In case you missed it...

OK, I lied, THIS is the last post of 2009...

I was flattered, and a little bit saddened to be asked to do the final cover for The Washington Post National Weekly Edition. Originally we'd planned on showing the first cover on the easel, but after drawing the blank "hole" for the image, I got this idea, and the editor liked it. In fact, she liked it so much, that they had it printed on t-shirts for the staff. Too cool.

I'll miss working with this editor. She was the best.

One more thing about this new year's eve - please don't drink and drive. Seriously, assign a designated driver.

-Ed

Last Post of 2009!

Here it is - the last post of the year. Here's hoping everyone has a better 2010.

-Ed

New syndicate cartoon

This one came to me on Christmas day - like a gift.

Just a couple more days left in 2009, and one more cartoon to do.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy week.

-Ed

Last post before Christmas

Here's my last cartoon of the week - I promise. Had to get this one out though. If you haven't read about the PAC money that is going to influence your Senators on Health Care, you probably should. It's amazing who's on the list. Here's a quote from one of their lawyers: "If you're not at the table, you're on the menu." I'm not sure which is more shameful; an uninformed public, or the fact that it's happening.

Whatever you're celebrating this month, make it GREAT.

All best,

Ed

Merry Christmas to my friends up North!

Throw back a Molson for me!

Cheers,

Ed

More syndicate stuff

Here's another syndicate cartoon. This one has been laying around on my desk in sketch form all week. Finally got around to inking it this morning. I'm not sure if I will do another cartoon this week. There might be one more in the chamber. We'll see. Stay tooned.

-E

Another local toon

We've got a bit of a "Nixonesque" controversy going on in St. Johns County right now. I’ll let you figure it out, but suffice it to say I won't be getting any more popular with the local gentry. I never miss an opportunity to draw muscle cars, old tin shacks or hunting dogs, especially when it aids me in rubbing the goons running things. I've got one more cartoon to do and then I can enjoy the the rest of the week. I think I smell a Mac under the tree! That’d be a first. Stay tooned.
-Ed

Sunday sketch results

I was pretty happy with the drawings I did yesterday. In some ways I feel like I'm finally coming out of the funk I've been in. I've been working on trying to maintain spontaneity in the work, and think about different ways of approaching the drawings. Anyway, I'll post a few gestures, the two long poses we did (50 minutes each), and the final 20 minute pose for which I did a kind of planar portrait study. It's the one at the top of this post. I may do more of these in the near future. Comments welcome.

-Ed

Monday morning toon

Getting a jump on my syndicate and local cartoons this week. Here's one that worked for both. I had a pretty productive Sunday sketch class - look for those drawings later after the sun peeks through.

-E

Misc. Monday Marker Mayhem

Here's just a fun little practice sketch I did on Monday and forgot to post. I used some new Tombow markers I picked up in Savannah for the color. We've got Sunday figure sketch class tomorrow, and Hillary as our model, so stay tooned for that. I've also still got that news to post next week. Waiting for the project to go to print before I comment on that.

Happy weekend.

-Ed

New cartoon - Holiday Disconnect

This cartoon grew out of an article I had read in USA Today, and a conversation I had last night with my Wednesday sketch/coffee buddies. Thanks guys!

-Ed

New syndicate cartoon

Here's the latest for the syndicate. With Bernanke, and the Wall Street bankers in the news today, I figured this was befitting our current economic situation. You would not believe how difficult it is to find a picture of the interior of Treasury. Must be a security thing. I ended up making something up from several vague references on Google Image. Hope it's close.

-E

Man of the Year

In honor of him being named Time's Man of the Year, I thought I'd re-post an old illustration I did of Ben Bernanke back before the current economic crisis. I'll throw in the pencil sketch studies of his head as well.

Sketchbook Pro Practice

BTW, if you'd like to have your pet sketched (for a slight fee), please contact me. I do pet caricatures as well as people caricatures.

-E

Savannah, Georgia - Winter 2009

Sunday sketch results

I've been waiting for the sun to break through the fog this morning. These are still a little dark, but I wanted to get them posted. I'll post a couple of gestures and the (3) 20 minute poses.

This last drawing may actually get me out of the funk I've been in lately. It''s been months since I've done anything I've liked this much. Enjoy, and let me hear from you!

We've got another 3 hour pose tonight. I may do something a little different. Stay tooned.

-Ed

Ebay auctions closing today

A few people are watching these. Get your bids in early - auctions close this afternoon.

Click here or here.

Thanks!

-Ed

I made the Daily Beast again!

I got a cartoon into the Daily Beast roundup again. Here's the link, edited by our very own Ted Rall. Thanks Ted!

Last syndicate cartoon of the week

Enjoy.

See you next week!

-Ed

3 hour pose results

We did a three hour pose with a live model Monday night, and I wanted to have a chance to work back into it in Photoshop before I posted it. Here's the drawing portion. I want to get a kind of cross between a painterly technique and a graphic technique when I add the color. I tried it tonight, but I wasn't happy with it, so I'll hit it again tomorrow. All of the work you see here was done in Painter and Photoshop. Drawn directly from life on the Wacom tablet. No original.

-Ed

PS - Big news on the illustration front next week! Stay tooned.

Local toon

The library addition and funding went off without a hitch. The jail renovation? - not so much.

Syndicate cartoon

I've started reading more about the student uprisings in Iran. As Westerners we should see this as a sign of hope.

Sunday sketch

Here's the results of today's class. Ashley was the model. Instead of several 20 minute poses, we did two, one-hour poses and a few gestures. For the last one I decided to use colored pencils. The gestures are done with an ink wash brush. We've got a three hour pose tomorrow night, and I think I'm going to try a portrait in Photoshop. Stay tooned for that, along with some potentially BIG illustration news on Tuesday. Hope you're having a GREAT weekend!

-Ed

Last cartoon of the week

After hearing how Healthcare might be Obama's Waterloo, I started thinking how everything facing him now is like a Waterloo. Problem is, image and charisma ain't gonna be enough to tackle all of it. Eventually he's going to have to show some success, or his approval rating will continue to slide. I've got drawing classes on Sunday and Monday, so I probably won't send another post until Tuesday. Have a happy weekend!

-Ed

Syndicate cartoon

Let's hope that recent signs of life are a harbinger of better things in 2010. It can't get much worse.

-E

Tuesday's local toon

St. Johns County conducted a survey last week to determine if it's students were being assigned too much home work. The numbers broke down like this: 53% no, 32% yes, and 5% don't know. I thought it would be interesting to see this from the kid's point of view. Enjoy.

Now it's on to the big guns in Washington. I'm tinkering with something on the Obama troop surge (call it what you will). Stay tooned for that.

-Ed

Local cartoon to start off the week

It looks like the only ones to benefit from Dupont calling the County's bluff on the location of their new mine will be - you guessed it - the lawyers. Location and timing are the key sticking issues, and now that the lawyers are involved, you can bet it's going to get ugly.

I've got my idea for my other local toon this week, and will be inking it shortly.

BTW, a big HELLO to the latest follower of the blog! #41, welcome.

-Ed

Sunday Sketch Post

Sunday was kind of a transition day for me. We've been on vacation for a week in Savannah, and it was great. Lots of art and architecture to look at, and VERY inspiring. I don't know what it is about that town that gets my creative juices flowing, but it does. Also, how funny is it, that the day we get back from Savannah, our model is Savannah? Weird.

Anyway, I bought some new art supplies while I was there (two of the best art supply stores in the Southeast are in Savannah), and I wanted to try them out. For these two drawings I was working with colored ink brushes from Japan, and some graphite blocks - also experimenting with some new approaches to my figure drawings (POV, mark-making, etc.). There was definitely some rust from being away for a week. Regardless of that, I told myself a long time ago that I was going to try to post everything here - warts and all. So here's a couple of the less "strained" ones. I was actually happy with the gestures too, so I may post those later. Comments welcome.

-Ed

Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy the scraps...

Here's hoping we've all hung onto enough to enjoy the holidays!

Gobble, gobble.

-Ed

Last minute syndicate toon

It never fails. Whenever I eat salmon the night before, I always wake up with an idea for a cartoon. No exception this morning, so I scribbled this down for my last pre-Thanksgiving toon. No more drawing for a week now. It's gonna be tough, but I'm gonna try. -Ed

BTW - I know that his name is actually Levi "Johnston." I'm hoping that won't effect the impact of the toon.

Happy Weekend! -Ed

One more syndicate cartoon for the week

I'm rapidly approaching my goal of NO cartooning over the Thanksgiving holiday! 2 more to go! Stay tooned.

-Ed

A nice little write up from a collector

http://www.raggedclaws.com/home/2009/11/15/jessica-resting-on-couch-2009-by-ed-hall/

This guy bought the drawing of Jessica shown here last week in one of my Ebay auctions, and posted a nice little blurb about me. He's got some great original artwork on his blog. Check it out.

Another syndicate toon

I pieced this cartoon together from three different sketches on three different pages in three different sketchbooks. Sometimes it just works out that way. I also used my handy digital duoshade (which I haven't broken out in a while) for the shading on Obama and the elephants. I've still got a few more cartoons left to do for the week, so I can be work-free over Thanksgiving. Stay tooned.

-Ed

An after Thanksgiving cartoon - a week early

I've decided that I'm not going to work the week of Thanksgiving this year. So that means I have to get everything done this week to allow ample time for consumption of massive quantities of football and tryptophan. Here's one that will run on the day after Thanksgiving. The idea came to me like a shot in my sleep last night. I scribbled something down in the dark, and managed to decipher it this morning. I like the way this cartoon combines an after Thanksgiving theme with the current job loss situation across the country. It passed the smell test with the missus, so I'm good to go. Now just 4 more cartoons by Friday and I can start gorging myself.

Gobble, gobble...

-Ed

Lovin' me some Pronto Plate

I've never done any lithography before. Mostly because the thought of lugging around a fifty pound block didn't appeal to me. But a couple of weeks ago, my printmaking buddy extraordinaire, Vinnie started bugging me (hounding me actually) to try a product called Pronto Plate. I picked some up at our local art supply store, and it looked just like vellum to me. Well, it doesn't print like vellum. I couldn't be happier with these results, and I can't wait to try this again. I may even experiment a bit with it in-house with a few of my previous drawings. We'll see. In the meantime, I've got a limited run of 10 up on Ebay, and the bidding on the fifth one ends on Sunday, so get in early. Click here for the auction. After I sell the 10 prints, that's it. No more. Look for more drawings from last night and a cartoon later today.

Cheers,

Ed

A local cartoon

Lots of cartoons this week, huh? I really enjoyed inking this one. One of my cartooning brothers told me once that when I'm designing cartoons with mechanical elements, I look like a duck in water. I'd agree with that. Off to figure drawing class. Stay tooned.

-Ed

A lost Jessica drawing

Don't know how I forgot to post this one, but I did. This is from two Sunday's ago. Found it buried under a pile of other sketches, and liked it so much I decided to post it.

We've got Tuesday night sketch class tonight, so look for some new stuff tomorrow. Also, my buddy "Vinnie D" has informed me that my pronto plate lithos from this past Sunday printed well, so I can't wait to see those tonight! Stay tooned.

-E