Tom's Mad Blog
March 13th, 2014 | Posted in MAD Magazine
MAD art director Sam Viviano is featured on DC All Access showing off tiny versions of the 21 upcoming MAD variant DC Comics covers, and giving a little tour of his office. His segment begins at 6:11 of the video below, the variant cover images are too small to get a good look at, but he does show off some other artwork hanging in his office including his cameo in Hermann Mejia‘s amazing “Road to Perdition” parody splash, some hack’s lame Harry Potter art and Sam’s first artwork for MAD, the cover of MAD #223! By the way, today is Sam’s birthday! He’s 61! Today… READ MORE
March 12th, 2014 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Took a breather from work the other day to catch the last episode of “True Detective”, which inspired this week’s sketch of Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey. That show was dark, but riveting. You could tell he was still very much down in weight from his filming of “Dallas Buyers Club” when this series was shot, but he started looking healthier as it went on. READ MORE
March 11th, 2014 | Posted in MAD Magazine
USA Today has an exclusive look at two more of the upcoming 21 MAD variant covers for the April run of DC Comics. The two released as a sneak peek today are the covers of Superman/Wonder Woman #7 by Tom Bunk (pictured) and Batgirl #30 by Rick Tulka with (colors by Carl Peterson). Click the link to see Rick’s Batgirl cover featuring Poison Ivy. By the way, in case you haven’t noticed all these MAD variant covers feature villains rather than heroes. READ MORE
March 11th, 2014 | Posted in General
The CAPS auction to benefit Stan and Sharon Sakai is in action right now, with some really amazing pieces of art up for bidding, including a number of custom pieces featuring the artist’s take on Stan’s great comic book character Usagi Yojimbo from some pretty heavy hitters (Jeff Smith, anyone?). There are also several pieces of original but unrelated comic book, comic strip and editorial cartoon art. Stan and Sharon are beloved figures in the world of comics, and the industry’s heart is breaking over their struggles with Sharon’s health. If you want to support a wonderful cause and get your hands on some truly… READ MORE
March 10th, 2014 | Posted in Monday MADness
Today’s Monday MADness is a look at the pencil roughs for a features entitled “America’s Next Top Mobster”, which was a mash-up of “The Sopranos” and “American;s Next Top Model” written by Desmond Devlin and appearing in MAD #482, October 2007. Clicky any to embiggen… As you can see my pencils got a lot looser on the last page, where I literally have circles for heads sometimes and only impart the very basic information for the MAD staff to review. Likely I was running short on time and I wanted to get these to the editors so I could move on to the finals, but… READ MORE
March 9th, 2014 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Do you have a standard freelance contract or agreement you use with all your clients? A: Yes and no. I do have a standard illustration contract/agreement I use with many clients, but not all. Many clients have their own agreements they have their illustrators sign with specific terms they need. In that case I sign theirs and do not need mine, as they both serve the same purpose: spelling out the copyright agreement and other terms for use of the illustration they are contracting me to create. Of course, I have to read those carefully to make sure I know what I am agreeing… READ MORE
March 7th, 2014 | Posted in General
These Reuben Award illustrations are something I have been doing for quite a few years now, ever since I was approached by then NCS prez Steve McGarry about doing something for the 2003 Reuben Awards in San Fransisco. Sometimes the art was used on the official Reuben T-Shirt, and sometimes it was for the brochure, and once or twice for both. Anyway I thought it would be fun to post a gallery of the Reubens art I have done over the years… it also makes for a nice record of the guest speakers most years, although some years they depicted the award winners/Reuben nominees instead:… READ MORE
March 6th, 2014 | Posted in Tales from the Theme Park
This story actually comes not from drawing at a theme park but from doing a state fair. I didn’t do many of those but for a couple of years in the early 90’s I would pack up my gear and a 10×10 tent and drive to Oklahoma to do a state fair. The fair lasted for 17 days, during which I became an honorary carnie… except I had all my teeth. To be fair, most carnies also have all their teeth, but they keep them in a jar on their dashboard whereas all of mine are still in my mouth… but I digress. Doing fairs… READ MORE
