I thought about making this a Sunday Mailbag question, but thought it deserved it’s own post since it deals with some pertinent issues on the changing dynamics of today’s publishing world. I have received not a few queries from readers of The MAD Blog, friends and colleagues asking me why I went the self-publishing route instead of shopping the book about to established publishers. A few went so far as to hint I was being hypocritical insofar as they say I have showed some level of disdain for self-publishing in the past.

Let me address that last point first. I am not sure where I gave the impression I think all self-publishing is nonsense. That is quite inaccurate. In fact, as few years ago I wrote this blog post about the new face of independent publishing, and how self-publishers are rising from the image of narcissistic self-servers and producing high-quality and very worthwhile content while cutting out the traditional publisher/middleman. It’s true that this was not always the case, and that 10-15 years ago “self-published” probably meant not good/sellable enough to interest a publisher. That is simply no longer the case. Several good pals of mine have self-published some great books that are very worth having and can be compared to the best of the fare published by the big publication houses. In certain conditions it makes more sense to self-publish than it does to take a book to a traditional publisher, even though it is likely one would be happy to publish the tome… I’ll get to those conditions in a minute.

I think where those making those allegations about my perceived self-publishing bias are confusing general contempt for my dislike of a certain type of self-published work… the “Hey, Look at Me!” book. This is the type of book that serves no purpose other than to collect and reproduce the work of an artist. In my view, those types of books are only appropriate for an artist with a significant and influential body of work. Too many of these books are done by artists who, while their work might be really good, have done nothing to justify publishing a collection of it. Having been an illustrator for a few years, doing a few dozen jobs and having a blog where 50 of the same people post “awesome!” in the comments after the artist posts their latest cocktail-napkin sketch does not give one the “art cred” to collect their work in a book. That’s just my opinion, of course… call me old-fashioned. Not all are like this. There are many self-published books of this type where the artists behind them do merit such treatment, and have the “art cred” to back it up. My pal Steve Silver has several collections of his work self-published, and with his considerable credits in the world of animation he has a name and career worthy of interest.

So why did I self-publish if I hold such “Hey, Look at Me!” books in contempt? Simply because The Mad Art of Caricature! is NOT a “Hey, Look at Me!” book. It has a much different purpose and content, and that is the difference. I know a number of other artists who have published books that have a point outside the simple publication of their art, and that added dimension is what elevates self-publishing from narcissism to something that has greater appeal. Joe Bluhm‘s book Rejects, for example, is not just a book full of his terrific art, but a collection of live caricatures that were rejected by the customer complete with the story behind each AND an examination of the live caricaturist’s eternal dilemma between producing art and producing a product. That is fascinating and a great premise for a book. The Mad Art of Caricature! is a how-to-draw book that examines the art of caricature in a comprehensive and (hopefully) easy to understand way, and is only self-serving in the fact that my name is on the cover and my art is illustrating it. I do reference some of my own experiences in the book, but only in a way that illustrates or reinforces some point or lesson on caricature I am trying to communicate. It is about as far from a “Hey, Look at Me!” book as possible. For the record, in my opinion I have not had the kind of career worthy of a “The Art of…” type book—and would never presume to publish such a thing… maybe after another 20 years of professional work, but not now.

The other reason I self-published?

Math.

I mentioned earlier that “in certain conditions it makes more sense to self-publish than it does to take a book to a traditional publisher”, and those conditions seemed to be in play with The Mad Art of Caricature! It really all comes down to doing the math.

In all modesty I am pretty sure I could have found a traditional publisher to publish my book. A how-to art book, even one so narrowly targeted a one on drawing caricatures, has a fairly strong potential market and coupled with my credentials with MAD and elsewhere as the author, getting a publisher to pick it up probably would have been pretty likely. However looking at the numbers I would probably come out ahead financially by self-publishing for the following reasons:

1. A core audience to market to- I’ve been branding The MAD Blog for over five years now, and while it would hardly compare to some of the real heavyweights in comics-related sites I do get about 3500 page views a day here. That translates into a fair number of people who would probably buy a book like The Mad Art of Caricature! This is a principal part of how self-publishing works these days… cultivating an audience online and then producing a product for that audience that they would purchase.
2. Willingness to store and ship the books myself- this is a lot of organization and work, but by doing it we cut out another middleman: the distributor… at least for direct sales. That means more of the cover price ends up as profit. There are several “fulfillment” companies cropping up that service self-publishers willing to let them to this work for a percentage of the sale price, but I decided to go it on my own.
3. Amazon and other on-line retailers- One drawback to self-publishing is that your ability to market the book is limited to direct marketing to specifically targeted audiences (via forums, etc) and that takes a lot of time and work. Through retailers like Amazon you can open up your publication to the entire world, and it is only an Amazon search for “how to draw caricatures” away from a potential sale. The bad part is that Amazon buys the book from the self-publisher for 40% of cover price and I have to pay to bulk-ship to Amazon for distribution, but what’s left over is still higher than the royalties you can expect from a publisher. BTW I have not yet listed The Mad Art of Caricature! on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, but will eventually do so when direct sales have dried up.
4. Secondary/reprint publishing rights- Many publishers are recognizing that some self-published books, which generally have a very low number of copies in their initial print runs, have a value with respect to a second printing. One of the big drawbacks of self-publishing is that it is next-to-impossible to market your book to libraries, schools or brick-and-mortar stores. Publishers have been known to buy the reprint publishing rights to a self-published book to take the book into that market, which has great potential. Often the advance for reprint rights is as high or higher than the initial advance would have been, as the self-publisher is delivering a complete book with all design and production done.

When I compared how much I could reasonably expect to get as an advance from a publisher to how many self-published copies I would need to sell to equal that same figure, it seemed likely I would stand to do better financially by self-publishing. Was I right? Time will tell. I have easily paid off the entire print run and am in the black on the book (THANKS to all who have bought a copy!), but I will need to sell a few hundred more copies before I pass the “probable advance” figure. If I sell the entire print run, I will certainly earn several times what I would have earned with a traditional publisher, even if they had sold 5 times that number of copies, due to the low royalty percentage I’d have gotten past the advance.

It’s an interesting business, of which you now know a lot more that you probably cared to. Publishers still have the ability to tap markets that self-publishers simply cannot access, but unless your book is going to sell tens of thousands of extra copies that way, self-publishing it increasingly becoming an option that makes financial sense in the right circumstances. Publishers also basically leave the promotion of the book to the author, which adds to the attractiveness of self-publishing.

Q. You may have covered this already but when drawing clothes, do you look for real examples in perhaps magazines to see how a material would crease in certain positions. Or do you just imagine in your head how it would look? So basically my question is, Tom, how do you draw clothing so well!?

A: I’m not sure I would agree that I draw clothes all that well, but thanks for the kind words. I do think I have improved quite a bit in the last few years on how I draw clothes, particularly simplifying the folds and such so they don’t look overwrought and too “wrinkly”. I was guilty of that early on in my career, and have learned over the years that less-is-more, and that if the folds and wrinkles you draw describe what is going on well, you don’t need that many of them. To answer one of your specific questions, I mostly just imagine these things in my head when I draw them, as I do not have the time or need to get references for every position of every figure.

With regard to drawing clothes, I would first cite a piece of advice I received from longtime MAD artist and current art director Sam Viviano. Sam told me he often will sketch out a figure as if they were nude first, then draw the clothes over the figure. In this way he both avoided the tendency to miss the accurate drawing of the figure beneath because he would be so busy thinking about the dynamics of the clothing, and made sure the figure looked like they were really wearing the clothes rather than them being painted on (see most superhero comics). I do this sometimes, and it really does help when you are struggling with a figure.

Drawing clothes is like drawing anything, you need to make good observations and understand the basics of what you are drawing to do it convincingly. This is especially true in cartooning, where simplification demands an understanding not only how something works, but what the most important basics elements are. Things like seams, buttons, cuffs, collars… knowing how they basically work and developing a repertoire of how to draw them is essential. There are not that many different kinds of clothing… pants are pants with only superficial changes in look and design. Knowing how pants are generally constructed means you can draw any type of pants by just observing the details. Certain types of pants, like jeans, are almost universal in their sameness. Men’s suit jackets are almost all the same, and follow the same tendencies with movement. Ditto shirts, skirts, etc.

That said, when people ask about drawing clothes, mostly they are asking (as you have) about how to draw folds and wrinkles so they look convincing. That really isn’t all that complex when you think about it. Clothing tends to wrinkle, crease and fold the same way with the same actions, positions and movements, with only the type of cloth making a difference. A thicker and coarser cloth, like a wool sweater, will wrinkle and fold in a bigger and less complex manner than thinner cloth like silk, for example. The dynamics of the folds and wrinkles are the same, however. Learning the basics of how clothing wrinkles and folds will get you through 90% of all the drawings of clothing you do.

The more you have movement from a “neutral” position (i.e. the way clothes would hang from a hanger) the more wrinkles and folds are evident:

Understanding the dynamics of where cloth is pulled and where it gathers helps to figure out where the stresses and folds happen. Folds and creases always emanate from a stress point, usually a joint like the elbow, knee, shoulder, crotch, etc. In a bent elbow area, for example, the outer part of the elbow is “pulled”, and therefore stretched with little or no creases/wrinkles. However in the crook of the elbow, the cloth gathers and is compressed together, creating folds:

Even in a neutral position, the weight and clingy nature of clothes will cause some creases and folds:

There are lots of different kinds of folds that you see all the time. Here are a few to look for:

You are (usually) wearing the perfect reference for learning to draw folds… your own clothes. Take a look at how the cloth gathers across your chest, how your lower pants legs gather past the knee as they go down to the cuff at your ankles, what happens when you sit down with the folds at your knees and waist… observation and experimentation with drawing will build that repertoire of folds and how to draw them.

Finally, I’d recommend the following resources for learning how to draw clothes:

Drawing the Head and Figure by Jack Hamm- If you do not own this book, you are missing one of the essential learning tools for drawing of the past century. IMO it’s the best overall book on drawing the human figure ever published based on its simplicity, conciseness, ease of understanding and richness of content. There are many more comprehensive books on various specifics out there, but this one is a must have even if it is dated-looking. Short but brilliant chapter on drawing folds in clothes, especially useful on learning how men’s suits are drawn.

Dynamic Wrinkles and Drapery by Burne Hogarth- It is not often I recommend a Hogarth book, because I am no Hogarth fan. I think most of his books are overly complex, with impossible and convoluted figures in positions that defy physics, and ridiculously over-drawn and over-rendered illustrations. This one, however, is shorter and less pretentious than most, and breaks down the types of wrinkles into fairly easy-to-understand categories… just imagine his illustrations with about 1/10 of the wrinkles he overdraws on them and you will get the idea.

I’m sure there are others, but these are the two on my bookshelf.

Thanks to Rob Rollason for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!

A couple of days ago I posted some limited info on the ongoing project I am doing with comedian/ventriloquist Jeff Dunham. I mentioned an upcoming but as-yet-unannounced TV special that might have more details on my contributions to Jeff’s project. Well, that TV special is no longer unannounced:

BIO Channel presents “Jeff Dunham: Birth of a Dummy,” a 90-minute special that delivers exclusive, unprecedented access to the life of the entertainer who single-handedly made ventriloquism hip again. The special premieres Tuesday, November 22 at 8PM EST and 9PM PST.

From his modest upbringing in Dallas, Texas, Jeff Dunham has transformed into an international sensation. He has been the top-grossing comedian in the world for the last two years, and in the U.S. for the last three. His television specials have generated record ratings and his success is fueled by the half-billion downloads of his material on YouTube and his millions of fans around the world.

“Jeff Dunham: Birth of a Dummy” intercuts three stories giving viewers unparalleled access to the life of this unlikely entertainer. First, the emotional and compelling story told by Dunham himself in original interviews from his home and on tour, and by those who know him best including his family and closest friends. Second, an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the process behind the creation of Dunham’s latest character, Achmed Junior, the son of his controversial breakthrough character, Achmed the Dead Terrorist. Finally, viewers will get front-row seats to the on-stage dynamics between Dunham and his dysfunctional family of original comic characters including Walter, Peanut, Achmed, Jose and, for the first time, Achmed Junior.

“Jeff Dunham: Birth of a Dummy” is produced for BIO by Triage Entertainment. Executive producers for Triage Entertainment are Stephen Kroopnick, Stu Schreiberg and Erik Himmelsbach. Executive producers for BIO are David McKillop, Thomas Moody and Peter Tarshis.

About BIO

At BIO, we prove that the truth about people is always more entertaining than fiction. BIO is about real people and their real lives: up close and personal, gritty and provocative, always unfiltered. BIO original series uncover the real drama in people stories: everyday situations with a twist; celebrities going off-script; people-centric crime stories and paranormal events. In addition to being the exclusive home to the Emmy Award-winning “Biography(R)” series, the dynamic blend of original and acquired series on BIO includes “I Survived…,” “Celebrity Ghost Stories,” “Inside Story” and “Aftermath with William Shatner.” The 24-hour network is now available in more than 63 million households. The BIO web site is located at www.bio.com.

I have no idea how much or little the details of what my work entails will be featured in the show, but either way it will be a fascinating look into Jeff’s world.

This year’s annual International Society of Caricature Artist’s convention and competition will be Nov. 13-18th at the Tradewinds Island Grand Resort in Clearwater, Florida. If you are a caricaturist and have never attended on of these, then you are missing a truly amazing experience. About 200 professional caricaturists, ranging from party artists to illustrators to sculptors to animators, descend on the unsuspecting host resort for 5 days. They spend their time drawing thousands of caricatures in every imaginable style, attending workshops, listening to guest speakers, getting creatively super-charged and in general having a total blast. Then they all vote for the “best of” various categories and hand out awards in a gala banquet dinner. It is unparalleled immersion in the art of caricature.

This year’s special guest speaker is the incomparable Drew Friedman!

I will be attending for the last two days, and conducting a little sketch club event on Friday the 17th. I am looking forward ot it, as always.

Get more details HERE.

Anyone who got a copy my book The Mad Art of Caricature found a little insert asking that, if they liked it, to spread the work by mentioning it on Facebook, on their blog or on an appropriate message board forum. Some people really went above and beyond, and posted glowing reviews of the book on their blogs. Here’s a sampling (click on the name to go to the full review):

Krishna Sadasivam (cartoonist- PC Weenies)
“…I have read a LOT of drawing / cartooning / illustration books over the years, and I must say that Tom’s book is right up there with the best of them…  This book is a goldmine for cartoonists and illustrators.”

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Howard Tayler- (cartoonist- Shylock Mercenary)
“…One 30-minute pass through the book tells me that this is going to be my go-to reference work for cartoon faces for years to come… I haven’t learned as much in a speed-read since I skimmed Andrew Loomis’ Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth. That book and this one will now share a shelf next to my drawing table.”

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Terry Dunnett- (caricaturist and illustrator)
“…This is not one of those coffee table ‘look what I can do’ books. It is a 170 page comprehensive guide to the art of caricature that is destined to become a ‘must have’ for caricaturists world wide… If you only ever buy one caricature book – make this the one.”

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Don Mertz- (caricature wood carver)
“…The book is well illustrated with Tom’s original art work as well as his scholarly written descriptions and how to illustrations.  Whether one draws caricatures or carves caricatures this is a most valuable book to study and be inspired into the MAD world of caricature…”

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Kenny Durkin (caricaturist)
“This is not only the most informative book of caricature I’ve ever seen, but the best instructional art book PERIOD.”

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Anton Emdin (Cartoonist and illustrator)
“…I would take a punt that The Mad Art of Caricature will become the modern caricaturists’ bible; a valuable asset to amateurs and pros alike.”

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Keelan Parham (Cartoonist, illustrator and caricaturist)
“…It (the book) is truly amazing, in the quality of artwork, the quality of writing, and the sheer amount of knowledge of it’s subject imparted in it’s pages. Without a doubt, it’s THE definitive guide to drawing caricatures.”

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Ed Steckley (Cartoonist, Illustrator and caricaturist)
“…it’s amazing how much knowledge and experience is packed into those pages.  I know for a fact it’ll get multiple reads around my house, not just as a refresher on caricature, but for inspiration.”

Full disclosure, those last two are good friends of mine. I’ve gotten dozens of emails also praising the book. My thanks to everyone who has ordered a copy… I am glad you are pleased with your purchase.

For those who have not ordered one yet… what are you waiting for???

Once again, a day late and a dollar short. I’ve been working on a MAD job that took far longer to pencil out than I thought it would and didn’t have the time to post a sketch yesterday. Anyway, here’s a drawing of celebrity nutcase Charlie Sheen. I did one of him once before, but I saw a profile/three-quarter view picture of him that was perfect for that pointy nose, jutting chin and neanderthal brow, and couldn’t resist.

Jeff Dunham’s Achmed the Dead Terrorist character

I’ve been alluding often here on The MAD Blog for the last year about artwork I am doing for über-popular comedian/ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, but have never been more specific. That’s because, as usually goes along when doing anything for folks in show business, there are confidentiality agreements galore involved. Some of that work is going to start appearing here and there, and Jeff has told me I can fill people in a little (operational word) on what’s all involved.

The image above is one of a series of illustrations I’ve done/am working on of his various characters, this one being Achmed the Dead Terrorist. That’s only part of this ongoing project. Other aspects have included multiple other, less complex art for use in various projects and items.

The most exciting thing I’ve been doing for him has been concept art for… well, I’ll have to let him tell you about that. An upcoming TV special on Jeff will spill the beans on that project. I’ll let everybody know when that is announced and when it will air. In the meantime, you can get an idea of what I might have been involved with on Jeff’s Comedy Central special, which you can either order the DVD of here or see re-aired on Comedy Central on Sunday, October 30 at 7 pm and 8:30 pm.

It’s been great fun working with Jeff and his agents. They’ve given me a great deal of latitude on working their stuff in around the edges of more pressing deadlines, allowed me space my own artistic input in the work, and Jeff himself is a great guy. In fact, he wrote a blurb for the back of my book!

More on this to come as I am able to share.

Click to embiggen

This illustration appears on the cover of The UTNE Reader this month, or at least all but the background. I was very unhappy with the way the printed cover looked, and it was all my own fault. I did the color with this vignetted background, and the art department of UTNE decided to lose the background for the final print.

Click to embiggen

I should have then gone back and reworked the color, because without the intensity of the reds and darkness of the background, the color fell apart. The yellow cast to the facial colors, that were meant to create the torchlight feel, just made everyone look sickly and the illustration was washed out without enough contrast in the face. That’s a drag, but that kind of thing sometimes happens.

Q: I wanted to ask you a question about your Photoshop coloring technique: how do you avoid getting ‘spotting’ in Photoshop when you’re using washes? I’m referring to the crossover area between one wash and another: where they intersect there’s an area of brush-shaped darker color caused by laying down a wash with less-than-100% opacity and crossing over it with another wash of less-than-100% opacity. How do you avoid that? Your finished pieces never have that artifacting, which probably has a better term than “spotting.” The video tutorial, while fantastic on its own, does not have the resolution to show something that detailed. So I thought I’d take a shot in the dark and ask! I’ve found all the Mad artists I’ve contacted have been more than receptive to my questions (I had a 6 month or so running conversation about crowd scenes with Tom Bunk a few years ago). It seems like you like to answer fans’ questions too, especially something like this where other people may find it helpful too.

A: I don’t avoid it, I embrace it.

If I understand what you are asking about, that transparency effect is part of the overall effect of making the digitally colored artwork look little real media. Actual watercolor washes do the same thing IF the layer you are washing over is dry.

This study is done is done in real watercolor:

Noe here’s a close-up of a section of the image. You can see that each wash has that darkening of values and mixing of color as one is placed over the other:

Granted, this is not the best example because this is a loose study and not a finished piece, but you get the idea. It’s not something to avoid, it’s a part of the technique and something you have to make work for you.

Here’s a digital colored piece to demonstrate the Photoshop version of the effect:

Here’s a closeup so you can see the wash effects:

It’s smoother than the rough watercolor study, but you can see the same dynamic with the washes overlapping each other creating variations in value and color. The line work holds it together as well.

The basic technique digitally is the same as it is with real watercolor—you build form by building values through washes. All your washes have “holes” in them where you want the lightest values to be. That’s the white of the paper coming through. The next layer of washes has “holes” in different places, creating different values of highlights. When you work digitally, you have the added advantage of being able to completely erase or paint 100% opaque white back over the washes to create lighter values later, whereas with real media painting with white or lighter colors over your washes takes away some of the tranluscent qualities of the color and creates  “chalky” feel to it.

One more point, the process of printing really has an impact on the harshness of some of the edges of these values. What looks stark and blotchy on the screen melts together somewhat in print, giving you a softer and more blended look.

Thanks to Anthony DeLellis for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!

Last weekend the North Central Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society had our annual fall meeting here in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Here’s a VERY brief rundown of the events:

Friday 10/14: In conjunction with the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, we brought Stephan Pastis, the creator of the syndicated comic strip Pearls Before Swine, to the Twin Cities to do a lecture and hang out with us. I know Stephan fairly well… riding together in a Blackhawk above the war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan will do that for you, so it was great fun to have him with us. His evening lecture was standing-room only. We followed with a panel discussion on the future of cartooning featuring Stephan, me, , chapter treasurer and editorial cartoonist/freelance illustrator Paul Fell, The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee creator John Hambrock, freelance illustrator James Hunganski and Ballard Street creator Jerry Van Amerongen.

It’s a packed house for Stephan’s talk

Stephan had them rolling in the aisles…

Saturday 10/15: After our boring business meeting, NCC members manned a booth at the Minnesota FallCon Comic Book Show including the above listed panelists as well as chapter chairman and “Martians” cartoonist Mike Edhlom, freelance illustrator and designer Cedric Hohnstadt, and cartoonist Phil Juliano. We sold books and signed stuff. That night we had a chapter dinner at O’Gara’s in St. Paul, part of which was formerly the barber shop of Charles Schulz‘s father. Earlier we took a little tour of St. Paul and saw a few other Sparky sights, including his childhood home on Macalester St.

At FallCon, from foreground: Stephan, Paul, Me, John and Cedric

John Hambrock signs for a fan

James Hungaski does some caricatures

From Left: John, Stephan, cartoonist Joe Engesser, me, Mike and Jerry

Paul Fell was awarded the NCS Tim Rosenthal award for outstanding service to a local chapter. Well deserved. Congratulations Paul.

A great time as always.