Tom's Mad Blog
May 19th, 2013 | Posted in General
Q: You’ve written here before that when you do a freelance job for a client, they technically aren’t buying artwork from you but the rights to use artwork. What kind of copyrights do they typically get? A: Absolutely correct on that first part. While most freelance projects involve creating artwork specifically for a client’s needs, ultimately they are really paying for the copyrights to use that artwork for their purposes. At least, that’s the case in an independent contractor agreement. In a work for hire agreement, they are paying only for the artwork creation because they own every pencil line and the full copyrights to… READ MORE
May 17th, 2013 | Posted in News
Hard to believe there is still “news” about a book that is 18 months past its release, but today I shipped off several cases of The Mad Art of Caricature! to a company called Basheer Graphic Books in Singapore, which will be distributing it in Asia. I’m not sure how much of Asia they mean, as Asia is an awfully big place, but I am pretty sure if you are in Asia and inquire at your local book store they can probably order a copy for you. It might take a few weeks for the book to start showing up in wholesaler’s catalogs, but it… READ MORE
May 16th, 2013 | Posted in News
Readers may or may not know I am a member of a web collective of cartoonists known as The Cartoonists Studio. TCS is sort of a virtual gathering place for cartoonists with pages for each member that includes bios, photo tours of their studios, news about what they are up to and links to communicate with them. It’s supposed to be a place that fans can go and “meet” the creators of their favorite cartoons. TCS is probably best known for its cartooning “contests”, where aspiring cartoonists create comics and compete for various prizes. I know it used to be a syndication deal but the… READ MORE
May 15th, 2013 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
This week I thought I’d do my Doctor Who series sketch digitally and record the process like I have done once or twice in the past, but I somehow messed up the video recording. Thus, I have simply a digital sketch and no video. Sorry about that. Oh, and here we have the eighth Doctor, as portrayed by Paul McGann. READ MORE
May 14th, 2013 | Posted in General
I’ve got an illustration for an upcoming MAD book due by this weekend, so blogging might be spotty for a few days. READ MORE
May 13th, 2013 | Posted in Monday MADness
This weeks Monday MADness is not something of mine but a link to a classic MAD piece originally run in MAD #80, June 1963. Just click on the image below to go to a website called “Letters of Note” for the complete article, which is genius. So, why am I doing this for “Monday MADness” this week, as opposed to posting some old piece of mine or some pencil roughs or something? My reasons: Long term thinking: I’ve only been in about 100 issues of MAD. Doing the math and factoring in there will be an additional 12 issues out over that time, plus about… READ MORE
May 12th, 2013 | Posted in General
Q: I am a what you would consider an “average-amateur-novice-white-belt” artist. I have spent many hours in non-art classes throughout college, grad school, and (heaven forbid) church doodling in my notebooks and on the back of Sunday programs, always impressing my less artistic siblings or classmates. I have always enjoyed drawing and now that schooling is done and I have more free time, I have decided to dedicate more time to drawing and art. In my search for instruction, I stumbled upon your book. I really enjoyed it, partially because other books about caricature seemed rather lackluster, but mostly because your caricatures are exactly the… READ MORE
May 10th, 2013 | Posted in General
We might be seeing this guy’s ugly mug a bit the next few weeks. My last theme park operation opens tomorrow, I’ve got two major MAD jobs in the works, one due yesterday, four other illustration jobs on the board with two due imminently, and I’ve got this little weekend event called the NCS Reuben Award Weekend I’m in charge of planning and pulling off less than two weeks away. I’m really starting to hate May. READ MORE
