Final cartoon of the week

And with 5 mintues to spare. Whew!

New Bush caricature

Worked on this one in Photoshop last night, and decided to post it this morning. Evil genius, or evil moron? - you make the call.

Happy weekend!

-Ed

Two new local cartoons

Construction and construction permitting really has slowed to a snail's pace around NE Florida.

I'm also in that business, so I know.

As for the "Iron Horse" marathon, there's nothing funnier to me than a talking horse (or a comprehending horse in this case).

Of course.

-"Ed"

"Let's see how much damage can we do in 6 months..."

Another Barack

With this one, I scanned the sketch, and worked the color back into it. I think I have the color of his face down now. Just need to keep plugging away at the structure.

Back to Barack

Here's another one. I did this one straight into Painter IX.5, sketch and all. I'm starting to get more acclimated to working on the computer now. It took me quite a while to switch from hand drawn architectural plans to AutoCad, so it's not surprising that it's taken me so long. Painter seems to afford more detail in the brush strokes than Photoshop. You can set up a palette and save it. Save your brushes too. It's pretty cool. I found my copy over the Holidays from a cut rate online outfit, and no problems so far.

Anyway, I hope it's worth the effort. Happy Weekend! -Ed

Barack practice

I started this sketch page today from multiple pages in my sketchbook. I scanned all the heads of Barack that I had, and I'm combining the best ones on different layers in Photoshop. It's a great exercise for "computer" sketching practice, not to mention brushing up on my Barack Obama caricature. I'll probably add to it over the weekend, as I doodle him while he's making speeches.

I would LOVE to draw this guy for the next 8 years - he's got a very malleable face.

Last cartoon of the week...woo hoo!

I tried to save my best for last.

Have a happy (non-bovine) weekend!

-Ed

A lasting legacy...

Nuff said.

You're moving it WHERE?!?

So, St. Johns County officials thought that it would be a good idea to move a landmark of civil rights history into a crack-infested park and call it a memorial. Well, needless to say the alumni of Florida Memorial College where more than a little hacked off by all this. Unfortunately the Memorial Arch has already been loaded onto a flat bed truck for delivery (see picture above).

Here's my take on the subject:

And here's the rough:

First local cartoon of the week

Hey gang. Here's my first local submission of the week.

One of the (many) downsides to diverting the St. Johns River for Orlando's thirsty habits is that more salt water will infiltrate upstream into the river. It's already pretty brackish to about Orange Park, but further south, swamps, ecosystems and many fresh water species will be threatened.

Late, late, late Monday cartoon...

I've had this one sitting in my sketchbook for several weeks. I wanted to make sure he actually pulled out in front before I inked it. It looks pretty good for Barack at this point, but you can never really count a Clinton out. She's still nipping at his squeeky clean bootheals, and it looks like she's decided to start playing dirty (LOL).

Stay tooned!

Enjoy.

-Ed

Final cartoon of the week

I've really been wanting to do something on the situation in Kenya, and with Bush heading over there for the ultimate "Save your Lame Ass Presidency Tour 2008," I thought it was a timely subject. I really tried to let go with this cartoon. Bring some of my artistic skills into the rendering. I hope it worked out. Happy weekend!

-Ed

The awkward McCain man-hug

Don't know why I'm throwing this in here. Just seemed like a fun little sketch.

The gift that keeps on giving

Florida's amendment One (which I still can't believe passed), just keeps on giving me fodder for cartoons. Here's the latest. Enjoy.

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A couple of interesting notes about this cartoon. A lot of people don't know this about me, but I have some background in industrial design and drafting. Thus my love of drawing all things mechanical. I knew the minute I decided to put a robotic arm in this cartoon that I was gonna enjoy inking it, and I did. I try to fit things with working parts into as many of my cartoons as possible. Some cartoonists I know find this tedious, but I absolutely LOVE it. I guess that's a piece of advice I could pass along to any budding cartoonists out there. Sounds simple and stupid, but it works. Find out what you like to draw, and DRAW IT.

I also like bears. Bears are cool.

Finally, today, I'd like to give a big "shout out" to fellow cartoonist Rob Rogers for recognizing my preoccupation with drawing machines, and calling it to my attention (about a hundred years ago at some portfolio review, at some convention, in some town, I don't remember).

Hillary's hips, Obama's lips

There's a little mini debate going on right now about how to portray African-Americans and women in editorial cartoons. I find this discussion more than a little interesting, and I have not been immune to the criticism. For this cartoon I did for the LA Times over the weekend, I was chastised via email in the following statement: "I am annoyed that you gave Hillary buck teeth and made her plump with fat cheeks while Obama just looked sad . It appears to me as sexism. It's a good cartoon otherwise."

I like that last bit.

I don't know about y'all but the last time I checked, Hillary had fat cheeks, wide hips and big teeth. As for making Obama look sad, of course you're gonna look sad when you lose one of the largest states in the nation after garnering the support of most of Hollywood, and the Governator's wife (another Kennedy endorsement BTW). To me it's all a little too much PC for my tastes. When we have to start watering down our caricatures, they begin to lose their punch and meaning. They also start to look the same. Of course we shouldn't go back to the days of depicting African-Americans with giant lips and Jews with nook noses. Those are racist stereotypes, and you know them when you see them. But a caricature by nature is an exaggeration. People need to understand that. As cartoonists we use them to convey our feelings about a candidate or any political figure. And it's a powerful tool; we just need to keep in mind that it should be used as a shove and not a slap in the face.

More Hillary

Here's another set with the rough leading to a finished color caricature. I think her hair might be too dark. More later.

Watch out St. Johns County!

They're trying to sneak this one in through the "service" entrance." LOL

Getting there...

The more I draw her, the more I'm becoming accustomed to the subtlties of her face (i.e., the distance between nose and eyes, mouth & nose, etc.). She's a tough one though.
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This drawing was done off the TV during an interview with CBS News. I find it easier to draw this way since I know I'll never get her to sit down for a portrait. The drawings just seem to come out better when I'm drawing an animated character, versus a picture out of a magazine or the newspaper.

More fun with Hillary

Here's another caricature study. It's still not quite where I want to be with her likeness, but it's getting close. You can see how the caricature developed from a rough sketch. OnceI had the sketch scanned into Photoshop, I was able to adjust the facial features, and then finally in the last panel, I added the color. I'll say it again - she's a tough nut to crack cartooning-wise. Not sure if I want to draw her for the next 4-8 years. I'll probably post another one of these later today.

Nailing Hillary

Stop it. Just stop it. I'm talking about drawing her caricature. You heathens!

Anyway, I've been working (again) on my Hillary caricature. I got a couple of negative comments on a cartoon I did over the weekend (too mean, too fat, too buckie-of-tooth) so I thought I'd re-examine her face with some sketches. It seems that without a body (see: pants suit/wide hips) it's really hard to get a good likeness of her. She has very subtle features in her face, and if you over emphasize them she can come off looking somewhat goulish. Of course, some would probably not mind that look on her, but I digress. I'll post these now and a couple more in the morning. I'll also post a pdf of the page her cartoon ran on this Saturday.

Cheers,

Ed

Last cartoon of the week. Whew!

Well, I made it before midnight anyway. Here's my final syndicate cartoon of the week.

Enjoy, and happy weekend!

-Ed

No cluckin' around...Halltoons has been updated!

24 all new cartoons! Go check it out: http://www.halltoons.com/

Happy VD Day

No wait, that doesn't sound right. Well, you know what I mean. I wanted to work cupid, or hearts or something Valentines related into at least one of my cartoons this week. I thought that the animosity being spit in the direction of our Florida's newest Amendment was just the ticket! Firefighters and school boards seem to be screaming the loudest, so I used them as cupid's target.

Enjoy.

Here's the rough:

Death of a golf course

The Ravines was once one of Jacksonville's premiere golf courses. Designed by Mark McCumber back in the early eighties, it was ranked in the top (i think) 20 courses in the country. It was a spectacular course, with rolling hills, streams running through it, and wonderful old oak trees overhanging the fairways. I had the opportunity to play it a couple of times, and I was always struck by how much of an impression the experience left on you. There was this one hole where you actually drove your ball down into a ravine (thus the name) and you had to ring a little bell because you couldn't see the hole down below, and you had to alert the other golfers you were teeing off. Anyway, the course has fallen into disrepair (it's actually closed) and the homeowners are pissed that ownership, and maintennance is in limbo (has been for a few years now). A recent auction for the property produced no buyer, and the market doesn't seem to be right for anyone to purchase it anyway.

Second local cartoon of the week

All of these "big box" stores seem to want to squeeze into our small municipalities. It's the "Starbucks on every corner" syndrome. Anyway, for some reason, Wal-mart gave up their bid to build in Neptune Beach this week. After years of legal wrangling and tons of spit & vinegar, out of the blue they just said "later." Weird.

Get a second set of eyes OR, sleep on it...

Sometimes you need to let someone else have a look at a cartoon before you send it out. This was the case last night when my "editor/better-half" told me there was too much gray in yesterday's toon. Luckily I had time to send a revised version to my paper before it went to press. You can see the difference right away in the amount of white space in this one. The figures just seem to work so much better on the page (the space around them allows them to breathe). I was also able to enlarge the two figures in the right-side panel, emphasizing (i hope) the space even more.

First local cartoon of the week

If this cartoon looks a little different, it's because I'm continuing to experiment with Photoshop. In an attempt to keep the spontanaeity of the original rough sketches, I'm using them on a separate layer and working back into the drawings with my Wacom tablet. The more of these I do, the easier they seem to be getting, but it's still quicker to ink them on paper. Once the computer generated images catch up (time-wise) to how quickly I can produce them on paper, I may ditch drawing by hand all together. We'll see.

Day Trip to Savannah

We drove up to Savannah yesterday to take in the new Pat Oliphant show at the Telfair Museum of Art. Pretty much all you see on the drive up from Jacksonville is interstate and semi's, so I killed time by sketching one. That's pretty tough to do when they're speeding by at 80 MPH, but I gave it a shot.

The trip was well worth it. It was a beautiful sunny day, and it's always nice to see another cartoonists originals. There were quite a few (both old and new) included. There was also a significant amount of sculpture as well as large scale drawings. We especially enjoyed the large charcoal drawing he had done on the wall outside of the gallery.

Afterwards we threw back a few pints of Boddingtons at the Six Pence Pub. Very nice, and yes, I'm sporting a beard again.

We drove back yesterday evening. All in all a great way to spend a Saturday.

Your morning McCain

Best taken with a cup of hot, strong, black coffee.

Happy weekend!

-Ed