Keeping up the Momentum in 2018 by Diana Ting Delosh

Momentum © Diana Ting Delosh Ink, Watercolor & Digital
This illustration is my entry for the SCBWI.org #scbwidrawthis January Challenge.

I always start out the year with lists to make the best of the coming year and somewhere between January and June, I get lost. Sometimes it just a temporary derailment and sometimes it's for the rest of the year. 2017 was one of those lost years. I had a challenging project (good) but  it was taking longer than I thought it should and I felt guilty taking time off. Which brings me to the point of this post in order to keep your momentum going you need to find your balance. You need to do what's on your urgent, do or die list without sacrificing what's important to you.

There were so many times in 2017 when I would look longingly at other peoples art for prompts, challenges, contest entries, whatever and thought I could have, should have been part of it. Never mind the missed family and friend fun. Never mind my own project list. But I had that project or job deadline. Now I want and need those paying projects ... but there needs to be time to take a breath and enjoy being a creative with a family.

So how can one Keep up the momentum and stay balanced? Especially if taking on less work is not an option. Here are a few thoughts in random order. 

• Being realistic about deadlines, your limitations and process.  Review the job brief with eyes wide open. Sure it's got things you can do in your sleep but what about the rest. Is it out of your usual comfort zone? Not a bad thing - but it may require extensive research and or more time. Usually, I hit the halfway point of a project and the second half goes much faster than the first. After years of this, I finally met the project that was the exception. I guess the take away is not to assume anything and budget in the extra time.

• Exercise the art muscles on a regular basis. Usually whether I'm working  on a single illustration or a 32 page picture book, my process is to do ALL the sketches, then the line art, then colors, then photoshop. The problem: if it was a BIG project it meant I might be sketching for weeks etc. Then when it came time to ink, I usually threw away the first couple inks. Same with the first couple of paintings etc. Due to the nature of my Big 2017 project, once the initial sketches were approved it was broken into smaller units so I inked, painted, photoshopped on a weekly basis. Big but obvious discovery here - I didn't have to go thru the I forgot how to ____ phase. Meaning fewer do-overs! Hm-m-m I need to sketch, ink/line, color/paint, Photoshop on a weekly  basis.

• Allow for distractions. Working on portfolio builders and art just for fun is important. It's what your future is built on. The problem with most commissions is you can't share, (for good reasons) until after the project is published.  But that means you have nothing to promote yourself with unless you have been creating art on the side. I made the mistake of thinking that if I didn't allow myself to be distracted, I'd finish faster. HA. I just became cranky and whiney and annoyed at myself in October because the year was coming to an end and I was unsatisfied with it. Note, if a job came in, it was squeezed in. In theory, I could've squeezed in more "distractions".

• Have more of a Nine-to-Fiver mindset. As a freelancer I work when there's work. It's the feast/famine mentality. Great if the commissions have natural breaks but if not.... well it maybe time to adapt. Make a point to take breaks. Get out of the studio do other things, fun things, as well as mundane things.

• Stay healthy. The usual eat healthier, exercise and take breaks. Working until you're brain dead doesn't help anything. Having fun with friends and family means going back to the studio refreshed.

Wishing All a Happy, Healthy, Creative, Productive, Prolific and Prosperous 2018!

Web: dianadelosh.com

Art Blog: dtdelosh.blogspot.com

Product Blog: arthareswares.blogspot.com

Twitter: dtdelosh

For your picture book storyboarding process
Check out: 
The BIG ThumbNailer
ThumbNailer

On Gratitude by Diana Ting Delosh

Thank You Owlet - Ink & Watercolor Illustration, Hand Lettering
© Diana Ting Delosh

It's the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so here's a few thoughts on gratitude as an illustrator /author. I am most Thankful for Friends and Community. As someone who spends most days isolated in my studio in suburbia, I am thrilled to have found my tribe via: the CBIG, SCBWI and the LICWI. Not to mention connecting with an even bigger pool of artists/writers/creatives via Twitter.

CBIG, Children's Book Illustrators Group
After many years of trying to do it alone, I discovered CBIG through my sister, who had a friend, who was a member.  CBIG is a local NY metro area group. They invite children's book publishing professionals to their meetings, so members can grow as illustrators and of course make connections.

SCBWI, Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators
SCBWI is an international group that offers oodles of info and conferences. Over the years it's given me loads of networking opportunities with industry professionals.

LICWI, Long Island Children's Writers & Illustrators
I joined LICWI because I wanted to get serious about my writing. LICWI members meet monthly and may read their writing to the group and receive feedback. I'm still getting the hang of reading to a group. Nerve wracking. But the valuable feedback is worth it.

Twitter
Because sometimes I'm working in the studio by my lonesome and it's nice to feel connected to the world at large. Remember those illustrators/writers you met at the big conference, most likely they're on Twitter or Instagram. There are many Twitter art challenges to participate in. Or if you're too busy to participate, just view. Always inspirational, sometimes even motivating.

In fact, this blog and my Art Crit Group would have never formed if it weren't for friendships via CBIG and the NJ SCBWI June Conferences. So, a really Big THANK YOU to CBIG and the NJ SCBWI.

Just in case you're wondering, yes, all this connecting and socializing, both real and virtual, does help your  discoverability and may lead to opportunities and even commissions. But that's a topic for another post.

Here's to Friends and Community and a Happy Thanksgiving to ALL!

Web: dianadelosh.com

Art Blog: dtdelosh.blogspot.com

Product Blog: arthareswares.blogspot.com

Twitter: dtdelosh

For your picture book storyboarding process
Check out: 
The BIG ThumbNailer
ThumbNailer

Drawing Process by Barbara DiLorenzo

This blog has been such a great outlet for sharing thoughts on the field of children's literature. I'm grateful for my fellow bloggers on Drawn to Picture Books that keep the focus on the process of drawing. I can tend to shift to politics–especially in this charged atmosphere. But although I had prepared an entire piece on comparing and contrasting what happened in Charlottesville, VA with the protection of art in WWII Florence, Italy–I realize this audience is smart enough to know the difference. These thoughts belong on a different blog–and perhaps I'll post that essay on www.renatoandthelion.com. 

Getting back to the nuts and bolts of picture book making, I've chosen to share the drawing steps for a new piece. I am fascinated by restaurants and the people that work behind the scenes. So I've been noodling (ha!) with a book dummy on the subject for some time. The Society of Illustrators has a Members Open show this fall with the topic of food–so I'm using this as an excuse to create a final piece to go with the book dummy. 

The first version of the dummy had a penguin and a polar bear. I don't have a concrete reason for picking the polar bear other than I doodled a chef polar bear with a penguin overlooking at an SCBWI conference many years ago. I know, I know. North and South pole creatures don't meet naturally. I had a back story to explain this in the first version. But despite loving the characters, I realized this was forced. I still think the characters should be animals because children can't open and run a restaurant–but anthropomorphic bears and penguins can and still be relatable to kids. 

The polar bear, paired with penguins, started to look more racially specific than I wanted. And since the polar bear was the one in the know, teaching the penguin what it takes to open and run the restaurant, I wasn't happy with the unintended message. I could use a Grizzly or Kodiak bear instead, but there are so many sweet brown bear characters already out there. And there's the geography question. So I did some research, and discovered that Le Cordon Bleu, the premiere French cooking school, has a location in Peru, in South America. Perfect! I lived in neighboring Bolivia for 6 months, so I am familiar with the cuisine–and penguins live in Peru! So I started to sketch the most ubiquitous animal in that region–the llama! I remember being on a bus from La Paz to Tarija, and watching llamas running outside in the countryside. They looked so funny with their silly oversized ears bouncing as they ran. Definitely a fun character–though I defer to Anna Dewdney's LLAMA, LLAMA series as the best version of a llama in children's literature. 

I also decided that though the penguins could remain, the main penguin needed to be swapped with another character. So I sketched a goat. Soon their personalities started to emerge in the sketches. 

After sketching quick then detailed versions of the goat and the llama, I had an idea of where the story would go. So with the opportunity to do a finished piece, I looked through and decided to combine these two sketches. One included the polar bear, now just a line cook–and penguins as both servers and chefs. But the main characters are now the goat and llama. 

I combined the sketches in PhotoShop, moving elements around and creating a more interesting composition. As I write this though, I see I still have a change to make. The goat looks more interesting facing the original direction.

Although I'll go back and tweak the goat's position, this is the version I sketched on watercolor paper. I'll now use this as a color study. I'll be sure to post the next steps in an upcoming post. Stay tuned! 

And if you have any feedback, I'm happy to hear it. 

RENATO AND THE LION

by Barbara DiLorenzo

Now booking author visits for 2017-2018!

Barbara is represented by Rachel Orr of the Prospect Agency.

Twitter: @wavepaint

Facebook: @BarbaraWillcoxDiLorenzo
www.barbaradilorenzo.com

Curating your work, Part I, by Mike Ciccotello

So, you put together a beautiful illustration portfolio and attended a conference for children's literature. You had your work reviewed by art directors, and editors. Sure there are some tweaks to be made, but that’s no problem. It’s all part of the journey. Not only have you created a portfolio, but you've made promotional images regularly, participated in online challenges, and daily warmup sketches. Congratulations! Good for you. This is fantastic and you should be proud of the work you are doing. All of this is moving you forward.

Now, how do you present that to the world? Website? Social Media? 

Let's break this down in two parts. This post will focus on the website.

This past summer at the NJ SCBWI conference, I had the pleasure of attending, Building a Digital Portfolio, a workshop run by, Maria Middleton, art director, Random House. Her workshop spoke volumes with me. Curate our digital content. Treat your space like an art gallery. It’s not just about having a website, it’s about the whole experience. The examples she showed were clean, easily consumed, and simple to navigate. 

Shortly after the conference, I decided to revise the approach to my website and social media. If I want to work creating illustration for children’s literature, I should make sure that people know that. There was work to be done, but it was a lot of work. The only way it was going to happen was if I made the time to do it. I created a staged plan, starting with my website. 
Cleanup. Reorganize. Redesign.

Clean up your site. Don't hoard work that isn't relevant to what you want to do. 

Clean up.

The first thing I did was remove a whole bunch of old work from my site. There was too much. I was hoarding my old work. It had nothing to do with my children’s literature work… it had to go. This decision will be different for each person. I would recommend that if you choose to show the old, don’t let it out-weigh the new. 80% new and 20% old might be an easy way to think about it. Most importantly, just like a portfolio, only show your best work. Now I believe you have a little more lee way with a website, but still, it's an important note to keep in mind.

Come up with a simple way to organize your site.

Reorganize.

Once I removed all the unnecessary imagery, I needed to reduce the number of sections on the site. I used to have multiple menu items. Now, there are three top level options: Art, Store, and About. This is directly from Ms. Middleton’s workshop. Keep your menu simple. You can reference my site to follow along - ciccotello.com

This is how my menu breaks down

Art

- Color – Current color portfolio work

- Black & White – Current black & white portfolio work

- Pen & Ink – Inktober and other fun

- Coffee Cup Doodles – Daydreams caught on a coffee cup

- Painting – Some of my older work

Store – Links to my online store

About – Contains my headshot, bio, and contact form

A screenshot from my website.

Redesign.

Finally, I developed a look. I went with a white background, placed imagery on paper/canvas with a slight drop shadow. I designed a simple logo that sits below the menu. The type treatment is reinforced on my business card and postcards. The image of me is in the favicon for the site and all of my social media. 

Each section contains a small gallery. The Color as well as the Black & White galleries are both designed on a similar paper and drop shadow. The Pen and Ink gallery uses a sheet of sketchbook paper. The painting gallery uses canvas and the coffee cup doodles are actual photographs of each cup. Eventually, I will phase out the Coffee Cup Doodles and the Painting section, and replace them with my 10 minute sketches, making my site completely children's literature focused. 

Why does all of this matter?

If someone happens upon your site, you want to put your best foot forward, right? The day I finished my site, I texted an author friend and asked her to take a look. She texted back saying she liked it and tweeted the link. Later that night, I got an email from my agent. She was contacted by an editor that came across my site (which I believe was connected to my author friend) and really liked my work. The editor bookmarked my site and hopes the right project will come along for me. I hope so too.

I realize our art needs to shine the most, and it should. But by following these simple steps, you can give your visitors a clear idea of what it is you do, where to find what, and how to get in touch.

Next time I’ll talk about social media and more specifically, Instagram. 

Represented by Rachel Orr

For more info contact 

rko(a)prospectagency.com

Prospect Agency Portfolio

Facebook:  The Art of Mike Ciccotello 

Twitter: @ciccotello 

Instagram: @ciccotello 

Don't Let Go, by Mike Ciccotello

Do you have a special memory from childhood that you hold dear? Is it your first solo bike ride? Is it playing on a long summer day? Or maybe that time you got hurt while doing something your parents told you not to? Take a minute to think about your memory and the emotion tied to it. 

This year's SCBWI, Tomie dePaola competition, has a beautiful prompt that spoke to me immediately.

... cast yourself, as a child, in a picture book. Show your autobiographical character in a scene and make sure to convey the emotion of your character. The viewer should be able to read the emotion of the character immediately and clearly.

  After I read that, the timeline of my life flashed back to 1981, directly to "my moment."

My mother and father divorced in 1978(ish). My brother was six and I was four. Our mom didn't have much money, she ran her own flower shop in Lindenwold, NJ. She did the best she could with the money she had. She has always been a creative influence, and taught us to respect others and never give up on our dreams.

The setting was a concrete parking area, behind my mother's flower shop. It was our play area while she worked. In the piece, I was dreaming of flying. I was convinced if I had the right positioning and strong enough gust, I would lift off the ground. Of course, I didn't want to leave my mother and brother, but I was curious of exploring the sky. I would have been sure to be home by dinner.

Recently, a friend asked why I didn't take flight in the piece. In situations I am not too sure about, I tend to play it safe. I hold myself back. In a sense, I come back to the safety of my mother, and wait until the time is right. My mother has always said I do everything late, but when I finally decide to move on something, I do it with determination and all of my heart. I am getting into children's literature a little late in the game, but I'm following my dream and I'm not letting go.

Whether you take the time to enter the Tomie dePaola competition or not, I think it's an idea worth exploring for all of us. It was such a meaningful process for me, and who knows, it may be for you too.

Website:  Ciccotello.com 

Facebook:  The Art of Mike Ciccotello 

Twitter: @ciccotello 

Instagram: @ciccotello 

NJSCBWI 2016 Approaches - by Diana Ting Delosh

It's almost been a month since the 2016 NJ SCBWI June Conference a good time for me to reflect on my experience and what worked.

Jabberwocky, Boy Meets Octopus - Final Illustrator Intensive Art
© Diana Ting Delosh
Ink, Watercolor, Digital

Lists & Plans help. I marked out the prep weeks and the deadlines for the illustrator's Intensive sketch and the Manuscript for my 1-on-1 with an editor and any items like getting my postcard printed a month ahead in my Moleskine Weekly Notebook. This year I swore I wasn't going to the conference zombified although the last few weeks I was lucky if I got more than 5 hours sleep a night. Still all in all not totally zombified. There are degrees of zombification.

I want to draw momraths gyre and gimble in the wabe  - © Diana Ting Delosh

 Find the Joy. My illustrator's Intensive was with Annie Ericsson, Designer for G.P. Putnam & Sons and Nancy Paulsen Books, Penguin Young Readers Group and the assignment was to illustrate a passage from C. S. Lewis' nonsense poem, The Jabberwocky. As per my usual process, I doodled a few ideas and concepts and was originally going to go with a more conventional approach. But I wasn't feeling the love. I reviewed my doodles and changed course and went with my idea of treating it as a boy's dream sequence. I believe my joy shows in the final illustration.

Boy & Sea critters on my desk.
Photo © Diana Ting Delosh

Always Have a Plan B or C... because things go awry and time keeps ticking. Sometimes I approach my illustrations like a traditional painting and sometimes I approach them more like a collage.  In this case I was glad I created my Jabberwocky illustration as separate icons as I was able to rearrange them for my Juried Art show Piece. I had planned on doing another illustration for the JAS theme, "Arise and Go Forth..." but time was running out. Plan B was to use some element from the Jabberwocky but add a mermaid and a whale and a gull or just the mermaid and a gull or... Plan C - rearrange what I had already created.

Juried Art Show  - Arise © Diana Ting Delosh

Conferences are like Christmas. You plan and prep and create like crazy. Finally the Conference weekend happens - it's amazing Good FUN, Info Overload time and then it's over and you go home. I didn't want it to end but all good things must. And like after Christmas blues I had a bit of post conference malaise. Back home, you catch up on your sleep, sort through all your conference notes, handouts, cards. Do your follow-ups. Ease back into your studio routine: create, promote, submit.

It's an Investment. Back home you may ask yourself the pragmatic question, Can you quantify it? Don't, unless you happen to have gotten lucky and landed a contract, agent, etc. Aside from the wealth of info crammed into two days there are a lot of intangibles. There's a lot of really good networking and submission opportunities at this conference but you need to follow up. Remember it's cumulative. Create. Promote. Submit. And every now and then leave the studio to practice your people skills.

Web: dianadelosh.com

Blog: dtdelosh.blogspot.com

Twitter: twitter.com/dtdelosh

NJSCBWI - by Mike Ciccotello

Photo by Tara Lazar

WOWZERS! I just got back from the 2016 NJSCBWI conference. 

The best time for me to review how I prepare and promote my work is right after a major event. The ideas are fresh in my mind and I can find ways to improve my workflow. Maybe this will help a new illustrator that wants to tackle a conference. Maybe it will show a seasoned conference attendee a different view. 

Social Media/Website/Promotional Materials

        Five weeks prior to the conference I updated all of my social media. I created a new profile picture and matched it across all of my social media. I decided to go with Business Cards & Postcards from MOO.com. The quality is fantastic. I designed and ordered my cards about a month prior to the conference. I wound up going with Five different pieces of art for the back, and coordinated those pieces on both business and postcards, as well as my website. The side that had my contact information coordinated with my social media and website.

Postcards Printed at Moo.com

Organization

        I saved all of my workshop documents, SCBWI scheduling information, and digital version of my portfolio as pdfs and put them on my iPad. This worked really well. I was able to have all of my documentation in one spot. If the opportunity presented itself to show my portfolio, and it did, I had it on me at all times.

My iPad with all of my SCBWI documents, portfolio, and sketches for the conference

Print Portfolio

        I went with a 14”x11” screw post portfolio. I originally had 18 illustrations, but cut it down to 14 illustrations, plus a beginning and end page that has my contact information. The images broke down to: 3 pen and ink, 1 black & white value, 10 full color. There was a blend of diverse children and animals, interior and exterior, character designs, and a couple sequential images. To see the post about my portfolio transition from last year, click here.

My Pina Zangaro Screw Post Portfolio

One-on-One

        At the time of registration, I didn't have a manuscript, so I decided to only purchase a portfolio review. I sat with an associate art director from Viking, Nancy Brennan. She had some great suggestions for my portfolio. I learned that having facing images that feel similar is great, but if the character expressions are the same, you aren’t showing emotional range. I will be creating a few new images and moving a couple illustrations around.

Networking

        I made sure to keep refreshing my postcards with my portfolio and with my juried art show piece. I also kept a small stack with me in case I needed to give one out. I was able to meet a whole bunch of new people in the children’s literature community. I even met a few editors, and agents. I’m looking forward to submitting my work soon.

The Saturday Night NJSCBWI Faculty Social

Illustrator’s Intensive

        I attended Nancy Brennan’s illustrator’s intensive. We had a special guest, David Wiesner. I asked everyone about the lighting and perspective. The major points that we discussed were the lighting and contrast. Everyone thought I could go a little darker. Mr. Wiesner pointed out some lighting considerations. I will be adjusting the lighting to improve the focus of the characters and the overall look of the room.

 

My original illustration from Nancy Brennan's Illustrator's Intensive workshop

Juried Art Show

        The theme was the first 6 words of W.B. Yeats’ poem, The Lake Isle of Innisfree, “I will arise and go now.” I took the theme quite literally and illustrated the whole poem. Where I believe that wound up limiting the amount of people that understood what I was illustrating, I learned so much about myself. I really enjoyed researching and world building. I enjoyed hiding clues that could make the viewer appreciate the piece at another level. That will be invaluable as my storytelling and illustration begin to intertwine.

My entry for the Juried Art Show, "I will Arise and Go Now"

For me, the NJSCBWI 2016 conference was all about improving my craft, putting my best foot forward to launch a long career in children's literature, and spending time with friends in the kidlit community. Thank you NJSCBWI, for organizing a spectacular event. I can't wait until next year. 

Website:  Ciccotello.com

Facebook:  The Art of Mike Ciccotello

Twitter: @ciccotello
Instagram: @ciccotello