This week’s Monday MADness is a look at my art from MAD‘s parody of the TV show “Trading Spaces”, written by Dick DeBartolo in MAD #435, November 2003. Just for fun I did caricatures of some of our neighbors as the “contestants” throughout. That’s the Gerkins in the yellow shorts and the McNeils in the red shirts. They still haven’t spoken to me since. READ MORE
Q: I’m a party and event caricaturist, but I’d love to get my work into publication. I know you got started doing theme park caricatures when you were in college, but when did you switch over to being a freelancer, and how did you do it? A: I like to say I exploded onto the freelance scene over the course of 15 years or so. That’s a gag, of course. You do not burst into the industry, you gradually build a clientele through marketing, hard work, and professionalism. My freelance path reads like a textbook guide for how to start small and slowly build a… READ MORE
The National Cartoonists Society just released the names of the nominees for the 2016 award for “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year”, also know as “The Reuben”. Quite a slate of talent: Lynda Barry Stephan Pastis Hilary B. Price Mark Tatulli Ann Telnaes Follow this link for some short bios on each nominee, The Reuben is meant as a recognition for outstanding work in the year in which the artist was nominated, in this case 2016. The statuette was designed by Rube Goldberg, thus the name “The Reuben”. Congratulations to the nominees! The winner will be announce at the 71st annual Reuben Awards banquet on May… READ MORE
Quite busy right now. Here’s what’s on the board: MAD– 7 page movie parody Z-People Comic– Final inks coming along! Book Illustration– another superhero kid’s book spoof. Jeff Dunham– Some illustrations for a few products This month is a rare one off from doing any Marlin workplace illustrations. Above is the one I did for their February release. Rough sketch below. READ MORE
I thought I’d draw Roger Daltrey this week to match last week’s Pete Townshend. Plus it’s his 73rd birthday today! Original available in the Studio Store. READ MORE
The last Sunday Mailbag question about realistic or “serious” artwork reminded me of this: Back when I was in art college I had this illustration instructor who was a real old school guy. Seemed to really hate cartooning and comics, and thought if you didn’t draw like Burnie Fuchs you were never going to make a living as a commercial artist (he drew like Bernie Fuchs… big surprise). During class while we all worked on our latest assignment he would sit and work on some spot illustration he was doing of a boat or lawn furniture or some other product that was going to be… READ MORE
As promised in yesterday’s mailbag, here’s a look at the MAD 20 piece I did the art for back in MAD #461, Jan 2006, dealing with the Terri Schiavo story. A quick search showed that I shared this a few years back already, but it deserves a second look. The art I did has a kind of haunted feel to me because of the juxtaposition of the circus images and the tragic depiction of Schiavo in her hospital bed. It’s a rare instance where humor is used in a depiction of something that is anything but funny. Here’s the original concept sketch where the layout… READ MORE
Q: Did you ever illustrate something serious? A: I am not sure if the “serious” in your question is asking if I’ve ever done a job where had to do a realistic style of art, or if I have ever done any jobs where the subject matter was “serious”. If it’s the former, only once. I don’t remember ever being hired to do anything of a realistic nature except this one time, when Minnesota Twins magazine asked me to do a realistic portrait of Kirby Puckett for their cover. The art director at the time was an old college chum of mine, and he remembered… READ MORE
Sign up for Tom's FREE newsletter:
