Tom's Mad Blog
December 21st, 2014 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Prior to the internet and image search, how did you gather reference material for caricatures? A: Internet search engines have certainly spoiled me. If I want to do a caricature of Jennifer Lawrence, I am only a few seconds away from having literally thousands of photos of her to choose from… some even show her wearing clothes. Back in the days before Google, Yahoo and their ilk, it was a lot more time consuming a process. I used to keep what was called a “morgue file”. I believe the term was originally used to refer to collections of old police files and reports, but… READ MORE
December 19th, 2014 | Posted in News
Unless you live under a rock, you know that last night was the final episode of “The Colbert Report”, and that host Stephen Colbert will be taking over “The Late Show” from David Letterman in 2015. Whenever anyone asks about MAD magazine’s influence on pop culture, invariably how it shaped today’s satirical comedy becomes part of the conversation. The three things I always point to are “The Onion”, “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report”. All three of those shows are benchmarks of modern satire, and all three publicly cite MAD as a major influence on their work and comedic sensibilities. Colbert even celebrated Al… READ MORE
December 18th, 2014 | Posted in Illustration Throwback Thursday
Clicky to Embiggen… This was a spot illustration for a magazine called Snow Country done around 1995 (I think). It’s a caricature of a guy whose job it is to pick up all the stuff that drops from the ski lifts of a major ski resort. The story was about some of the crazy “treasures” he finds after the snow melts, so we did a kind of “Indiana Jones” theme. Yes, that is an artificial leg in his bag. This was done in ink and watercolor on illustration board. This is a scan of the original which is still floating around here in a big… READ MORE
December 17th, 2014 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
I’m beyond busy right now so only had time for a quick sketch late today. The Lovely Anna and I started watching “Arrow” in the last month or two. Here’s Oliver Queen himself Stephen Amell. What do I think of the show? It’s kind of a guilty pleasure. It is way too soap opera-ish for me to really love it, and some of the dialogue is George Lucas-level awful, but the action and the slow unveiling of the story on the island keeps me interested. READ MORE
December 16th, 2014 | Posted in MAD Magazine
WIRED online reported today that the great Jack Davis, who turned 90 years old earlier this month, has announced he’s retiring from producing work. Jack has slowed down considerably from the days when you basically could not open a magazine, look at a movie poster or see an ad anywhere without it featuring his art, but he has still been doing work for clients like the University of Georgia, various golf and sports magazines and the like recently. Jack claims his work is no longer up to his standards: It’s not that the iconic 90-year-old cartoonist can’t draw anymore…he just can’t meet his own standards.… READ MORE
December 16th, 2014 | Posted in MAD Magazine
I got permission from the folks at MAD to share my piece from the MAD 20 in issue #531. This is an all-digital painted piece, written by Desmond Devlin. Clicky to Embiggen… READ MORE
December 15th, 2014 | Posted in MAD Magazine
On news stands everywhere tomorrow, in comic book shops this week, in most subscriber’s mailboxes already and available digitally immediately via the MAD iPad app: MAD #531 (February 2015) Cover (Mark Fredrickson) MAD’s First-Ever Guarantee (Writer: Dick DeBartolo) The Fundalini Pages (Jeff Kruse, John Martz, Bob Staake, Rick Tulka, Bob Eckstein, Rick Tulka, Anton Emdin, Tom Bunk) The MAD 20 Dumbest People, Events and Things of 2014 The NFL’s Domestic Violence Problem (Uncredited) Ebola Hysteria (Uncredited) The GM Recall Debacle (Matt Lassen, Scott Bricher) The Militarization of the Police Dept (Desmond Devlin, Richard Williams) Target’s Security Breach (Writer: Darren Johnson) Obama Caught Off Guard (Artist:… READ MORE
December 14th, 2014 | Posted in General
Q: I was wondering if you could share your shipping methods. Specifically, how do you box up your prints and/or commission work for shipping and what advise you would give to others on how to prepare artwork for shipping in an efficient manner. I feel like I spend way too much time getting artwork boxed up in a safe way that makes me confident it will arrive in one piece. Thanks! A: This is actually a big concern because shippers do not treat packages very well, especially at the sorting stage. Trust me I know… I worked at UPS for about 6 weeks when I… READ MORE
