Tom's Mad Blog
October 30th, 2018 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Monday MADness becomes Tuesday MADness this week as I needed yesterday to conquer the last deadline that kept the blog so quiet last week. Done. Recovering. I did the art on this one page gag piece for MAD back in 2014 for their website, turnaround time 14 hours. That was rare thing back then, but a precursor to the new MAD website where they do quick turnaround gag cartoons all the time. MAD ended up printing this in issue #531. Here’s a look at the pencil (ok, DIGITAL) sketch: As you can see they made me change Obama’s face from the last panel. If I… READ MORE
October 28th, 2018 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I am impressed with your use of perspective even in your more cartoony/humorous work. Do you use the old school methods of “vanishing points” and map everything out, or do you just wing it? A: Mostly I just eyeball the perspective, and the results are far from perfect. My main goal as far as perspective goes is to draw something that does not feel “odd” or “off” so as to distract the viewer from the main focus of the illustration or panel. That seldom needs perfect two or three point perspective… just getting it in the ballpark usually does the trick. If I’m having… READ MORE
October 26th, 2018 | Posted in News
I had so many people on the waitlist for my sold out January Orlando FL workshop that I have booked a second one for the next weekend, Jan 18-20th. Some of the waitlist people have been dragging their feet registering, so I have opened the remaining spots to everyone. Don’t wait around if you want to be a part of it! READ MORE
October 25th, 2018 | Posted in General
Well, one review anyway… from Batman-news.com. They have some nice things to say about Jacob Lambert and my new book Don’t Let the Penguin Drive the Batmobile. Of the three kids book parodies I drew for MAD, this was my favorite. I find it more challenging to parody the look of a more simple, minimalist art style than a more illustrative, elaborate kind of art. It took some thinking and experimenting to merge the Batverse with the Mo Willems Pigeonverse, but in order for a parody of something like Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus to work, the look of the visuals must capture… READ MORE
October 22nd, 2018 | Posted in General
There’s going to be a lot of this guy this week. READ MORE
October 19th, 2018 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Happy 73rd birthday to the most prolific and longest-running writer in MAD Magazine history, MAD‘s Maddest writer Dick DeBartolo! Dick’s work first appeared in MAD #69, March 1962 (a piece he sold to the magazine while he was still in high school), and he has had work in 469 issues and counting ever since. He also has the record for the most consecutive issues appeared in with 452 (#103 to present). Dick’s work outside of MAD includes being a long-time writer for TV games shows and a popular podcast called “The Daily Giz Wiz” formerly on TWiT TV and now independently produced , appearances on… READ MORE
October 18th, 2018 | Posted in News
This past weekend I conducted one of my caricature workshops here in Minnesota, class group illustration above. As usual we had a great group and drew a LOT of faces. Thanks to all who attended! I’ve just announced a new workshop for 2019, this one taking place in Atlanta, GA March 1-3rd. As always, it’s limited to 12 students and will fill up fast, so don’t procrastinate on grabbing a spot. Check out all the details on what my workshops are all about here. As for other locations in 2019, I am working on one in Amsterdam in June. There won’t be any workshops scheduled… READ MORE
October 17th, 2018 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
This week’s SotW subject is one of my all-time favorite directors, Quentin Tarantino. I remember being blown away by “Pulp Fiction” when I first saw it in a theater in St. Louis with a bunch of my Six Flags caricature crew in 1994. I had never seen a movie like that before. I’ve never missed seeing any of his films, and they never disappoint. BTW as usual the original is for sale in the Studio Store. READ MORE
