Tom's Mad Blog
December 22nd, 2013 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: What is your most and least favorite pieces you’ve done for MAD? A: Whew, that’s a tough one. My stock answer on the former question is “the last one I did”, which is actually not a bad answer. I always put 110% into anything I do, especially for MAD, so naturally I like my most recent work the most. However some projects, be they because of the subject matter or just a happy set of circumstances and dumb luck, end up being a favorite. I guess if I had to choose I think MAD’s 519’s “The Dork Knight Repises” is my favorite piece I’ve… READ MORE
December 20th, 2013 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Clicky to embiggen… The answer to yesterday’s question as to what I did differently than usual in my art for the parody of “The Following” in MAD #525 is that I did the entire thing digitally. No pencils, no pens, no ink, no paper. Start to finish on the computer. It was an interesting experiment, but I will never do it again. I’d been thinking of giving this a try for a while now, just to see how it turned out and to see if it was a time saver of any kind. In this particular case I was a bit behind on getting the… READ MORE
December 19th, 2013 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Clicky to Embiggen… I got this email the other day from MAD aficionado Ed Meisinger: I’m curious – no signature on the splash page (for “The Swallowing” in MAD #525). 1)¬¨‚ĆIntentional? I’m assuming it is since you’ve got the “Richmond Area Directory” included. 2)¬¨‚ĆIs this a first? (a splash page without your usual stylish signature) Nope. Not intentional… I just forgot. I forget to do that a lot. I get wrapped up in the job, and just plain forget. Sadly, no. Thanks to some OCD issues I had to go back and look at how many I have actually missed signing. I only counted those… READ MORE
December 18th, 2013 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Clicky any to embiggen… Better late than never today… had another job due this afternoon that had to get done first. So, this week’s SotW is one of the two pieces I did for the latest issue of MAD. Originally I was supposed to do only the art for the parody of “The Swallowing” for MAD #525 (now on news stands… Fa Fa Fa!), but then the editors decided they also wanted me to do the art for the #1 “Dumbest Thing” in MAD’s “20 Dumbest People, Events, and Things of 2013”. I can’t imagine where they got the idea for me to do this… READ MORE
December 17th, 2013 | Posted in General
If you read this blog regularly you will know I do not often endorse blogs or websites here… mainly because I figure you’ve wasted enough of your time reading my drivel you can’t afford to go off reading others. However, the occasional blog come around where I just have to say “take a look at this” because it is one of those rare birds that actually had something interesting to say that is more than your typical internet snark or “10 most this and that” lists. I posted the image above in a recent Sunday Mailbag. It was done as a wedding gift and promptly… READ MORE
December 16th, 2013 | Posted in Monday MADness
The guys at MAD sent me a surprise the other day (it wasn’t a check… that really would have been a surprise). It was this hardcover Superman special printed, and presumably being sold in, France, with my cover illustration: Clicky to embiggen… The inside contains mostly the same material as the MAD Presents Superman magazine special of this past summer, including my parody of Superman Returns. Everything is of course translated into French. It’s hard to scan the interior of a hardcover, but here is one of my pages translated: Sadly, it’s no funnier in French. MAD actually has a long tradition of not only… READ MORE
December 15th, 2013 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: My question is around developing caricature skills. How would you guide someone who would like to be a caricaturist? Would you suggest to start practicing with portraits to then jump into caricature? What skills the aspiring caricaturist should go in deep to obtain expertise necessary? A: I think the answer to that question would be a little different for each individual, but in general I would say most aspiring caricaturists would benefit greatly from a solid foundation in portraiture. I say that mainly for two reasons: First, strong drawing skills are important in caricature and becoming good in traditional realistic drawing will always be… READ MORE
December 13th, 2013 | Posted in News
Hard to believe but I just ordered a fifth printing of The Mad Art of Caricature! The staying power of the book’s sales is really amazing, especially through traditional brick and mortar stores. My distributor really goes through them, and we have very few returns meaning they aren’t sitting on shelves too long.¬¨‚Ć I don’t think I will run out of the current stock before the reprint arrives, but it will be a close thing. I have made little progress with the “version 2.0” of the book, which was to include material I cut from the original book due to space, and some things I… READ MORE
