Richmond Illustration Inc.

Tom's Mad Blog

Until Further Notice…

June 20th, 2018 | Posted in General

I have been overwhelmed with our family health crisis and trying to get caught up with deadlines… I am not sure when blogging will continue here. Next week sometime. READ MORE

Comic-Con Copyright Conundrum…

June 19th, 2018 | Posted in General

This form letter went out to San Diego Comic-Con exhibitors last week: Comic-Con takes the issue of copyright infringement very seriously. Exhibitors who violate copyright law run the risk of legal action, up to and including, arrest and prosecution. Comic-Con does not knowingly allow the sale of unlicensed or copyright infringing merchandise, including art, books, music, videos and other copyrighted materials. At our discretion we will cooperate with all law enforcement agencies, the MPAA, the RIAA and other copyright holders to enforce their copyright(s). If you are unsure whether or not material you have is unlicensed, or otherwise illegal, we suggest that you do not… READ MORE

Monday MADness: Abysmal House!

June 18th, 2018 | Posted in Monday MADness

Poor Rick Meyerowitz… his classic illustration for the Animal House movie poster might be the most parodied movie poster ever. MAD got in on the action with this spoof of that famous movie poster that also lampooned our dysfunctional government. This was part of MAD‘s “Dumbest People, Events, and Things of 2013” from MAD #525. Written by Jay Rath. My pencil rough and final pencil below (this never got inked… I stuck with pencil to get the Meyerowitz look and added the color digitally): READ MORE

Sunday Mailbag: Medical Insurance?

June 17th, 2018 | Posted in Mailbag

Q: Being self-employed, what have you done about medical insurance? Have you found affordable medical insurance with decent coverage? It is something we all need. A: Believe it or not, I wrote the post below a week ago, before my self-employed daughter had her sudden medical crisis without having any health coverage. Since then this hits home a lot more… in fact some of the sentences I wrote below are downright spooky in the light of my daughter’s current situation. I have been self-employed for about 30 years now, and getting affordable health insurance has always been a challenge… and it keeps getting harder and… READ MORE

40 years of Garfield!

June 15th, 2018 | Posted in News

Tuesday, June 19th marks the 40th birthday of everyone’s favorite lasagna-loving, Monday-hating cat. Garfield and friends are celebrating with a new book entitled Age Happens: Garfield Hits the Big 4-0 from Ballantine Books. The full color book features a collection of classic strips, fan art, and a foreword by the Pulitzer Prize–winning creator of Hamilton! (and lifelong Garfield lover) Lin-Manuel Miranda. It also features a section of birthday wishes from guest cartoonists, of which one is me (see above). The book will be released Tuesday, on the anniversary of Garfield’s first appearance. You can pre-order it here. READ MORE

GoFundMe Campaign for Daughter Gabrielle

June 14th, 2018 | Posted in General

It’s humbling to ask people to donate money when so many out there need assistance, but my youngest daughter has had a serious medical emergency and really needs some help. Gabrielle is 24, and a very brave and determined young woman. She packed her bags and moved to Orlando shortly after high school to pursue her dream of being a performer. She’s been working multiple jobs to make ends meet including at Disney World as a character attendant, modeling, working trade shows and events as a hostess/running entertainment games like dealing blackjack for casino themed events, appearing as a “princess” at Orlando area events and… READ MORE

Illustration Throwback Thursday #49: X-Men for Cracked!

June 14th, 2018 | Posted in Illustration Throwback Thursday

Hoo-boy. Anytime I start thinking I might be getting a might overconfident in my work I need only drag out something like this to see how far I’ve come and, by inference, how far I still have to go. Here’s the artwork from my third parody in Cracked, issue #346 with a cover date of August 2000 but was on news stands in the spring of that year sometime. Barry Dutter did the writing and I did all the art, and the layouts, and the graphics/type/word boxes. Some of the caricatures in this one are spectacular failures. READ MORE

Sketch o’the Week- Halle Berry!

June 13th, 2018 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week

In the interests of completeness we have to include Halle Berry from the 2004’s dreadful film “Catwoman” in our series of TV and film depictions of the Feline Femme Fatale. If you do not understand the basketball reference then you never watched the movie, for which you should be very grateful. The message behind the remains of thrown tomatoes should be obvious. Yes, the original sketch is available in the Studio Store. READ MORE