Tom's Mad Blog
April 6th, 2023 | Posted in News
Here is a big announcement… Tom’s Caricature Workshops are BACK! I am nearing completion of CLAPTRAP, the long delayed crowdfunded book Desmond Devlin and I are doing, and I am beginning to make post CLAPTRAP plans including getting back to doing my two day “in person” caricature workshops in locations all over the U.S., and even overseas! When the pandemic hit in 2020, I was doing eight to ten workshops a year and had multiple ones lined up for the summer and fall of that year. Thanks to COVID I had to either cancel or postpone and reschedule them all. I eventually managed to get most of those in over… READ MORE
April 5th, 2023 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
I have mostly run out of TV shows I actually watched as a kid after school, but I’m having too much fun doing caricatures from old TV sitcoms, … so why stop now! This week’s sketch is by far the most requested from readers- Phil Silvers! I wanted to do more of the cast but elected to just draw Silvers, the incredibly goofy and funny Pvt. Doberman (Maurice Gosfield) and the eternally put-upon commanding officer Col. John T. Hall (Paul Ford). I admit I never watched “The Phil Silvers Show” as a kid, probably because it was just never syndicated on my local stations during the… READ MORE
April 3rd, 2023 | Posted in MAD Magazine
We’ll take a short break from looking back at the work I did for MAD years ago to something new! MAD #31 comes out this week, and I did the cover for the issue. It’s been leaked online in various Facebook groups, so I guess I can share it online now. She didn’t take credit for it but MAD head honcho Suzy Hutchinson wrote this cover gag, and it’s a pretty good one. I always prefer “Alfred doing something” cover gags to “Alfred substitution” gags. It’s easy and lazy to just replace some actor in character with Alfred, and then make the other characters from… READ MORE
March 31st, 2023 | Posted in News
I’ll be at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo aka C2E2 this weekend in Artist’s Alley table Y-17! Come by and say hello if you are attending the show! This comic-con appearance is the last one I’ll be doing before CLAPTRAP is sent to the printer, and it will be a last one for many things. After this show I will no longer be doing the “live style caricature” drawings I’ve done for so long. All commissions will now be of the pen and ink variety, either line art only or in full color. I am also getting out of the “limited edition print” business…… READ MORE
March 29th, 2023 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Strictly speaking “Batman” was never shown in an after school time slot, but it was a show from that same time period of the late 60’s that didn’t just entertain me, but had a major impact on my entire life. That is no exaggeration! I credit the “Batman” TV show for sending me down the path that ended up with my having a career as a cartoonist. Our sketch this week is of Adam West and Burt Ward in their titular roles as the Dynamic Duo. I was drawn to the “Batman” tv show as a very young kid… I’m talking two years old. When I heard the opening… READ MORE
March 27th, 2023 | Posted in MAD Magazine
It’s Monday, and we have a license to be ill looking back at another piece of my work from MAD magazine. This week we spy out mini-parodies of not one, not two, but THREE James Bond films starring Daniel Craig in “Casebook: SPYFAIL- The Battle of the Bonds” from MAD #521, June 2013, written by my CLAPTRAP collaborator Desmond Devlin. These penciled pages are true “roughs” as I just drew blank heads (and made notes as to who is supposed to be who.. although some might say I should do that even with my finished caricatures) and everything is very sketchy, meaning I must have worked out… READ MORE
March 23rd, 2023 | Posted in News
I’ll be at Wondercon in Anaheim this weekend, but not at my own booth. You’ll find me at the National Cartoonists Society booth #2000. Yes I will be doing caricatures and MAD cover commissions, plus I’ll have a few prints and books, but not my usual boatload of garbage. Stop by and say hi if you are there! READ MORE
March 22nd, 2023 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Time for another episode of our “TV shows Tom watched as a kid after school” sketch series. This one is kind of odd because it really doesn’t fit with the type of shows I normally watched after school. I was more into the goofy sitcoms with wacky premises like a witch housewife, an astronaut with a genie, a family of monsters, and, of course, World War II prisoners of war. There was just something about this show that kept me from changing the channel… maybe it was the mesmerizing spinning jewel effect opening credits. Anyway our sketch this week id the cast of “Family Affair”… READ MORE
