Tom's Mad Blog
September 13th, 2019 | Posted in News
Last month I appeared at the Michigan Comic Con in Detroit, and did the art for the official poster. This poster was a give away but only available at the convention, and they ran out on the final day. It’s obviously an homage to the cover of MAD #243 (Dec 1983), which for the record was their idea not mine, although adding Alfred and the other chicken fat gags were me. I’ve had enough inquiries about getting one of these prints that I am just going to put the handful I got from the convention up in the Studio Store. They’ll ship rolled up and,… READ MORE
September 12th, 2019 | Posted in General
Here’s a couple of the warmup drawings I did along with the class at my workshop this past weekend in Denver, CO. As always the class suggests the subject and I find and image online to work from, then we all spend 15 minutes or so doing a quick caricature of them. I currently have one spot open for my December 6-8th workshop in Orlando, and space in my newly announced workshops in New Orleans (Jan 24-25) and Las Vegas (Feb 8-9). READ MORE
September 11th, 2019 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Continuing on with my “Magnificent Seven” series, here’s Robert Vaughn! As always, the original sketch is available in the Studio Store. READ MORE
September 10th, 2019 | Posted in Freelancing
When I do any talks about the business of freelance illustration one of the things I point out is that no illustrator makes a living doing nothing but covers for TIME or some other single high profile gig. Illustrators make their living working for a large variety of clients, many of which you’ve never heard of. I’ve done a lot of work for many small circulation magazines/publications that serve a specific industry or audience. These kinds of clients are the bread and butter of most illustrator’s income. One such client for me is the USA High School Clay Target League and their publication Pull USA.… READ MORE
September 9th, 2019 | Posted in MAD Magazine
This was one of my favorite panels from MAD #6’s “Merry Poopins Goes to the White House” (written by Ian Boothby), mainly because of the caricature of Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Here’s the full panel: READ MORE
September 8th, 2019 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: You’ve mentioned the thrill of drawing live caricatures without a safety net by not sketching anything first and just diving in. With that in mind, if you find you’ve goofed up… then what? Just thinking about that situation gives me anxiety. Have you ever scratched a live drawing and started over? I assume it’s a similar rush one gets doing stand up comedy, where it’s just you and your wits to see how you can get yourself out of a jam. A: Drawing live is a spontaneous and organic process that has to be allowed to run its course, warts (pun intended) and all. No two… READ MORE
September 7th, 2019 | Posted in News
The NCS auction of original Popeye art ends tomorrow and virtually everything is at ridiculously low prices. I was going to point out a few that were currently at “steal” levels but there are so many like that I’d be naming them all. There are ten Rueben winning cartoonists, two Pulitzer prize winners, multiple artists on big time comic strips/comic books, well known illustrators, and one animation legend whose pieces are going for between $1 and $210, and most are less than $50. My piece above is at only $100 right now, an original watercolor!! Do yourself a favor and go put some bids on… READ MORE
September 6th, 2019 | Posted in General
The first day of my workshop in the Mile High city is in the books! Class illustration above. Check out my workshop page for 2020 locations and dates! READ MORE
