Tom's Mad Blog
February 20th, 2014 | Posted in News
Clicky to Embiggen… Roughly left to right: Tom Gammill, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Greg Evans, Eddie Pittman, Sandra Bell-Lundy, Russ Heath, Bunny Hoest Carpenter, John Reiner, Suzy Spafford, Chris Houghton. The lineup for the speakers for the National Cartoonists Society Reuben Awards Weekend was just released: From the NCS Website Eddie Pittman– Animator, illustrator, creator of the online graphic novel Red’s Planet Chris Houghton– Animator, comic artist, illustrator, 2009 winner of the NCSF Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship Greg Evans– 2003 Reuben Award winning creator of the syndicated comic strip Luann. Suzy Spafford– Creator of Suzy’s Zoo, greeting card/product/licensing entrepenuer Sandra Bell-Lundy– Creator of the syndicated comic… READ MORE
February 19th, 2014 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Spring training is underway for Major League Baseball, and all pro ballplayers are showing up at their teams spring training facilities to get ready for the 2014 season… well, not his guy. Alex Rodriguez is serving a 162 game suspension for the use of banned performance enhancing substances and obstructing the investigation of such. He actually could attend spring training under the terms of his suspension, but he’s staying home. Must have run out of “the cream” and “the clear”, and he’ll just concentrate on “the remote” this summer. READ MORE
February 18th, 2014 | Posted in General
If you are ever engaging a cartoonist in conversation and for some reason want that cartoonist to do all the talking, just ask them about the art supplies they use. This never fails to send cartoonists into a rant about how this pen and that paper and this ink and that brush just aren’t made the way they used to be, are discontinued, or some other tale of woe about the struggle to get the tools they like working with. It’s like a law of physics. I’m no exception. I prefer the Gillott 303 pen nib for much of my inking and that’s a hard… READ MORE
February 17th, 2014 | Posted in Monday MADness
In honor of spring training opening this week, today’s Monday MADness comes from MAD #434, October 2003…a feature written by Barry Liebmann that asks the question: what would the world be like “Without Sports…”. Click the image below for an embiggened look at my art and follow along with the key for a sampling of Barry’s many gags from the original article: Without Sports… … many of the athletes who receive millions to endorse sneakers would only be qualified to work in the same 3-cent-an-hour sweatshops that manufacture them. … the only people left to grab their own crotch in public would be three-year-olds, incontinent… READ MORE
February 16th, 2014 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Have you ever done any writing? Maybe pitch a comic book idea with an original character, or submitted a written piece to MAD? Ever wanted to create your own “Batman” or “Sherlock Holmes”? With your artistic skills, you all ready have a leg up. Just wondering… A: I have done a lot of writing, but not much creative writing like you describe. Most of what I’ve written are articles for various publications or this website, my book, and a few little projects I’ve done here and there. I’ve never submitted a script or idea to MAD, nor written a comic book story of my… READ MORE
February 15th, 2014 | Posted in News
The Studio Store is finally back up and running, and with that I’m running a sale on signed copies of The Mad Art of Caricature! That’s right… you can order a signed copy for only $20 plus shipping. That’s cheaper than Amazon, and it’s signed! Also on sale is the “Signed copy with a drawing of Alfred E. Neuman”, which is the corresponding $4.95 off. So, if you don’t have a copy of my book and you’ve always wanted one, save a couple of bucks while the sale is on! READ MORE
February 14th, 2014 | Posted in MAD Magazine
I know it looks like that should be an embedded video but sadly that’s not possible, so clicking on it will bring you to a Yahoo News story (with a short video!) about how Al Jaffee‘s “MAD Fold-In” turns 50 next month. The story starts out: It just might be one of the longest freelance gigs in magazine publishing history. Cartoonist Al Jaffee has contributed to MAD Magazine, the satirical mainstay, since its beginnings, and is marking the 50th anniversary of not only creating but illustrating its most iconic feature. I’m not sure it’s fair to call the fold-in MAD‘s “most iconic feature”…many might say… READ MORE
February 13th, 2014 | Posted in News
First, a reminder to all that the submissions for consideration for the National Cartoonists Society’s divisional awards are due on Saturday, Feb 15th! Here’s a list of all the divisions, the requirements for eligibility, and where to send the submissions. I’m pleased to say that the online divisions have been receiving a good number of submissions, which is terrific. Even better, we expanded the Online Comics Committee to include several other very knowledgeable and “plugged in” webcomics folks to help with the process. In addition to our committee members from last year: Bill Amend– Creator of Foxtrot David Allan Duncan– Professor of Sequential Art Graduate… READ MORE
