Tom's Mad Blog
February 2nd, 2018 | Posted in News
Artwork by Luke McGarry From the National Cartoonists Society Foundation: Are you a college cartoonist? Don’t delay, the deadline for the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship is right around the corner. All entries must be postmarked by FEBRUARY 7, 2018. You could win $5000 for your education and a trip to the annual National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Awards Convention in May. Please visit http://cartoonistfoundation.org/. The annual Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship, in memory of the late King Features editor, was funded by an initial $100,000 grant from the Hearst Foundation/King Features Syndicate and additional generous donations from Jerry Scott, Jim Borgman, Patrick McDonnell and many other prominent… READ MORE
February 2nd, 2018 | Posted in General
Class illustration from one of my first workshops here in MN back in 2016 Just an update on where we are with available workshops right now. Dallas is back to being sold out, but I still have a couple of spots available in Chicago in April and Long Island City in May. I also just added workshops in Las Vegas in September and another here in Minnesota in October: Los Angeles, CA: January 19-21st, 2018- Complete! Atlanta, GA: Feb 16-18th, 2018- Sold Out! Get added to the waitlist! Dallas, TX: March 9-11th, 2018- Sold Out! Get added to the waitlist! Chicago, IL: April 20-22nd, 2018-ONLY… READ MORE
February 1st, 2018 | Posted in Stuff from my Studio
Fans of the 1960’s Batman show will recognize this beauty- a functioning prop replica of the Shakespeare bust that contained the hidden button to access the Batcave from Wayne Manor: When I say “functioning” I sadly do not mean when I open it and flip the switch my bookcase does not roll open to reveal “Access to Batcave via Batpoles”. The plaster cast bust does open and contains a switch and light: But its activation turns on my lightable: The bust is cast plaster with a bronze paint and antiquing effects, with a separate hinged head. It has a plug and extension cord coming out… READ MORE
January 31st, 2018 | Posted in News
Startup comics publisher Sitcomics new line of “Bingebooks” officially release today in select comic book shops across the US and Canada, including “Z-People”, the title I penciled and inked. You can get a free PDF preview of “Z-People” #1 and the other Sitcomics titles here. These are 64 page comics with no advertising for $3.99, so they deliver a lot more comic for your dough. Sitcomics is doing an endaround on traditional comic book distribution by direct distributing to comic shops. The good news is that, unlike most comic book companies and Diamond Distribution, Sitcomics does not solicit comics until they are already completed and… READ MORE
January 30th, 2018 | Posted in MAD Magazine
This was posted last week on the MAD‘s website/blog aka “The Idiotical“. I know there are a number of big plans for an increased MAD online presence both on their website and in social media, but I am not sure when it’s going to be launched. Probably with the first west coast produced issue in April. Will keep you posted. READ MORE
January 29th, 2018 | Posted in Monday MADness
Last week I shared art from one of MAD‘s parodies of the Harry Potter movies, and since I did art for three of the eight film parodies I thought I’d do a run of “Harry Potter”. So, this week’s Monday MADness is a look at the complete parody of the second Harry Potter movie: “Harry Plodder and the Lamest of Sequels”, written by Desmond Devlin, from MAD #424, Dec 2002. at 9 pages, this was the longest parody I ever did for MAD… until the next issue that is! READ MORE
January 28th, 2018 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Any suggestions on staving off the frustration that comes from not being as good as you want when you first learn to draw. Every time I start practicing and realize it looks bad I get frustrated and stop. A: Actually I tell people that those kinds of feelings, as discouraging as they may seem, are a good thing. Drawing is as much, if not more, mental than it is physical. You need to develop great hand/eye coordination to become good at drawing, but it’s really your brain that draws as it needs to see and visualize what you want to create and then command… READ MORE
January 27th, 2018 | Posted in News
Caricature of Mort by me from the 2007 NCS Reuben Weekend (held in Orlando) art Comic strip legend Mort Walker passed away early this morning. His health had been deteriorating and he’d been hospitalized with Pneumonia recently, so we all know this was coming. The National Cartoonists Society has a nice write up here as does writer extraordinaire Mark Evanier here. Mort was, of course, best known for the long running syndicated comic strips Beetle Bailey (started in 1950) and Hi and Lois (started in 1954 with Dik Browne). By the way Hi and Lois is actually a spin-off of Beetle Bailey… Lois is Beetle’s… READ MORE
