Richmond Illustration Inc.

Tom's Mad Blog

Sketch o’the Week- Pink!

September 5th, 2018 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week

Bonus SotW this week: musical dynamo Pink! As always the original is available in the Studio Store. READ MORE

Sketch o’the Week- Stephen Fry!

September 4th, 2018 | Posted in General

Since I missed doing a SotW last week I’m going to do two this week, starting with this one of the multi talented UK star Stephen Fry. This was one of the warmup subjects we did one day in my workshop in London last month. The original is available for purchase in the Studio Store. READ MORE

Monday MADness- DIY Alfred!

September 3rd, 2018 | Posted in MAD Magazine

A MAD fan brought this home made Alfred E. Neuman bust to Chicago Comic-Con last weekend and had me sign the shirt. It’s made from of one of the classic Cesar Company Alfred masks from the early 80’s, combined with soft foam sculpture and hand painting. So cool! READ MORE

Sunday Mailbag- Roughs to Finals?

September 2nd, 2018 | Posted in General

Q: After reading your book and scouring your instructional blogs I’m still unclear about your pencil roughs. Once the first rough sketches are penciled out (at normal print size), how do you transfer those penciled images to larger heavy cardstock for inking? Do you enlarge the first rough sketch and put the card stock over it on a light table, or do you re-pencil the whole thing from scratch in greater detail, and ink on top of the pencil lines (and then erase the pencil lines)? A: My process has changed in the last few years, but what I refer to as “roughs” are often… READ MORE

Marie Severin, 1929-2018

August 31st, 2018 | Posted in General

The comics community lost a true legend and pioneer with the passing of Marie Severin yesterday at age 89. Marie was a pioneer for women creators in comics. She began her career in the 50’s as a colorist for EC comics, where her brother John worked as an artist. In fact, Marie colored the original issues of MAD during it’s Harvey Kurtzman comic book incarnation, as well as many of EC’s famous horror and adventure comics. She would of course go on to become an important part of Marvel Comics, working as head colorist through the 60’s but also penciling and inking various titles during… READ MORE

Idiots in Columbus

August 30th, 2018 | Posted in General

I took a 24 hour breather yesterday to fly out to THE Ohio State University and see the “Artistically MAD” exhibit at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. I met my pal and fellow Usual Idiot Ed Steckley there, and go the grand tour from the museum curator Jenny Robb. It’s a great show I highly recommend if you can make it to Columbus. Here’s some pics of some of the highlights: READ MORE

Chicago Comic-Con Commissions

August 28th, 2018 | Posted in General

Here’s a look at a handful of different commissions I did last weekend at the Wizard World Comic Con in Chicago: READ MORE

Monday MADness- Bookazine Covers!

August 27th, 2018 | Posted in General

I did these cover illustrations for a couple of MAD’s “Bookazines” back in 2016. A “Bookazine” is the modern day version of the MAD Super Specials i.e. reprints collections. They are square-bound publications with heavier, glossy paper kind of half way between a softcover book and a premium magazine format, and usually follow a theme of some kind. MAD has been printing them every quarter for a few years now. You can see a list and all the covers of the Bookazine run over at Doug Gilford‘s fabulous MAD Coversite. READ MORE