Angela Merkel

Here's a brand new caricature of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. It was done for a competition on a German cartoon blog, but I was also able to use it for my syndicate.

Enjoy.

-Ed

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

I posted this at one of my other blogging sites, but I thought with him back in the news it made sense to post here as well. Happy Weekend!

-Ed

JCVA Summer Show 2009

JCVA - The Jacksonville Coalition for the Visual Arts opened it's annual summer show last night at the FCCJ South Gallery. It was a pretty good crowd. I was fortunate enough to have two digital drawings featured in the exhibit, and of the few who commented on them, I think they made an impact. People couldn't believe that they were actually drawn from life on a Wacom tablet.

I'll post a few pictures from the show, and repost my drawings. Happy weekend! -Ed

Tuesday night sketch class

I know, these are a couple days late - sorry. I attended Tuesday night because Fathers Day preempted Sunday sketch this week. Here are the results. At first I wasn't completely happy with the drawings, but after tweaking them in Photoshop, I think I'll post. Anyway, even though I never miss an opportunity to draw from the figure, and I really like and appreciate the people who put this class together, there always seems to be some little quirk about this night class that throws me off a bit. This week the model was late. One night we had swarming/biting insects (not kidding). Sometimes the air-conditioning doesn't work, or the model has a stomach virus, or...well, you get the picture. Luckily, one of the people attending the class agreed to pose for the gestures. She was great. I think that even though she was clothed, my drawings of her are my best of the night. When you warm up with one model for gesture, and then you have to switch over to a new figure (new body type, weight, hair, etc.) it can be very distracting. You're already used to the proportions you warmed up with, and then you have to switch your mind over rather quickly to drawing a different person.

I also did something a little different during this class. I pieced together some rolled paper for a life-sized drawing. It was pretty fun, although with the A/C out, I think I got as much sweat on the drawing as I did charcoal. I'll be missing Sunday class again this week. I just hope a giant swarm of locusts doesn't descend on us next Tuesday!

Cheers,

-Ed

PS - I wanted to mention that I have started auctioning off some of my original drawings over on Ebay. The bidding starts really low (usually around 20 bucks). You can find a link to the first auction in the right hand column. Thanks for looking!

Syndicate cartoon

Finally! A national topic to sink my teeth into. I definitely am not prepared to just give Barack Obama a pass on this one. Lately his rhetoric has been so measured that it borders on robotic. Even though, as one journalist noted, we can be be sure which side he's on in the Iranian protests, I would have liked to have seen him shoot a bit more from the hip in his responses - a little less telegraphed, a little more emotive. He made a quick reference to MLK and the freedom marchers, and that was on the right track, but he didn't really follow up on his thoughts like he usually does. Very measured.

More Puerto Rican Hip Hop Studies

Lots to post today, starting with this new study from my Puerto Rican Hip Hop DVD. These stills are turning out to be more challenging than I had originally thought, so I think I'll keep working from this video. I decided to incorporate the landscape in this drawing. I've been to Puerto Rico twice in my lifetime, and the scenery is just spectacular. Oh, and the trees and beaches are beautiful too!

Summer Boating Safety

Another local cartoon. Waterway officials are implementing a crackdown this weekend called Operation Dry Water. The goal is to let people know that boating and alcohol don't mix. Maybe people will think twice about getting into a boat with an operator who is inebriated.

Local cartoon - universal sentiment

One of my local papers did a story this week on sexual predator boundaries. Seems they're changing them from 1000 feet to 2500 feet (minimum proximity to schools). Big whoop. Not to mention that those already living within 2500 feet are grandfathered in; meaning they won't have to move. Only new sexual predators moving into neighborhoods will have to abide by the new restrictions. If you live in the state of Florida and you're interested in knowing if a sexual predator is living in your area, I urge you to go to the FDLE webpage and check it out.

Gallery Opening Thursday

I found out last week that two of my digital drawings got into a show here in Jax. It's the annual JCVA Summer Show and will be held at the FCCJ South Gallery on campus (which is a really nice venue BTW). It's the first time I've had a digitally produced drawing in a show, and I'm really excited about seeing what kind of feedback I get. Anyway, here's he postcard announcing the show. And I'll also re-post one of the drawings that got in.

It should be a nice cross-section of talent from the Jacksonville area. I'm looking forward to the opening. I'll take some pix and post on Friday.

Cheers,

Ed

Oops!

Please disregard that last post. It was for another blog. Doh! I'll leave it up anyway for your perusal.
-E

Ad Boy Post

Have mercy. I just noticed the new challenge (and it's 12 noon deadline) this morning. Got it in with 15 minutes to spare! Whew.

Cheers,

Ed

Splashy girlie pool fun

Well, I went to my local used book store today, and picked up what I thought was another dance/aerobics DVD. It's called Hip Hop Puerto Rico so that should have been a tip off that it might be a little...um...racy. On it there are lots of Puerto Rican girls dancing to hip hop music in provocative states of dress and undress. At one juncture they're actually dancing in a pool, so I figured, what the heck? I'd like to draw Puerto Rican girls, scantily clothed, dancing with each other in a pool. So I did.

Paused at sequence code 34:10 (in case you were wondering). I usually write this number down on each sketch so I can go back and refer to it later. Like if I want to go back and draw a still from a few frames forward or a few frames back.

I'll probably draw a few more stills from this DVD. There's actually some pretty interesting motion/dance sequences, but I just had to get this one in first.

Hope everyone is having a GREAT weekend!

-Ed

More Hula video still studies

As promised, here's a few more hula video still studies. I'm trying to do at least a couple of these a day. Only problem is, this video is kind of repetitive, and it's difficult to find challenging and intriguing poses. I'm going to my local used book/video store today to look for fresh reference. Stay tooned & Happy Weekend!

-E

Photoshop quick sketch and some news

Here's a Photoshop sketch I just finished for practice. I did a little more manipulation with filters in this one, and pushed the shadowing a bit more. It's from a hand drawing I did in figure class last Sunday.

Also, I just found out that The LA Times ran one of my cartoons yesterday. So, just when you think things can't get any crappier, something happens to buoy your spirits and let you know that you're doing OK. BTW, it was the Summer Fun 2009 cartoon from about three posts ago (scroll down to see).

You can see the charcoal drawing that this image came from while you're scrolling back as well.

Look for more stop-action video still drawings tomorrow.

-Ed

Video Still Drawing Redux

I've recently started drawing from video stills again. This time it's from "Hula Hip Hop" a hula dancing aerobic workout video (that explains the grass skirts). These allow me to stay sharp with my figure drawing skills between life sessions. It also gives me the opportunity to experiment with poses that never could be held for a half hour by a live model. The idea to do these actually came from Glenn Fabry's wonderful book "Muscles in Motion : Figure Drawing for the Comic Book Artist."

Local cartoon

I haven't posted many local issue cartoons lately, so I thought I'd throw this one up here. We have a growing problem here in NE Florida. With contingent workers being thrown out of jobs, and displaced by firings, pets are being abandoned at an alarming rate. The shelters are filling up at a time when donations (food, bedding, collars, etc.) are falling. Volunteerism at the shelters is actually up though - and that's a good thing. Many of these abandonings are reported by landlords, who find the apartment has just been left full of pets. Now this is an issue that has always kind of irritated me. If you own a pet, it should be a life long commitment for you (lasting the length of the pet's life). These animals give us so much joy & companionship, that the very least owed to them is that they are not left to starve. Here's the cartoon. I'll probably get letters. Pets are a "raw-nerve" type issue.

More Beam sketches

People certainly seem to like this character. I've had a couple of requests for more posts out of the Beam Moleskine, so here they are. Keep the great comments and suggestions coming. I would love to get more takes on the direction this is taking (if any).

These sketches were all done pretty fast in the Moleskine and then taken into Photoshop for minor touch ups. So most of what you see is marker, charcoal, pencil, and ink wash on paper.

I noticed at the bottom of the page that I've got a few more followers. Welcome! Hope I can keep it interesting for you here.

Cheers,

-E

Here's hoping your summer is going better than this

Today's syndicate cartoon.

Enjoy.

-Ed

Very productive Sunday

I guess sometimes you have to go away from something and miss it a little bit to get the full benefit of coming back to it. So it was yesterday for me in figure drawing class. I used traditional media for the first time in about three months, and I felt really good with the outcome. There is something about working on paper, and getting your arms covered in charcoal up to the elbow that is liberating. You don't get that working on a Wacom tablet. Not to mention the fact that you can get up and move around more easily - sitting under or standing over the figure. At any rate, here's everything from yesterday (good and bad). I'd like to post it all to document my progress. Would love to hear from all of my loyal blog followers!

I've posted the four, three minute gestures first. The rest were basically 20-30 minute poses (we didn't do an hour long reclining pose this time, which was fine by me). This was a new model and she did pretty well; even holding a standing pose for up to 30 minutes. Not an easy task. I'll also throw in the drawing of skinny that I did at the beginning of class. Usually when I do a sketch of the skeleton to warm up before the model arrives, my figure drawings turn out better.

Cheers,

Ed

Here are the longer poses: