Richmond Illustration Inc.

Tom's Mad Blog

The Folding Man

July 18th, 2014 | Posted in MAD Magazine

Paste Magazine has a terrific article on the incomparable Al Jaffee and the MAD feature he created and made famous… the “Fold-In”. Al talks about the thinking behind his favorite Fold-Ins from the last five decades. Go check it out. Incidentally, Al still does the Fold-In every issue. He still hand delivers the art to the MAD offices. He’s 93. READ MORE

Illustration Throwback Thursday #4

July 17th, 2014 | Posted in Illustration Throwback Thursday

In 1994 I got a job through a design firm to do a cover illustration for the “Rolaids Relief Man Award Media Guide“, a 4 “x 9” booklet with the current year’s Major League Baseball relief pitchers statistics, put out by Rolaids in conjunction with their sponsorship of the MLB “Relief Man Award”. The cover usually featured caricatures of prominent relief pitchers and/or past award winners. The design firm angle was typical of smaller specialty publications, especially for sports teams or sponsors. They often hired a design firm to do the design and layout of the publication, and then the client would provide the content… READ MORE

Sketch o’the Week- Mads Mikkelsen!

July 16th, 2014 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week

This week’s SotW subject is Hannibal Lecter himself, Mads Mikkelsen. Digital study. READ MORE

San Diego Comic-Con 2014

July 15th, 2014 | Posted in News

Hard to believe but Comic-Con 2014 is only a week away! I don’t have as hectic a signing schedule as I have had in the past, so I’ll be spending a lot more time at the National Cartoonists Society booth this year… which is good since this is my last year as President of the NCS. Here’s my complete appearance schedule (so far): Wednesday 7/23 (Preview Night) 6 pm-9 pm- NCS Booth #1307 Thursday 7/24 10 am-12pm- NCS Booth #1307 1 pm-4pm- NCS Booth #1307 MAD about MAD Panel- 5:30 pm-6:30 pm- Room 4 Friday¬¨‚Ä† 7/25 11 am- 12 pm- Cartoon Art Museum Sketch-A-Thon Booth… READ MORE

Monday MADness- Al Feldstein

July 14th, 2014 | Posted in MAD Magazine

I’m going to do something different today for Monday MADness and send you all via this magic link to the blog of Mark Evanier, to read a terrific piece about the late MAD editor Al Feldstein he wrote this past weekend. Feldstein was the editor of MAD for about 29 years, and Mark’s post really lends some insights into Al’s career and why it was very unique. He talks a lot about some of the things that made Al Feldstein a polarizing figure in MAD history. Some people will tell you Al had nothing to do with the things that made MAD great, that we… READ MORE

Sunday Mailbag- How long per page?

July 13th, 2014 | Posted in Mailbag

Q: The pages you do for your MAD parodies are very detailed and full of a lot of little gags and touches, especially the opening pages. How long to you spend on each page? A: I get this question a lot when people look at my originals. The only accurate answer is that it takes as long as they give me. Doing the physical artwork is only part of the work and time I put into a movie or TV parody for MAD. I spend quite a bit of time doing research and getting familiar with the show or film as well as looking for… READ MORE

Biting the Big Apple

July 10th, 2014 | Posted in General

The Lovely Anna and I are currently in New York City with Number One Son Thomas as part of his high school graduation present. When one of our kids graduate, they get a trip with just mom and dad to the destination of their choice (within reason). Tom chose NYC and we are seeing multiple shows, touring the sites and putting some miles on the shoes. We’ll be dropping by the MAD offices tomorrow. I was going to bring the last two pages of my latest job for them with me and hand them in like the old school guys did back when Bill Gaines… READ MORE