I learned about "Plug Uglies" when I watched "Gangs of New York" several years ago. As the sum of human knowledge is available on Wikipedia, I invite you to look there to learn more. One thing that I didn't actually find in the Wikipedia article, which makes me doubt my memory, is that these Plug Uglies were employed by a particular fire company, and would go and sit on a fire plug in front of a raging fire to make sure a competing fire company didn't get there first and get the money. I'm not going to get into the socialism debate because I'd rather politics not be a part of this blog, but I'm just glad the fire department operates differently now.
This is drawn from a photo I took this fall when our family was in line outside Hot Doug's (are you in Chicago? Go there. Yes, you'll stand in line. It's worth it.). There's a fire plug right in front, and it's one of the things my son was amused by while we waited to get inside (that's my mother-in-law steadying him...she wasn't in the drawing originally, but I added her in so you could see why his arm was pulled back). Isn't his raincoat cute? It's got alligators on it!
I'm in love with the 8B pencil. It feels so good to draw with, and I love making the shadows. I do not know how to effectively erase, though. I'm using a Prismacolor plastic eraser, which came with my pencil kit, and I can't remove even the lightest lines and smudges.
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