Tom's Mad Blog
November 24th, 2013 | Posted in General
Q: In your book you address the problem of nondescript, ‘standard’ faces, and mention finding ‘one outstanding feature. Just one’. My question concerns the opposite scenario – where a subject may have numerous ‘deviations from the norm’ … I suppose we should be driven by a quest for likeness, no matter what. But is this a situation where subjectivity comes into play? A: Caricaturists have a term for a face like you describe… it’s called a “Field Day”. I understand what you are saying, and it is true that if a face has a lot of features begging for exaggeration you can be confronted with… READ MORE
November 22nd, 2013 | Posted in News
Artwork by Paul Combs The Lovely Anna and I are on our way to Boise, ID today to attend the 2nd annual Wyakin Warriors Guardian Ball, along with a gaggle of other cartoonists as seen in the illustration above, drawn by illustrator and my USO cartooning tour comrade Paul Combs. Attending this year are: Bill Amend (FoxTrot) Jeff Bacon (Broadside/Greenside) Todd Clark (Lola) Paul Combs¬¨‚Ć(Firefighter cartoonist) Marcus Hamilton (Dennis the Menace) Jeff Keane (The Family Circus) Rick Kirkman (Baby Blues) Mason Mastroianni (B.C.) Glenn McCoy (The Flying McCoys) Steve Moore (In the Bleachers) Jeff Myers¬¨‚Ć(The Simpsons) Moi The ball is a black tie affair/fundraiser for… READ MORE
November 21st, 2013 | Posted in MAD Magazine
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brru8ADSPGI[/youtube] MAD‘s Maddest Writer Dick DeBartolo gives ABC TV a tour of the MAD offices and talks about the new Inside MAD book. They zoom in a bit on the splash page I did in conjunction with Judd Apatow’s intro. READ MORE
November 21st, 2013 | Posted in Tales from the Theme Park
I know I just told this story last year here at some point, but it’s a good one and I wanted it part of the series. This one happened about 20 years ago when I had a run in with a theme park manager . . . I was working at one of my theme park concessions in 1992 when one of the newer members of the park’s “management team” came up to the booth and asked if I was the owner. “Yes,” I told her. She pointed at one of the many examples up on the wall, one I had done, and told me… READ MORE
November 20th, 2013 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Well, not really a sketch today… too busy with a couple of projects I will share later. This was a study of U.S. President John F. Kennedy I did for, of all things, an animated commercial for gold investment company SwissAmercia. This Friday marks 50 years since his assassination in Dallas, Texas. READ MORE
November 19th, 2013 | Posted in News
The ribbon cutting!! The Lovely Anna and I attended the 2013 OSU Festival of Cartoon Art this past weekend in Columbus, OH. This is a triennial event and was extra-special this year because it was also the grand opening of the new Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, the new facility and home for OSU’s unmatched collection of original cartoon art, publications and books on cartooning. The weekend featured many terrific speakers including Jeff Smith, Matt Bors, Eddie Campbell, Stephan Pastis, Brian Bassett, Gilbert and Jamie Hernandez and Kazu Kibuishi. There was also a screening of the Dave Kellett/Fred Schroeder documentary on comic strips entitled… READ MORE
November 18th, 2013 | Posted in Monday MADness
I just got back from the Ohio State Festival of Cartooning, where they officially opened the fantastic new Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum… I’ll write a little synopsis of this tomorrow. I was very flattered and privileged to have a couple of pieces in the opening exhibit, as part of a smaller area dedicated to caricature. The two originals were part of a full parody (including pencil roughs) I donated to the library entitled “The Wizard of O”, written by Desmond Devlin and appearing in MAD #505, Oct 2010. Here are the never-before-seen inks and pencil roughs from that job, plus the finals of… READ MORE
November 17th, 2013 | Posted in General
Q: What was the longest amount of time you’ve spent on caricaturing a subject? I sometimes find myself struggling with a subject and can spend days trying to get it right, when others seem to work out right away. I was just wondering if you’ve ever had this problem and how you get past it. A: That happens sometimes, and to everybody. When I’m doing a parody for MAD I will sometimes find one of the subjects seems to elude me, or if I am doing some other project I might find myself struggling with the likeness of a caricature. The odd thing is that… READ MORE
