Ed takes a do-over

Yesterday I attended what could best be described as a drawing "audition." A major makeup manufacturer is looking for sketch artists to draw patrons at an upcoming event, so they called in a few Jacksonville artists to show them what we had. I wasn't very satisfied with the drawing I did, so I decided to draw the model again today - from memory. Not sure how close I got in terms of a likeness, but I like the drawing, so I'll post it. I'll let you know if I get the job.

-E

Latest Ebay auction closes Sunday!

Here's my latest drawing up for bid at Ebay. You can click here to go check it out, or click on the widget in the right-hand column. If you place the winning bid, you will get the original sketch, plus a signed color/digital print of the finished piece with color. Bid early and bid often - there are quite a few people watching this one. Happy weekend.

-Ed

More with Astral and Beam

..................................................................Henry and I sketched it up yesterday evening at the Starbucks. I'm really enjoying meeting up with him, talking shop, sketching and drinking loads of coffee. He introduced me to a few artists I wasn't familiar with (Claire Wendling being the most interesting), and I promised to bring a couple of books on Egon Schiele and Heinrich Kley next Wednesday. We're still working towards getting page two of A&B finished up. I think my procrastination might be holding things up a bit, but hey, It's not like I don't have other stuff to do all week! We'll get there. For now, we're just having fun with it. Enjoy, and let me hear from you! Cheer.

Last syndicate cartoon of the week

I've been noodling with this idea for about a week now, and yesterday I finally found the right reference photos for the pose, etc. I took a bunch of my grooming accessories (small scissors, tweezers, hemostats, etc.) and my wife's eyelash curlers, and laid them in a pile to draw from for the tools. Originally I had him saying something about brain surgery; but I think, given the circumstances, this is more succinct and just works better. Enjoy. -E

Last local cartoon of the week

Now that I think of it, all of the cartoons I've done this week can play both nationally and in Peoria.

As for the cartoon, let's hope these new numbers are correct. My main business is tied to the residential building industry, so any sign of life is encouraging.

-Ed

Tuesday night digital sketches

I'm finally back in the office and able to upload the results of last night's figure class. It was pretty enjoyable, even though the model didn't show. We had a backup - one of the girls in the coop modeled for us and did a GREAT job. I'm happy to get back to sketching digitally again. Now that I have my technique down somewhat, I'm able to experiment a bit more. I'll post the gestures first and then the two 30 minute poses. Enjoy, and let me hear from you!

This drawing was the "keeper" of the night.

Cheers,

Ed

Gimme some love

I'm feelin' the love today. Found out earlier that my Sotomayor cartoon ran in the Wash. Post Weekly, and my syndicate just emailed, saying how much they liked today's cartoon. Ordinarily when a syndicate email falls in the box, I go into the fetal position under the desk, but today's message was very nice. Thank you very much. Maybe this bodes well for tonight's figure drawing class. Stay tooned! -E

Yes, I do cartoons too...

Here's my second cartoon of the week. I think I'll use it for my syndicate too.

Cheers,

Ed

A&B - on the easel

Over the next couple of week's I'm going to document the progression of an Astral Beam painting I'm working on. I'll be painting (real, physical, wet-paint painting) and then dragging a photo into Photoshop, working that up, and then going back to the easel to start the process all over again -until finished. Here's stage 1 - mainly just charcoal, gesso and a little gouache. I need more gouache. Astral's figure was taken from a gesture drawing I did on Sunday. I liked the pose so much I decided to use it. I like the fact that he's looking off-canvas at something we don't see and she doesn't suspect. We'll see how that develops. Comments welcome.

-Ed

PS - I've got drawing class tonight. Hopefully I'll have some good stuff to show in the morning. Cheers.

One hour left to bid for "Jessica Reading"

That's 60 little minutes...3600 tiny seconds. Click here to go to this week's Ebay Auction,
and thanks for bidding!
Cheers,
Ed

SFG Skull Project

Every week SFG picks a topic to creatively kick start it's members. This week's subject - skulls. Here's what I came up with this morning. It's nice to have a full-sized skeleton in your studio for just such things. :-)

-E

Brazen self-promotion alert!

The Ebay auction for this drawing ends tomorrow. That means you've got just 24 hours to bid on a piece of my original artwork (it's a large drawing too - 18" x 24"). Go to the widget in the right-hand column of this page to bid or just click here. Bid early and bid often, as these are starting to get snatched up. Payment is easy and quick through PayPal. I'll post a different drawing every week, so keep checking in if you don't like this week's offering.

Thanks & happy bidding!

-Ed

First syndicate cartoon of the week

"stupid is as stupid does..."

F. Gump

Enjoy,

Ed

PS - couldn't help but think that this looks like the start of a bad joke - three guys walk into a bar...

Sunday sketches

Here are the results from today's figure sketch class. I've worked a couple of them up in Photoshop after the fact. I'll post a few gesture drawings first, and then the longer poses.

I made my gesture drawings much smaller today than usual. I wanted to use the blue pencil to rough them out, and then go over that with graphite. Not easy to do in 3 minutes, but I'm happy with the results.

The 20 minute sketches are almost all washes, worked back into with colored pencil.

I really like this model. She has a shock of brilliant red hair, and a great form for figure studies. For some reason today though, she moved a lot and couldn't seem to hold the pose as well as last time.

Enjoy. -Ed

Another in the PR Hip Hop Series

A brand new Puerto Rican Hip Hop sketch with color! I'm going to post the original drawing along side so you can see how it progressed. We've got drawing class tomorrow, with a really great model, so look for some new life sketches either late evening or first thing in the morning on Monday. Hope you're having a happy weekend!

Cheers,

Ed

I made the Daily Beast!

Pretty cool - sharing page space with Oliphant.

Colorized Astral

I decided to take one of the sketches I did on Wednesday and add color to it. I'm getting to the point now with Astral where I think she's stylized enough - a good balance between figurative accuracy and a comic appeal. Maintaining that stylization will be the trick.

Surfing tomorrow, and drawing class on Sunday. Happy weekend.

-Ed

Sketchin' at the Starbucks

My weekly sketch/brainstorm session with Henry was last night, followed by a trip to the Starlite Lounge to watch one of our friends drumming in his new band. All fun. No worries. I'll post what Henry and I came up with. There was a girl working on her computer behind us and I sketched her until she caught me. This is a mock up of page 4 - we made some changes.Most of this A/B stuff won't make much sense out of context, but suffice it to say, this was as much for my brain pan as it was for the drawings we produced. More to come soon with Astral and Beam. We're still getting the kinks worked out, but I feel like mentally I made some strides yesterday. Stay tooned.

-E

PS - someone mentioned to me that they would love to be a fly on the wall while we're sketching this stuff, so I'm including a couple of real time photos of our Starbuck's work table.

Another syndicate cartoon

120 Billion dollars to go back to the moon? That'd at least pay off one of my credit card bills.

Enjoy.

-Ed

First syndicate cartoon of the week

I'll say one thing for Barack Obama. He's not afraid to attack sacred cows. You'd think that after seeing what Hillary went through on Health Care during her husband's administration, he'd back off, but he doesn't appear to be backing down from anything. Social Security will be next. Let's see what happens when he grabs hold of that rail!

PR Hip Hop sketch #10 - before color

It's come to my attention that some of you would like to see these sketches before I add color. OK - here's the next one that is currently sitting on the Wacom tablet, waiting for me to break out the crayons. I used a red and blue pencil to sketch it off the TV. I love this pose. Full color to follow - stay tooned.

-E

Another PR Hip Hop DVD still

I stylized this one a bit more than others I've been working on lately. I wanted to see what she would look like with a more Mangaesque-type feel (big eye's, exaggerated features, etc.). Now I think it's time to start concentrating on this week's first cartoon. Can anyone say...caffiene..?

Sunday Sketch Post

Finally, here are the sketches from today's class. I experimented a bit with torn paper, glue, spit, and washes - so some of these may seem a little messy. Sometimes you've got to make a mess to find your way. Anyway, I'll post these in no particular order. Enjoy, and comments welcome.

-Ed

Made my deadline - whew!

I made yesterday's 5 o'clock deadline with about 20 minutes to spare. I'm not usually that late, but I got caught up at a creative lunch, and couldn't get away. So here it is. Luckily I had already sketched it in the morning.

Spending money during a recession is counter to what most municipalities are doing right now. But the investment in a center for small business seems like a no-brainer to me.

Good bet.

Enjoy, and, as always - happy weekend!

-Ed

PS - drawing class tomorrow with one of my favorite models. I'll probably sketch with the computer, so stay tooned for that.

Brand new PR Hip Hop sketch!

Here's another Puerto Rican Hip Hop study from a paused DVD still. I don't know why, but I just can't seem to get enough of scantily clad latina women dancing in a pool. I'm starting to experiment a bit more with the color, and I like where it's going. I just sold another original sketch on Ebay. Look for a new auction every week. If you like my work, and you want to own an original, you can't beat the starting prices. Thanks to everyone who bid, and hello to all of my new followers, both here and on Facebook.

Cheers,

Ed