Sunday, January 8, 2023
January KidLit Art Postcard
Saturday, December 31, 2022
Art vs Artist 2022, My Illustration Year in Review
I've been admiring ALL my illustrator friends' #artvsartist posts on social media. I have always been of two minds about it:
1- I want to do this!
2- EEK! I am not posting my image and do I even have enough work that I'm proud of etc... self-doubt and imposter syndrome showing up here. Balance that with I've created all this work but I can't show any of it until it's published and... Sigh.
Anyhow this year I decided to kick my uninvited guests self-doubt and imposter syndrome out the door and do it. TAH DAH!!! here's my #artvsartist2022.
It's actually a lovely way to review the year as an illustrator and to celebrate it. My 2022 illustration year started with a focus on my black and white illustrations in hopes of picking up middle grade/chapter book type projects. I also worked on my humans with hopes that they will play nice with my animal illustrations. I even tried some limited palette art which really appealed to my graphic designer side. I have also renewed my interest in Art Licensing and plan to build up a portfolio for that field in 2023.
Here's a fond farewell to 2022. I didn't manage to accomplish everything I wanted to do but there's always the coming year!
Bye Bye 2022 and Hello 2023! Wishing everyone a creative, productive and prosperous New Year!
Thursday, December 29, 2022
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.
Saturday, December 10, 2022
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.
Wednesday, December 7, 2022
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.
Thursday, December 1, 2022
Happy #KidLitArtPostcard Day!
Sunday, May 8, 2022
Happy Mother' Day!
Happy Mother's day to all the mom's, and mother figures. We are who we are because of you.
Sunday, April 17, 2022
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.
Sunday, April 10, 2022
April: KidLitArtPostcard: Kazu
Sunday, April 3, 2022
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.
Sunday, March 31, 2019
SCBWI Long Island March Newsletter Art
Winter Friends © Diana Ting Delosh Colored Art and digital |
Winter/Spring 2019 Kid LIT News Cover |
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
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 |
Here's one of my minis, Bunny Amongst the Lily of the Valley © Diana Ting Delosh Derwent Inktense Color Pencil Sketch |
Of Life and Dreams © Diana Ting Delosh Rough Pencil Sketch layout of journal / book cover. |
For more samples of my art check out my web portfolio at dianadelosh.com
Follow me on Twitter @dtdelosh
Greeting Cards: greetingcarduniverse.com/dianascards
Gifts: zazzle.com/deloshdesigns*
Sunday, February 11, 2018
Art Process Experiments 4 - 6
Experiment No. 4A and 4B - Squirrel with Snowdrop: Semi Reverse Process
4A: Sketch. Watercolor. lines added with brush Scan. Add digital details.
4B: Sketch. Watercolor. Scan. Add all the lines and details digitally.
Sleeping Giraffe - Hate the colors. Had problems picking colors amongst other snafus. |
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Art Process Experiments 1 - 3
Experiment No. 1 - Old English Sheepdog: Reversed my process and No sketch.
Results: It felt daring working backwards. However, I can't imagine doing a whole piece this way. It does open up more possibilities. I like the less outlined look. I also like that I used less black lines and feel the gray lines give it a softer look.
Painted basic shapes with watercolors. Scan |
Added more shadows and lines with my Wacom tablet and Photoshop. |
Experiment No. 2 - Owl flying in a Pine Forest: The OWL only - Digital. NO sketch.
Experiment No. 3 - Squirrel: Oil Pastels. NO sketch.
I haven't used oil pastels since high school! Rediscovered why I stopped using them. |
Saturday, December 30, 2017
Bye Bye 2017
Had a lovely challenging illustration commission that I hope to be able to share... soon. Challenging because while it involved animals in costumes, YAY, it also involved a lot of detailed backgrounds and architecture. This project has taught me to truly respect illustrators that excel in backgrounds, especially urban scenes. As always, hope to acquire more fun illustration commissions in 2018.
It was also the year I became more political. Previously, I had always felt that my political views were private and I didn't talk or share much about it on social media. After all you didn't want to offend a potential buyer or client with your personal beliefs. However 2017 was different and I did share my views more openly. My feeling is that you can't be silent when you see things heading in the wrong direction. Did I loose out on any jobs, commissions or sales??? Not that I noticed. I did tire of seeing my twitter feed overtaken by political tweets rather than lovely art. Unfortunately, I fear there will be 3 more years of watching the planet being parceled off to line a few greedy pockets and other evils.
In 2017 I got excited about quite a few art challenges BUT I ended up not fulfilling most of these. Which made me a bit sad. I end 2017 with a long trail of unfinished personal art. Granted, I had real paying work deadlines. Good excuse not to be distracted by personal art projects. I'm not complaining. I need those paying projects. Rather I'm annoyed that I couldn't figure a way to balance my financial and my creative needs. Definitely need to work on that.
Only did one postcard campaign in 2017. I usually do 2 if not 3. The problem with commissions that you can't share is that it's makes self-promotion harder. Another reason to figure out the balance between paying work and nonpaying. Personal art is where you make your discoveries and build your future and hopefully your fortune. Here's to returning to 3 postcard mailers in 2018 and more creating and submitting
Made a huge art process discovery. I need to sketch, ink, paint, Photoshop something every week. So if I'm working on the sketch phase of a BIG project, to keep me in top form I need to also be doing "warm-up inks, paintings, Photoshop art" on the side. That way when the sketch phase is done I can move on to the ink phase without going through the I forgot how to... moment first. Less redos and more doing. I know a bit of a duh, obvious idea but a big revelation to me and my art process. I should probably add creative writing to the weekly mix for 2018 too.
Wishing All a Happy, Healthy, Creative , Prolific, Productive and Prosperous 2018!