A local cartoonist has been getting some national attention and he’s been using social media to share his work.
Ed Wilson has worked with the Wacamaw Paper for the past two years.
“I’m 68 years old but I have a career that I love. I have the greatest job in the world,” said Wilson.
Cartooning is a second career for the retiree; who spent time in banking, the medical field and state and national politics, “and i think that has really helped me in my editorial cartoons.”
He says those experiences have given him a broader perspective when sitting down to draw, “and I’m always striving to be better at knowing what’s happening, not just my point a view, but the worlds point of view.”
Wilson says he doesn’t allow his personal views to impact his work, “with my cartooning I try to bring out the liberal point of view with a little satire but also the conservative point of view too.”
Sharing his opinions, in the hopes of starting a discussion, “and I’m not trying to make them think one way or the other. I’m trying to give them view points of how other think in certain situations, and they can draw their own conclusion.”
His comics hit the editorial pages once a week, but he doesn’t stop there, he also puts his cartoons up on twitter and he says that’s gained him some unexpected attention.
“I had a couple picked up (nationally), which has surprised me. I didn’t think it was going to happen and didn’t know until friends called me and said, ‘we saw this on here’.”
Beyond online publications, Wilson is also working on getting his comics syndicated nationally, “hopefully when I go to the meeting in Columbus, Ohio with the Association of Editorial Cartoonists. They’re great, they’ll guide me.”
He says working on his comics has given him a new lease on life, “thank goodness for this. I have a whole new career. I mean, I love what I’m doing.”
Since joining the Waccamaw Papers in 2014, Wilson has won the South Carolina Press Association’s award for editorial cartooning.
You can find his work in many local papers, and of course online on his twitter page.