I realized over the weekend that many people who read my blog don’t know my art/media background, or they may just be misinformed. When I first started SOUTH DaCOLA I sent out this initial BIO to the publications I was soliciting:
Hi,
I’m South Dakota cartoonist Scott L. Ehrisman, and I would like to tell you a little bit about myself.
Originally born in Iowa, I grew up on a farm in Eastern South Dakota about five miles West of Milltown on the James River. My mother’s family hails from the Scotland area, where my grandparents worked as farmers and small business owners. My father’s side of the family is from the Wagner area where my great grandfather’s father homesteaded. My roots in South Dakota run deep, not just in agriculture but also in the newspaper and media industry. My late great uncle Marvin Blaha owned and operated The Scotland Journal, The Tyndall Tribune and The Springfield Times. He also owned an advertising supplement called The Rocket that was distributed into 15 weekly newspapers in the area.
After receiving a Associate Degree at Southeast Technical in Graphic Design and printing production I have worked full-time as a designer for almost 15 years in Sioux Falls in various sign and print shops. I have also worked part-time as radio DJ on KWSN & KRRO. I have also maintained a free-lance design business for the past 7 years. Besides graphic design, I am also a political pop artist and painter, and have been a volunteer editorialist for local magazines and newspapers. This is how my interest in editorial cartooning began.
I have been doing political cartoons and illustrations for about a year for various publications, political blogs and websites. I decided that with my deep interest in politics, current events and art that I would pursue a more serious approach to my cartooning.
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I have always been sort of an ‘experimental’ artist. Not really caring to much about tradition. I have tried my hand at many art forms, and though I will be the first to admit, I’m not an expert at each form, I do like to dabble in them all.
With cartooning I like to take a different approach then others. I always write my cartoons first then use either photo-manipulation or Adobe Illustrator to trace OR draw my toons. The main reason I do my toons that way? Fast and Easy. I believe an editorial cartoon is about a message first, image second. I think some of my simplest (image) toons are the best. I’m not a big fan of messy, busy, wordy cartoons.
Here’s some examples of my other work:
