoot. And yes -do more Hand lettering. Hey, you can't win them all. It's all good info even if it's to know who not to send to.
So what are my plans for the immediate future? To follow up on all the events I did in November. Still have a few Thank you's to send out. To work on finishing all the things I started in 2016. Do MORE Hand Lettering! Try and wrap up as much as possible by December 31st.
In case you missed it:
Art rep, Nicole Tugeau of Tugeau2 reviewed 3 of my illustrations from my book dummy on Kathy Temean's Blog. Take a gander and read Take A Look Sunday - Diana Delosh
My post over at Drawn To Picture Books - The Eleventh Month by Diana Ting Delosh.
I was recently interviewed by Dana Carey on the SUB IT CLUB. Take a peek and read The Postcard Post: Diana Ting Delosh.
Web: dianadelosh.com
Illustration blog: dtdelosh.blogspot.com
Group Blog: drawntopicturebooks.blogspot.com
twitter: @dtdelosh
Check out my shops:
Greeting Cards: greetingcarduniverse.com/dianascards
Gifts: zazzle.com/deloshdesigns*
Art Prints: wingedrabbit.imagekind.com
Gifts: society6.com/dianadelosh
Check out my ThumbNailer
Saturday, November 5, 2016
INKTOBER2016: Inks 20 - 31
Whew -I survived INKTOBER2016!!! Yes! I did 31 illustrations with various inky implements within the 31 days of October. What I learned from this challenge other than I enjoyed it immensely? Found that even though I do a lot of inking, that a lot of days I need to work on pencils or just Paint all day. Needless to say I did Inktober in clusters. The hardest part was posting/tweeting & blogging about it. Hence this blog post wrap up is a few days into November.
It's just as easy to do preliminary sketches and doodles with a biro as it is to do them with a pencil.
It's fun to do quick doodles with a fat brush pen and no underlying pencil sketch.
The problem with sketching people on the train is that sooner or later they have to move or get off. It's also really hard to sketch on crowded trains.
It's not deja vous numbers 20, 21, 22, and 29 are all related to the same project.
And that's a wrap for INKTOBER2016!
20 - Owl Sings © Diana Ting Delosh Biro, ball point pen preliminary doodles for a project. |
21 - Owl Character © Diana Ting Delosh Biro, Character doodles for a project. |
22 - Owl Sings © Diana Ting Delosh Brush pen warm up. |
23 - Leaves © Diana Ting Delosh Brush pen warm up |
24 - Hedgehog Bride © Diana Ting Delosh Brush pen doodle |
25 - Peep Sings © Diana Ting Delosh Brush pen -Line art |
26 - Village in the woods © Diana Ting Delosh Radiograph double zero point and some pencil left in for texture. |
27 - Lady on the Train © Diana Ting Delosh Biro - quick sketch on train. |
28 - Man on the Train © Diana Ting Delosh Biro - quick sketch on train. |
29 - Another Owl Sings © Diana Ting Delosh Brush pen -Line art |
30 - Fall Squirrel © Diana Ting Delosh Brush pen -just for fun |
31 - Pumpkin Cat © Diana Ting Delosh Brush pen - just for fun |
If you're interested in seeing the rest of my Inks click on: INKTOBER2016: Inks 1 - 9 and INKTOBER2016: Inks 10 - 19
In case you missed it:
My post on Drawn To Picture Books: The Eleventh Month by Diana Ting Delosh: It's that time to rally one last huge effort before times up. Tick... tick... tick...BOOM! It's November, the eleventh month and a f...
AND
I was also recently interviewed by Dana Carey on the SUB IT CLUB. Take a peek and read The Postcard Post: Diana Ting Delosh.
Web/Portfolio: dianadelosh.com
Twitter: @dtdelosh
Product Blog: arthareswares.blogspot.com
Group Blog: D2PB
ThumbNailer a book of boxes for your creative process
Monday, October 24, 2016
INKTOBER2016: Inks 10 - 19
October is two thirds over, which means inktober is too. I'm finding the inking to be going well enough. I'm up to ink number 22. However the scanning or shooting and actually posting it on twitter, never mind then doing a blog recap of them is where I'm tripping up.
10 - Bear & Bunny are frightened of the ghosts in the forest - Biro Sketch © Diana Ting Delosh |
11 - Cupcake - Brush Pen quickie © Diana Ting Delosh |
12 - Weedy Bits © Diana Ting Delosh |
13 - Oak Tree © Diana Ting Delosh |
14 - Scared Bear ©Diana Ting Delosh |
15 - Girl on the train - Biro Sketch © Diana Ting Delosh |
16 - Guy on the Train - Biro Sketch © Diana Ting Delosh |
17 - When in doubt, draw a critter - Biro Sketch © Diana Ting Delosh |
18 - Side View of critter - Biro Sketch © Diana Ting Delosh |
19 - Back of Critter - Biro Sketch |
INKTOBER: doing 31 Inks in 31 days and sharing it on social media (my choice is Twitter) is definitely challenging. Even with my lowering the bar by including sketches as long as it's done with an ink bearing implement and saying 31 in 31 vs 1 ink per day for 31 days, is not easy. But I am finding a way to do it as part of my process vs an added activity. And being part of the community doing it is very enjoyable.
Web/Portfolio: dianadelosh.com
Twitter: @dtdelosh
Product Blog: arthareswares.blogspot.com
Group Blog: D2PB
ThumbNailer a book of boxes for your creative process
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Sunday, October 9, 2016
INKTOBER2016: Inks 1 - 9
INKTOBER: 31 inky illustrations in 31days. Posting on twitter with #inktober #inktober2016
Inktober 2016 started off on a weekend with houseguests and the new scanner had yet to arrive. SO I started late, on October 4, meaning I was already 4 days and 4 inks behind. While a part of me thought of not beginning because it was late, another part decided to just jump in. After all I've been thinking of starting a daily sketch habit. Might as well begin with Inktober! While some of the artists doing Inktober are doing themes, my rules will be very open: as long as the sketch or finished illustration had some ink involved I was counting it. Click on images to enlarge.
1 - Beast Biro Sketch, © DianaTing Delosh |
2 - Beast BiroSketch, © Diana Ting Delosh |
3 - Beast BiroSketch, © Diana Ting Delosh |
Inks number 1 - 3 were quick Biro. ball point pen, sketches for a beastie character for a personal project. My current fave is the 3rd Rhino-Boy beast. On the other hand the 1st sketch has a vulnerable quality to him. Hm-m-m may have to do a few more beasties before I can make a decision on how/what this character will look like.
4 - Fern Ink Line art detail, Micro Pens © Diana Ting Delosh |
5 - Wildflowers Ink Line art detail, Radiograph Pens © Diana Ting Delosh |
Inks number 4 & 5 are details from 2 illustrations from an inky project on my drawing board that I can't show too much of - yet. Taking a page from my fellow illustrators when they're in this situation and just showing a DETAIL from the illustrations.
6 - Tomato Biro Sketch © Diana Ting Delosh |
7 - Bumble Bee, Micron Pen fun © Diana Ting Delosh |
9 - Morning Tea & Vitamins, Biro Sketch, © Diana Ting Delosh |
Ta Dah! Nine inks in nine days! Think I'm getting the hang of making Inktober part of my daily ritual just like my morning mug of tea & vitamins.
Web/Portfolio: dianadelosh.com
Twitter: @dtdelosh
Product Blog: arthareswares.blogspot.com
Group Blog: D2PB
ThumbNailer a book of boxes for your creative process
Monday, September 26, 2016
2016 Illustration Promotion Pages
One of my favorite pet projects for my local illustrators group, CBIG is to put together the annual Illustration Directories, the COLOR and the BLACK & WHITE to showcase our member illustrators. And if I'm designing the things, I sure as hell going to make sure I have a promo page in both of them. Personally, I think it's a good practice to make your own promo page annually anyway.
The challenge to designing a promo page is deciding which illustrations go on it. Feature one or multiple illos? Definitely only 2016 work. This may sound easy but some years if I'm working on hush, hush projects this could be tricky. I went with three images for my BLACK & WHITE page: an ink and wash, an adult coloring book line art style and a grayscale version of a hand lettering piece.
For my Color Promo Page I decided to keep it simple and only one image.
2016 Black & White Promo Sheet |
2016 Color Promo Sheet |
Why should you create a promo page or two? You can add the PDFs to your website for your potential clients to print out. (next on my to-do list) Hand out the print outs to Art Directors & editors you meet at conference one-on-ones or other opportunities. You can also e-mail them as an attachment or give them the link on your website. Share them on your social media sites etc.
YAY! My BOY was selected for the cover of the BLACK & WHITE directory by a vote by the CBIG membership. Very honored to be amongst my talented colleagues: Stephanie Ruble, Sharon Holm, Mike Ciccotello. |
Web/Portfolio: dianadelosh.com
Twitter: @dtdelosh
Product Blog: arthareswares.blogspot.com
Group Blog: D2PB
ThumbNailer a book of boxes for your creative process
Monday, September 12, 2016
It's Illustration Self-Promotion time: Postcards
Postcard for mailing: Front & Back of card click to see bigger |
But wait a moment, I had created a hand out for the conference. Seemed like a brilliant idea at the time BUT it meant that after the conference I didn't have a postcard I could just mail off. Drats! Now I'd have to create a postcard for mailing out. I knew which image I wanted to put on the front - my current Fave, Boy meets octopus, the illo that came out of the conference illustrator intensive. But what about the back? I didn't want it to be too similar to my conference hand out. My solution - create art to to put the front illustration in context. I had always thought of the front illo as a dream or fanstasy scene. Hence my illo of a boy in bed with a book and his cat for the back of card. If you look closely at the book you can read a bit of the title "Twas... It's a nod to the illustrator intensive brief to illustrate a line from Lewis Carroll's poem, Jabberwocky, which begins, "Twas brillag and the slithy toves..."
Conference handout Front & Back of card click to see bigger |
Snoopy -my studio guest. Ahem - helping me update my mailing labels. |
About the No Kid Lit Art Vacation and those back burner projects? Well they've moved up a bit on the burners and are simmering nicely. A few have even come to a boil. You can peek at a few on my ArtHaresWares blog. There's a lot more but they're not ready to share yet.
• What I learned when I sprained my ankle: Celebrate the Small Steps
• My NJ SCBWI Conference illustrations: NJ SCBWI 2016 Aproaches
Web/Portfolio: dianadelosh.com
Twitter: @dtdelosh
Product Blog: arthareswares.blogspot.com
Group Blog: D2PB
Sunday, August 28, 2016
The Beauty of Deadlines - D2PB
Embrace the deadline! Yes. They're not all bad. They force you to do things. Case in point: Me without a deadline, I was all loosey goosey and never got around to posting this post. Or posting any post for awhile on this blog. I for one definitely need a deadline even if it's a self imposed soft deadline that I know I can ignore with no ill effects. Just keeps me all fired up to finish stuff. Just in case you missed it, over at the D2PB group blog I wrote a post on the motivating effects of deadlines. Here's the link if you want to take a gander.
Drawn To Picture Books: The Beauty of Deadlines - Diana Ting Delosh: I'm always amazed at what I can accomplish with a deadline breathing down my neck. It doesn't matter if the deadline is a sale for ...
OR just take it from the Ram. Get your Zen mode on and embrace your deadline.
Drawn To Picture Books: The Beauty of Deadlines - Diana Ting Delosh: I'm always amazed at what I can accomplish with a deadline breathing down my neck. It doesn't matter if the deadline is a sale for ...
ZEN RAM © Diana Ting Delosh Ink, Watercolor, digital |
Saturday, May 14, 2016
To Share or Not to Share?
Recently at an SCBWI event, the speaker, Grace Maccarone, executive editor of Holiday House warned never to share ideas as someone else could take it and get it out and in the stores first. To wait until you have it in a tangible form before sharing it. After all ideas can't be copyrighted. Only the specific tangible form inspired by the idea can be copyrighted.
Of course mum's the word when it comes to commissioned art. Unless the client is OK with you sharing. So that leaves sharing sketches and other personal art but not too much of it. Must leave some of it in the bag.
But... but... but if you don't share you're invisible. Plus sharing on social media is fun and gratifying. I'm a twitter girl myself so I know participating in one of the many art challenges and getting all those faves and Retweets is very, very nice. Addictive even. And you never know whose looking. It seems like every other day you hear of someone getting discovered/published/agented due to their Twitter, Instagram, blog, whatever activities.
To share or not to share could be the digital era's equivalent of to be or not to be. There is no question that you should share your art despite fears of copyright infringement. The question really is how much, what and when? Quite a few of my illustrator colleagues share some piece of art daily via Twitter or whatever. In fact that's how I discovered a lot of them via their daily art practice of creating and sharing.
So I am wondering if I should make this one of my daily art biz habits. I'm also in the throes of prepping for the NJ SCBWI June Conference - which means hyper focusing to make lots of art. Yes, currently creating lots just not sharing yet. Guess I'll be working on my "sharing" after the conference.
Of course mum's the word when it comes to commissioned art. Unless the client is OK with you sharing. So that leaves sharing sketches and other personal art but not too much of it. Must leave some of it in the bag.
Bag Head © Diana Ting Delosh - Biro sketch |
To share or not to share could be the digital era's equivalent of to be or not to be. There is no question that you should share your art despite fears of copyright infringement. The question really is how much, what and when? Quite a few of my illustrator colleagues share some piece of art daily via Twitter or whatever. In fact that's how I discovered a lot of them via their daily art practice of creating and sharing.
So I am wondering if I should make this one of my daily art biz habits. I'm also in the throes of prepping for the NJ SCBWI June Conference - which means hyper focusing to make lots of art. Yes, currently creating lots just not sharing yet. Guess I'll be working on my "sharing" after the conference.
web: dianadelosh.com
twitter: @dtdelosh
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