SOI -Robert Quackenbush & Sketchbooks Part 2

One of the Reasons that made this years Society of Illustrators, Original Art Show a must see in person event  was that my former teacher and mentor, the author illustrator, Robert Quackenbush was being honored posthumously on the 2nd floor. Since I was there of course I had to visit the 3rd floor where they exhibited SOI member illustrator sketch books. This was a bit of an eye opener. While a few of these illustrators had sketch books that looked like finished art quite a few of them had sketchbooks that looked like mine. Books filled with things like reference and research sketches as well as  as recording life. I am so glad I left my studio bubble to see it ALL in person. I hope to do a few more visits to the SOI in 2023. I didn't realize how much  I missed visiting galleries and such until I made this trip. Here's hoping to see more illustration exhibits in 2023.

Nate Cepsis

Sketchbook One 2022

I begin each day by filling a whole page in my sketchbook, using primarily a black marker. Simply, the goal is produce images without thinking. This process gets my motor skills working and also reminds not draw in my head, but rather tactually draw in real life. The image that is produced on paper is always different than the one in produced in the brain. This thought can be intimidating, but embracing it leads to fascinating results. 

I'm thinking of embracing Nate Cepsis' practice into my 2023 daily creative ritual. I keep way too much of my process in my brain. I should know by now that stewing things in my mind doesn't help it get down on paper any faster as the real work doesn't begin until I try to put it down on paper.  The marinating in the brain just gives me a false sense of productivity when really I'm just procrastinating.

So morning ritual 2023 here I come. I am going to commit to filling up 1 page daily either with drawing or writing or even both. One of my goals in 2023 is to create more. More illustrations. More writings. Which in theory should result in more submissions and ultimately more acceptances.

Happy Holidays!

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The Original Art Show 2022 Part 1

 I finally went to see The Society of Illustrators, Original Art Show 42nd Annual Exhibition in person. It has been awhile. Up until the Pandemic, seeing this show was one of my fave holiday traditions. The last two years I viewed it vicariously through the show catalog. I’m glad I went. It was an amazing smorgasbord of illustration. There was about 200 pieces a lot more than what they usually accept. Below are a few pictures of the show but they definitely don’t do it justice. While final digital art may look the same as the printed version, the originals for collage and traditional media has a tactile quality that must be seen in person.

As usual I bought the catalog as a gift to myself. It's a bonus for children's book illustrators as it lists along with the winning illustrator and book title, the medium, publisher, imprint, art director/designer, editor and author. Great for doing research as to who or where your illustrations might be appreciated.

Hope you get the chance to see the show before it closes on December 24 or maybe just buy the show catalog. Happy Holidays

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Advent Calendar: Days 1 thru 7 of my Christmas Illustrations

 I've been getting into the holiday spirit by posting my Christmas/wintry illustrations as an Advent Calendar over on my Instagram. As a greeting card designer it's no surprise that I have amassed quite a few Christmas designs and I thought this might be a good way to show some off. There might also be a few fresh ones that are just illustration thrown into the mix. I'm posting daily over on IG but I'll be posting them in batches over here for those who aren't on IG.

Day 1: Barn Owl Flying Through the Snow

Day 2: Christmas Honey Bears

Day 3: Peace to All

Day 4: Lion and Mouse

Day 5: Peace Dove

Day 6: Ugly Christmas Sweater Bunny

Day 7: Christmas Joy 

So are you All set up for the big day? Have you dug out your ugly Christmas sweater? OR are you more like me a bit of a procrastinator? No matter what, Happy Holidays!

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Happy #KidLitArtPostcard Day!

 

 Here's a melange of my illustrations for the December KidLitArtPostcard. I'm an illustrator and I'm in the process of wrapping up one project and on the hunt for something fun, full of sweet animals and maybe even a touch of magic.

 

If this was a normal day I'd be posting this on Twitter, Instagram and Hive  -but it is not. And apparently there is something wrong with my key board because all the lower case "Ys" are missing. HA! I also managed to somehow anger the Chief Twitterer cause my account got suspended for???? And I just tried posting on Hive but that site seems to be quite problematic and I can't post an image right now. So I'm down to one working social media site. sigh.

 

Just discovered that it must be just a blogger problem because when I go to preview this post there are too many lower case y's all over the place. Think I caught all the errant y's. So please excuse the whining. Now I'm going to do some sketching at my drawing board and away from the computer.

So how's your December 1st going? Hope it's less problematic then mine.

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Happy Mother' Day!

Happy Mother's day to all the mom's, and mother figures. We are who we are because of you.

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Hoppy Easter!

 Hoppy Easter!! Happy Spring to my fellow creatives!

Here's hoping everyone finds a way to grow and bloom wherever they're planted.

My Gardening Bunny illustration: ink, colored inks and a bit of digital. Art created with the art challenges/prompts in mind for both #cbigArtShare - Gardening and #colour_collective - Mallow & Mint.

#cbigArtShare: monthly prompt  - post on Twitter/Instagram on the 2nd Tuesday of the month. May's prompt is #mermay. See @cbigNYC

#colour_collective: weekly color prompt - post every friday at 2:30pm on Twitter. Colors are posted on Saturday for the following Friday. Color pair forApril 22 is Seashell & French Sky Blue. I find the weekly challenges a bit, well, challenging, especially now that they're doing color pairs! See @CLR_Collective 

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April: KidLitArtPostcard: Kazu

Kazu, Fox girl character © Diana Ting Delosh

One of my  goals for 2022 is to post a #KitLitArtPostcard post every month on Twitter.  Here's my April digital postcard. That means designing 12 different digital postcards for 2022. Which will give me a range of designs to send out to Art Directors and editors when I do an e- mailing.

Rules for myself are: 

• Preferably fresh, recent illustration.

• Has to be an illustration I've never used for a KitLitArtPostcard.

• Post on the Day, the earlier the better.

The pros of creating digital postcards are many.  It's free and you can tailor your design to the recipient. No Printing costs. No stamps. No address labels. No waste. 

The cons: It's harder to get email addresses for art directors and  editors. Hence why #KidLitArtPostcard is such a genius idea for kidlit artists.

#KidLitArtPostcard created by Gina Perry, @ginamarieperry, last spring for illustrators to promote their art on Twitter since the pandemic made snail mailing postcards problematic. Illustrators create a digital postcard and post it on the 1st Thursday of the month on Twitter and now even on Instagram.

My Feb #KidLitArtPostcard Twitter post

Dragon Egg, Mandrake Root © Diana Ting Delosh

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Good Fortune Fortune Cookie

 

Recently I got an amazingly auspicious fortune from a fortune cookie.  I should point out that these days an actual fortune in a fortune cookie seems to be rarity. Nowadays they're mainly pithy sayings or quotes like the early bird catches the worm or something about being diligent.  Which may be true but really, I don't need a cookie to tell me that. So this was an exciting moment.

"Look for the dream that keeps coming back. It is your destiny"

Yup this fortune is a keeper and I'm taping it to my desk. Mind you, I do take these things with a grain of salt, but it's still nice to see when you have a picture book dummy out on submission with your agent and a grant application out as well as numerous other things out that you won't get a response to for awhile if ever. Never mind the projects you're currently keeping busy with to keep your mind off of everything as well as the real need to have something new to: submit, share,  always keep moving forward. It's like the universe sending you a message that all your efforts may come to fruition one day. No harm in finding a positive sign among all the negative voices that makes you question your illustrator/author dreams.

Here's to all my creative friends ever working, illustrating, writing, submitting and promoting: Good Luck and may all your creative dreams come true.

You can find me at:

Website: dianadelosh.com

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SCBWI Long Island March Newsletter Art

Winter Friends © Diana Ting Delosh
Colored Art and digital

Back at the end of 2018 I was honored to be invited to create cover art for the SCBWI Long Island newsletter, Kid LIt News . The only directive was to include a kite. As it was to be a winter/spring issue I decided on animal friends having some winter fun. It was bit tricky figuring out how to get the kite to work as logical part of the illustration but I think I came up with an interesting solution.

Winter/Spring 2019 Kid LIT News Cover

There is even a lovely interview by fellow illustrator, Stephen Ingram about my art process and more for an article in the Kid Lit News Winter/Spring 2019 issue, which I'm happy to announce went live, March 14, 2019.

If you don't live on Long Island, NY and want to find out more about the SCBWI click here: scbwi.org

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Of Life and Dreams - MATS Boot Camp February

Of Life and Dreams © Diana Ting Delosh
Mixed media: Ink, Pencil, Digital
 Mock Journal or Book Cover

It's been awhile since I blogged, either I had nothing to blog about or something but no time to do it. At any rate, here I am. Not promising that I'll be blogging on any regular basis but hopefully more often then not. At the end of 2018 I signed up for a bunch of thing and one of them included Lilla Roger's MATS Boot Camp 2019. This is my second go round with Bootcamp. The first time was in 2014, during the months of Feb, March, May. June and July. If you're wondering, yes, you can read about my experiences in this blog's archive. I signed up this time because I felt like I wanted some assignments that would stretch me. A peek at other markets out there aside from children's book publishing. Similar to why I did it last time. Except this time around I'm at a different place with my art and I thought it might be a good time to revisit the course.

Lilla teaches by giving us a mini assignment before she gives us the brief for the main assignment. This way we get to explore a subject without being limited by the scope of the final product/project. This time around the mini was to do florals and use a specific media. My group was assigned lily of the valley and colored pencils. I hunted around my studio and found an unopened box of Derwent Inktense 12. These are colored pencils that are meant for you to wash over with water. Honestly wasn't sure about the pencils until I threw the water on it - Then I really liked working with them.

Here's one of my minis, Bunny Amongst the Lily of the Valley
© Diana Ting Delosh
Derwent Inktense Color Pencil Sketch 

February's Brief:  Journal Cover with some hand lettering as that's very trendy right now. I loved the idea of doing florals but had a hang up about type on a journal. I never buy journals with type as I always felt like they were telling me what to put in my journal. But I really wanted to do some Hand Lettering. Plus that was part of the brief. I decided to think of it more as a book cover to get over my mental block.

Of Life and Dreams © Diana Ting Delosh
Rough Pencil Sketch layout of journal / book cover. 

Here finally is my finished mock book, ahem, journal cover in the MATS BootCamp February Gallery amongst all the other lovely designs. Click on the thumbnails to see them bigger.

I had a lot of fun drawing florals for this assignment. There will be more florals in my future.

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