Greeting Card Designer Blog invited watercolor artist Diana Ting Delosh to be a special guest writer for "Social Media Month" and talk about her experiences of having blog.Guest Writer Diana Ting Delosh
I started my blog , The Hare Illustratère because I had been advised by art directors, editors and other illustrators that it was a good way to stand out from the crowd and show personality. Plus a blog is a great place to hang all my POD widgets.
Think of your website as your formal evening gown and your blog as your informal weekend wear.
On my blog, I show sketches, experimental work and write about my creative endeavors from foibles to successes. On my website showcase only finished art and successes.The experts say you should post at least once a week, the more the merrier. I try and post weekly about my art-ventures as an artist and writer, and other creative related musings that I illustrate with my art.
My blog explores my creative process and my experiences in this bunny eat bunny world of illustration. Hopefully what interests me resonates with other creatives. Blogging is different from journaling. Both help you articulate your thoughts. The difference is that with blogging you have an implied audience and all the possibilities your audience may bring.
BENEFIT: ARTIST BLOCKBlogging helped me discover a technique to break through a very solid artist’s block. 2009 was a bad year, good news and feedback was scarce. It was no surprise that by fall 2009 I had a rock solid creative block. All along I tried my usual methods of getting unstuck. Still the art just came out stilted and dead. Needless to say I ranted and whined on my blog. Finally I decided to just make bad art - and just have fun doing it.
Fast forward to October, Halloween, the month for disguises - I decided to make art in different subjects, styles and mediums other than my usual. For the entire month of October I wasn't my whimsical, decorative self. Towards the end of the month I was glad to go back to being me -and the spark was back. Some of my doodlings from this period are posted on my blog most are in sketch books but the point is that blogging helped me stumble onto a new strategy to breaking up a creative block. It also helped expand my view of my own talents. This was an unexpected and wonderful benefit to blogging.
BENEFIT: FEEDBACKThe other benefit of blogging is feedback. In recent years art directors seem to have less time to respond to submissions. All too frequently the company policy is to only respond if interested. Translation - only if they have work, then they will contact you.
Unfortunately this policy means you have no way of knowing if your submission was liked but there’s no work, if they didn't like your style, or if your submission never made it. Which brings me back to the importance of feedback. The biggest surprise I ever had was when an editor commented on one of my posts. It was the only way I knew that she had received my promo-postcard, looked at my website and liked my work. Hurrah for blogging and bloggers!
ABOUT DIANADiana Ting Delosh uses ink and watercolor to create her whimsical and decorative art. She has illustrated for major clients such as Dover Publications, The Woo Agency, Harcourt Achieve, Scott Foresman, Inkwell, Ladybug Magazine, Modern Publishing. Her writing has been published in Highlights/High Five and Ladybug magazines. In 2008 Diana was awarded the Highlights High Five Pewter Plate for Puzzle Poem of the Year. Previously she received the 2001 SCBWI Magazine Merit Honor Award for Illustration.
CONTACT INFO
Diana Ting Delosh
Illustrator & Writer
Whimsical & Decorative Art
website: http://dianadelosh.com/home.html
blog: http://dtdelosh.blogspot.com
Greeting Cards: http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/dianascards
Prints: http://wingedrabbit.imagekind.com
4 comments:
Great piece! Diana's work looks precious and I can relate to everything she wrote here. I agree that blogging can really help articulate your thoughts and lead to creative breakthroughs :D Happy to hear that an editor commented on one of her posts. Thanks for another encouraging and interesting post!
I love your spring promotional image! Your distinction on website VS blog is a good analogy.
I have to look at my blog more like journaling. I think all of us can relate to that feeling of pouring out effort creating new work, promoting it and finding the return to be less than we had hoped. I have seen that many times the results may take a year or two, but eventually it produces something or leads you in a new direction. I was curious if that childrensillustrator site has worked out well for you? Thanks!
Have a Great Day. I surf in the web and I found out that this blog is very interesting. I bookmarked this already and I follow you already.
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Thanks Kate for inviting me to be a guest writer. It was fun. And I hope your readers enjoyed it too.
Katie Atkinson - Childrensillustrators.com is working out well for me - as a promotional tool. It is definitely driving traffic to my website & it has gotten me work in the past & hopefully it'll get me more.
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