MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — His big break as a professional illustrator was creating clocks with toothbrush pendulums, then word spread among dentists.
"They would buy the clocks but then say, hey, could you design a mural for us, would you design a logo, could you do this brochure, it just took off from there," Norris Hall said.
The artist has a whimsical style that appeals to museums, businesses, schools and even the state of Tennessee for license plates.
He's a favorite for children's book authors like Sheila Booth Alberstadt. They worked together one book years ago but just released it. The theme is perfect for the pandemic.
"We had started calling it the booger book. The official title is 'Maggie McNair Get Your Finger out of There,'" he said. "Since March, you know, that kind of thing has been on people's minds a lot about spreading disease and keeping your fingers out of your nose and out of your mouth and out of your eyes and all that. And that's what that whole book was about written four years ago. So, we decided now's the time to get that thing out."
He changes up his artistic approach for portraits he calls scribbles.
"I just do those little portraits. I have have done some commissions for those people, family members, but mainly I just, that's something I just do late at night by myself when I'm sitting here," he said.
He's scribbled regular folks and celebrities, too.
"Every artist, I think, I think it's a law you have to draw Dolly. She is just such an icon and especially for us Tennesseans," he said.
For this Tennessean, the pandemic hurt his business in one significant way.
When the coronavirus closed dental offices, his dentist work dried up.
But now it's back and he has a new book that's coming out in February.
"It's my first comic book. It's called the 'Galactic Adventures of Captain Zepto.' I'm a big sci-fi fan so it fit right into my, it's not a serious, of course it's funny, it's a lot of fun," he said. "We've got one another one coming out called the 'Teacher's Pet' starring Mutzphey and Milo."
Norris Hall is a Tennessee artist with broad appeal, who won't let a pandemic stifle his creativity.