More life sketching in the Moleskine

Here are a few sketches from this past week. I haven't made it out to any figure drawing sessions lately, so these where drawn just sittin' around the Starbucks and the Barnes & Noble. I think people sit much longer at B & N, because ALOT of people are actually using it as a library. You'll see someone sit for an hour and read an entire magazine, or stay for three hours and finish a book. I'm becoming much more interested in observing these people lately; their little quirks, facial expressions, body language. I also enjoy the variety of people that you see at these venues - all walks of life - all ethnicity's, genders, cross-genders, old, young, boring, sexy. Whatever. I want to throw it all in there. There's something about drawing people in their natural environment, that has inspired me to do some larger, more finished pieces based upon everyday genre scenes. Stay tooned for that & have a great weekend.

Cheers,

Ed

First Syndicate cartoon of the week

I skipped figure drawing tonight to finish this one up for the syndicate package. I've seen several takes on this topic so far this week, but not this one. That dude sitting at the background table is from a sketch I did at Barnes & Noble the other night; so it looks like some of my Moleskine stuff is actually starting to creep into my cartoons. I like that.

Tomorrow it's sketchin' at the Starbucks with Henry and Dat. Hopefully I'll find some more characters to include in future cartoons.

Let me hear from you!

Cheers,

Ed

Henry, Dat, a retirement seminar & a major headache

I skipped figure drawing today, so I'm just gonna post out of the Moleskine. This first page shows a couple o' sketches of my homies hangin' at the Starbucks last week. That's Henry on the left and Dat on the right. This second drawing is from a retirement seminar we attended on Saturday. These people were very intent upon figuring out the best place to put all of their money. On a very separate note, McAfee trashed one of my Windows XP systems on Wednesday; forcing me into a 4 day tech support/telephone/spiral & loss of productivity. I finally have it back up and running, but it goes without saying that I'm not happy with my virus software of choice. Said software is supposed to keep your system "clean" - not go into your system32 directory and delete a critical system file. Unfortunately, that's exactly what the last update of McAfee did. They won't admit to it, but my theory is that a disgruntled employee left a little "gift" before he/she left. In my case (and many others) automatic update equalled automatic sh*t storm. Here's hoping for a better week! Cheers, Ed

Break out the crayons!

I needed a business-related cartoon for one of my monthlies, so I decided to color this one up.

I've been fighting a particularly nasty cold this week, so between coughing fits, and repeated nose blowings, it's been a miracle I've gotten anything done.

Not much life sketching lately either, so I think I'm going to drag myself to the Sunday figure sketch class. Stay tooned for that. The downtown studio space I've been working at with Dat seems to be staying (after some uncertainty), so I'm going to try to get over there soon and start a new painting. Other than that, not too much planned for the weekend - except R&R.

Happy, happy, sniff, sniff,

-Ed

New syndicate cartoon

I sent an extra cartoon into my syndicate this week. During a head cold-induced fever two nights ago, I managed to scribble this onto a piece of paper. I'm feeling much better now, thank you very much.

Enjoy. -Ed

Remember - be sweet - retweet...

Another local cartoon

One of our reporters did a piece last week on the new 3D TV technology. The Ponte Vedra area was one of the National test sites for it's release, & they used the Masters as the network premiere. I noticed a couple of bystanders get plonked with errant tee shots during the tournament, so this image just kinda seemed funny to me.

I'd like to welcome all of the new followers to the blog. Halltoons has picked up friends all over the world lately, so to see where people are tuning in, check out the interactive map in the right-hand column. And, if you haven't joined, take a second to sign up at the bottom of the page to be notified when I update.

Coffee and sketching with Henry tonight at the Starbucks. Stay tooned.

Cheers,

Ed

New local cartoon

A farmers market opened in Macclenny last week to rave reviews. This made me wonder if the shift to local farm products might actually be real and happening across America. "Grown locally" is a phrase I've heard used recently by chefs, restaurants, & consumers alike. Along with do-it-yourself above ground gardens and spice buckets, people are beginning to see the benefits of fresh, home-grown products & vegetables that haven't been out of the ground too long. Heck, we've got cilantro, basil & scallions growing ourselves, and my neighbor's back yard looks like a tomato farm. My brother is doing the "upside-down tomato bucket thing," another recent trend with the price of tomatoes sky-rocketing.

More stuff to post later.

Cheers,

Ed

One more from Wednesday's Dr. Sketchy

Forgot to post this one. It was hiding in the back of the Moleskine. Did I mention that this Bar was really small? She looked like a giant up on that tiny stage.

Enjoy, and Happy Weekend!

-Ed

Last syndicate cartoon of the week

I've been noodling all week with ways to show that the economy is still shaky. I also wanted to show that no matter how much money they pump into the system, if they don't fix and enforce the regulatory restrictions on banking, we're going to be headed back into the same rough seas. Finally settled on this image. I like showing rogue bankers as pirates, because that's essentially what they are.

I've had a busy week. Time for some R & R. See you on the other side of the weekend!

-Ed

The Doctor is in!

We had our monthly Dr. Sketchy session here in Jacksonville last night, and as usual Chris and the girls put on a GREAT show. The theme was the 70's, and the model wore giant sunglasses, sported tube socks, & had vintage records, turntables, headphones etc. as props. It was pretty cool, albeit a little cramped (and smokey) in the Lomax Lodge. We sat on the floor, so most of these drawings are "worm's-eye" view.

There was a pretty good turnout too considering no one really knew where or when it was going to be held until the last minute. I worked both on loose sheets and in my Moleskine.

Dr. Sketchy's is a very fast paced drawing session. Most poses at the beginning only last about 3-5 minutes. Thankfully they usually finish up with a couple of 20 minute poses. Dat and Henry were there, and they both won prizes.

In another interesting twist, the model sported some smiley face pasties (cute). I've got one more of these to tweak and post later today or tomorrow. Stay tooned for that. I'll be looking forward to next month's event (location to be determined).

OK, enough distraction, time to start cartooning again!

Cheers,

Ed

Today's cartoons - one down - one to go

Here's my first syndicate cartoon of the week. I'll be inking my local PVR toon after lunch and then attending tonight's Dr. Sketchy session. Stay tooned and let me hear from you!

Cheers,

Ed

CitrusCel was a blast!

A couple of photos from this past weekend's CitrusCel Animation Festival. I was invited to jury the student character design submissions, and the quality of work was phenomenal (as were all of the films). I think it may have inspired me to get back into animation.

Here I am with my buddy & fellow artist Henry.

And here I am with event organizer, coordinator, and all around good guy Shane Douberly.

Shane has a company here in Jacksonville called Dripsblack. Check it out.

Cheers,

Ed

Moleskine...Tuesday

Here's a few more pages from my most recent Moleskine. This one's almost full, so it looks like I'll be ordering soon. There's a good mix in here from Starbucks, figure drawing class, this weekend's animation festival, etc. I think I'm going to take the first one and turn it into a large painting with life-sized figures. I'm kinda intrigued by the subject matter and the mood I was able to evoke in that sketch. Technically I really like the way the figures "spill" across the page in this next one.

And, for this last one I added a little color with my new Pentel Watercolor brushes. Look for a review of these in an upcoming post. Three more cartoons to do for the week, and possibly a Dr. Sketchy's session (if I can find out when & where it's gonna be held). Stay tooned.

Cheers,

Ed

(be kind - retweet)

First local toon o' the week

Or as I like to describe it, "making Michael Vick look like a saint."

Much more to post shortly from last night's figure drawing session and this weekend's Citruscel animation festival.

Stay tooned.

-Ed

My NPR interview podcast

http://www.wjct.org/mp3/weekly/fcct.mp3

I come in around the 20:25 minute mark.

Thanks for listening!

-Ed

WJCT
“Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” veterans group in Jacksonville; Local cartoonist Ed Hall; Allergy Awareness Month- Borland Groover Clinic
Tue, 13 Apr 2010 09:00:00 GMT
First Coast Connect
Host Melissa Ross gets plugged in to everything that’s happening around the First Coast. Monday-Friday 9am.
First Coast Connect-Week in Review, 89.9FM, 89.9, WJCT, Melissa Ross, First Coast, Jacksonville, Week In Review, Florida, NPR

Interviewed tomorrow on First Coast Connect

I'm going to be interviewed by Melissa Ross tomorrow about my life as a local editorial cartoonist & working artist. Not sure if I will be taking questions, but be sure to tune in! http://www.wjct.org/radio/shows/wjct_news#fcc

Please retweet!

Thanks,

Ed

Local cartoon that worked Nationally

The unemployment rate in Baker County is 12%. Nationwide it currently stands at 9.7%. I modified this cartoon to work for both.

It's been a weird week creatively, so not much to post.

We went to ArtWalk with the niece on Wednesday, and I've been asked to judge the student work for The Citrus Cel Animation festival being held here this weekend. I got an advance look at some of the designs during ArtWalk and the stuff looks really cool. I'll be judging tonight, and the festival runs through Sunday. I'll probably hit the studio with Dat in a couple of days, and we've got another model scheduled for Monday night. Stay tooned, and HAPPY weekend!

-Ed

$140,000? Really?

Missed posting this one last week, so here it is. Evidently there is a local family suing the St. Johns County School District for $140,000 over a song their kid was asked to sing. The song included the word "God," and I think the family and lawyers saw an opening. UN-freaking-believable.

Doggone progress

I'm currently working on a process piece involving dogs. This is only the first stage - I worked on it a ton over the weekend, and it is evolving. This drawing is big too - about 48" x 88". The dogs are slightly larger than life-sized. I might meet Dat over there again tonight to draw - not sure - we'll see. I'm inking a cartoon right now, and I've got three more to do before Wednesday. Ugh. Stay tooned, and let me hear from you.

Cheers,

-E

PS - thanks for the photo Dat!

Yuki

I spent part of Sunday in the studio with Dat. He knew I was working on a series of drawings & paintings of dogs, so he was kind enough to bring Yuki along for me to sketch. I think I have a new friend. Dogs always seem to like me though. Anyway I did these quick studies of her in my Moleskine as she transitioned between sleep and bouncing around the room. Good practice for gesture. She also sat pretty still while I used reference of her limbs and muscles for the larger drawing I'm working on. I should have some process photos to show of that later today. Stay tooned. -Ed

More Moleskine Pages

I'm now carrying my Moleskine with me everywhere I go. Yesterday it was the dog park. Today I'm going to bring it with me to the movies. I enjoy mixing architectural, landscape & still life elements with figures and portraits. I'm also getting pretty good at sketching the backs of people's heads. I think people can really sense when you're you're drawing them, and the reactions vary wildly from "Let me see that!," to a simple smile, to them actually getting up and moving to another part of the room. No worries, I just draw them in profile or from a different angle!Anyway, this book is almost filled, so I think it might be time to start a new one. Stay tooned, and happy weekend!

-Ed

Kickin' it old school with Cray-pas

We had our Wednesday coffee & sketch ritual last night at Starbucks. The three of us - Henry (Bee), Dat (abstract) and myself (doggie) all worked in Cray-Pas for a couple of hours. Here's what we came up with. I had forgotten how much I like this crayon/pastel for drawing. When I was a kid, it was standard issue in school to have Cray-pas as one of your art supplies.I also liked the diverse approaches the three of us took with the media. BTW, if you're not familiar with Cray-pas, here's some background from Sakura of America. It's an interesting story as to how this media was developed and invented. http://www.sakuraofamerica.com/Craypas-History