Darren Di Lieto

I had an interesting chat with Mr. Tom Froese yesterday for his Thoughts on Illustration podcast. I’m looking forward to the episode, which I expect will be released sometime in October/November. 🎙️

Stop doom-scrolling and enjoy nature. Maybe touch some grass? There’s always tomorrow for work and social media. I took this photo of the ducks and birds at Bradgate Park near Leicester.

It’s nice to see that the State of Illustration is getting some coverage. 😃 Thank you downthetubes.net (John Freeman) and The Daily Cartoonist (Alan Gardner)! 🖖 https://bit.ly/dtt-state7https://bit.ly/tdc-state7

That’s me done emailing everyone who said they wanted to be told about the latest State of Illustration report. If you didn’t get an email from me, please reach out or subscribe to my Gumroad list via the Hireillo shop. I think I’ve earned the right to take a five-minute break. I might go for…

Over the bank holiday weekend, I was busy working with four different clients, assisting them in figuring out their budgets and finding the right illustrators for their projects. It’s a lot of work that often goes unnoticed, but I can’t complain. It is truly rewarding to connect people and help them earn a living.

The latest State of Illustration report is finally available! 🙌 I will be promoting it properly over the next few weeks, but I wanted to give my followers on my personal pages a heads-up before I start doing that. You can find the report at shop.hireillo.com/l/state-7 I’m feeling a bit rundown, probably burned out, but…

I thought I’d share a photo of my desk, as it’s not looking horrendous at the moment. What does your workspace look like? Please feel free to post yours in my comments or tag it with #OnMyDesk via your account. 😉

I know I’m going to get blowback for this, but business has been tricky for the last few years, and I need to get paid if I’m going to survive. I’m about to release the new State of Illustration report, and I won’t be making the payment optional, unlike in previous years. I appreciate everyone…

I’ve been keeping my head down while working on the State of Illustration report, which I incidentally finished the first draft of this morning. 🙌 To prove that I don’t spend all my time in my hobbit hole, here’s a photo of a Jackdaw I took recently. Tchack, tchack!

The latest State of Illustration report is coming along. Hopefully, I’ll have it done in a week or two, but until then, my eyes and brain hate me, as you can probably guess from the screenshot. Seventeen pages done, twenty-five give or take, to go. If you want to be notified when it’s finished, download…

I took this photo at Bradgate Park and the expressions on the faces of this derpy Fallow Deer doe and fawn just about sums up my mood today. 😐

I’m slowly chipping away at the 2025 State of Illustration report. I think my brain is slightly frazzled, but the project is coming together. Art by Beach. ❤️