Sunday Mailbag- Time on a MAD Job?

Q: The pages your draw for the TV and film parodies in MAD are very complex. How long does it take you to do that?

A: As long as they give me.

Actually it takes about 2 days per page. That’s from blank layout to final, colored art. Some pages go faster than others of course. It depends on the subject matter and how many caricatures or complex scenes are involved, but it always seems to even out to 2 days per page in the end.

Of course, that’s just the actual art. I also spend some time researching the job (i.e. watching the show or film) and usually a full day finding references and such. All together a 5 page parody probably takes me 12 working days to complete. I can step it up if I have to, but that is more of an exercise in endurance than increased speed. This stuff takes time and certain parts of it I cannot speed up. If I am under the gun I just have to work more hours per day.

Thanks to Bill Hodgins 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!