Tom's Mad Blog
January 24th, 2014 | Posted in General
That’s it! The Limited Artist’s Edition of my book is all sold out. To paraphrase the immortal Popeye: 120 editions is all there is, and there isn’t no mo’! Many thanks to the 120 folks who ordered one of these, and for the patience many showed when it took me sometimes up to a month to get their book done. The folks who ordered the last several of these won’t have to wait that long, I should be able to get these last few done early next week. READ MORE
January 24th, 2014 | Posted in General
Looks like one of the final three backed out suddenly, so there is actually one left! Get it while it’s hot! READ MORE
January 24th, 2014 | Posted in General
Is It Schilly in Here, or is it Just Me Dept. If you have been thinking about getting one of the Limited Artist’s Editions of my book for yourself or as a gift for some MAD fan or caricaturist… now’s the time. There are exactly three left of the 120 limited editions, and when they are gone, they’re gone. Have a caricature of you or the person of your choice drawn by me inside a copy of The Mad Art of Caricature!, complete with a hand-numbered bookplate. You send in your photos Tom draws you on the half-title page! (click image to enlarge) 117 crazy… READ MORE
January 23rd, 2014 | Posted in General
I get the occasional email or other message from concerned individuals who write to tell me they have found my book The Mad Art of Caricature! available as a free PDF download here or there, and just wanted to make me aware of it. I really do appreciate that, but I am sadly very aware of it. These are copies someone has spent hours scanning in from a printed copy (presumably) cut up into individual pages. The images look terrible and the text is furry but it’s readable. There is not much I can do about this, unless I want to spend all day every… READ MORE
January 22nd, 2014 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
With less than a month before MLB pitchers and catchers report to camp, this week’s Sketch o’the Week is local Minnesota Twins catcher first baseman Joe Mauer. This is a quick, live-caricature style drawing of Joe for a Twins-related event I will be doing this weekend. I’ll report on that next week sometime. READ MORE
January 21st, 2014 | Posted in General
Sunday night The Lovely Anna and I watched the third season premier of “Sherlock”, the updated re-imagining of the classic character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle… it was great as expected. As a Sherlockian myself, I love this show. I wrote a review of it when I posted the above drawings as a Sketch o’the Week a while ago. All of what I said in that review stands true in the new episode, which bodes well for the rest of the season. I especially love the nods to some of the original canon in a few of the side stories and quick moments… among… READ MORE
January 20th, 2014 | Posted in Monday MADness
Last week I posted about some unique advertising inserts MAD did back in 2007 and 2008, which I did some artwork for. The first one was for Ballpark Franks in MAD #480. The second and last was in MAD #486 (and other DC Comics titles that same month). This was was not promoting a product, but rather a comedy troupe called The Whitest Kids U Know. The “WKUK” had a sketch comedy television show on the FUSE Network in 2007, which had moved to the Independent Film Channel for season two and beyond until 2011. IFC is uncensored so, unlike on FUSE, their sketches aired… READ MORE
January 19th, 2014 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: My question is how does one get into freelance illustration without a formal art school education and when is it too late? Okay it’s a long winded two part question… A little back story on myself. I always liked to draw as long as I can remember, and I was pretty good at it. I remember getting in trouble in middle school for not paying attention in class and doodling in my notebook. My guidance counselor looked through the pictures I drew told me he could offer me a scholarship to art school then and there if I would just do my real school… READ MORE
