Tom's Mad Blog
March 10th, 2019 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: You make group drawings with all participants of each workshop. Are these images completely drawn on a sheet or are the montages? How do you work on group portraits that show the best possible recognition at the end? A: I don’t consider these workshop illustrations to be group or crowd scenes in the classic sense, because they are not really a “scene” at all. The vertical nature of the image makes it impossible to do a real group shot where all those depicted could be really together in such an arrangement. Those in the front would have to be seated or kneeling, those in… READ MORE
March 9th, 2019 | Posted in News
Hot off the presses, Sketch o’the Week Vol 2 is in and will be shipping to all of you who placed pre-orders on Monday, and new orders as well! I’ll have lots of copies available next weekend at Emerald City Comic Con. READ MORE
March 5th, 2019 | Posted in General
It’s Dreaded Deadline Demon time for the foreseeable future. READ MORE
March 4th, 2019 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Here’s a peek at another favorite panel from MAD #6’s “Merry Poopins Goes to the White House” written by Ian Boothby. This one is from page 5. Why is it one of my favorites? Uh….. READ MORE
March 3rd, 2019 | Posted in General
Q: I’d just like to get your take on recent news on CNN about the editorial cartoon satirical depiction of Serena Williams’ on court tantrums. My question is where do you draw the line from being funny to being racist especially when your target is a race other than Caucasian? A: This is a sensitive issue for caricaturists. Since you asked my opinion about this specific cartoon, we’ll start with that. Here’s the cartoon he’s talking about: “Specifically, concern was expressed that the cartoon depicted Ms Williams with large lips, a broad flat nose, a wild afro-styled ponytail hairstyle different to that worn by Ms.… READ MORE
March 1st, 2019 | Posted in General
I’m in Atlanta, GA doing a workshop this weekend! Class illustration above. For those who are on the fence about doing one of these workshops, The one coming up in Minnesota in May could be a rare opportunity for some serious one-on-one time. Right now I have only three students signed up but as my expenses are so much less doing one here in my hometown, I’m going to do the workshop regardless of the number of students. So, there may be as few as three for the entire workshop class. Even if that number doubles there will still be only half the students I… READ MORE
March 1st, 2019 | Posted in General
Founding MAD publisher William M. (Bill) Gaines was born on this day in 1922. He would have been 97 today. I never got to meet Bill. He passed away June of 1992, 8 years before my first piece appeared in MAD. The list of current MAD contributors who worked with MAD during the Gaines era is getting small. Al Jaffee, Dick DeBartolo, Sergio and Des Devlin are still regulars. Rick Tulka, Paul Coker, and Sam Viviano have occasionally appeared in the last few years. There may be a few others I’m missing, but many like myself never even met him. READ MORE
February 28th, 2019 | Posted in General
Back in 2015 I did black and white, pencil caricatures of all 44 (then) presidents of the United States as centerpieces for the Washington DC Reuben Awards banquet tables. I made a poster out of them (no longer available I’m afraid). Since then I’ve sold the rights to use these images a few times for various clients, including a kids book that needed me to color them. I don’t recall ever posting the color versions, so here’s a gallery with them all, including Trump who was not part of the poster (Click on one to start the gallery feature): READ MORE
