Tom's Mad Blog
January 6th, 2013 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Regarding submitting work to MAD, I read your blog post about “breaking into MAD”, but the links to the submission guidelines are dead ends. Considering that there’s no submission section on the website, is it fine to mail the submissions to the address you mentioned under the FAQs section on your blog? Or MAD is not accepting submissions anymore? I am not a caricature artist (I’m more of a vampire caricaturist, I so suck at it). But, I can do cartoons and I can also do funny realistic portraits featuring Neuman in different forms, like those typical MAD covers. However, I read on the… READ MORE
January 5th, 2013 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Awesome news! MAD Listmeister Mike Slaubaugh has decided to resurrect his MAD Lists site, and continue his labor of love after all! I know that sometimes one can feel under-appreciated when putting so much work into something like this, but when you have the likes of Annie Gaines Ashton (widow of Bill Gaines), MAD writer extraordinaire Desmond Devlin, and MAD artist Rich Powell telling you how much they’ll miss your site (and that was just who commented on my blog post yesterday), it’s easy to see it’s very appreciated indeed. Incidentally, now that I look at the updated lists, I actually passed Wally Wood… READ MORE
January 4th, 2013 | Posted in MAD Magazine
I have now been working for MAD for over 12 years…which, incidentally, still makes me the “new guy”. Since my earliest days with the magazine I have been looking forward to a certain milestone . . . having appeared in my 100th issue. That is rarefied air. Less that 40 writers and/or artists have had credits in 100 or more issues of MAD in its 60 year history. My progress at hitting that milestone was greatly slowed down when the magazine went to four times a year in 2009, and only slightly improved when it went up to bi-monthly in 2010. However, I am… READ MORE
January 3rd, 2013 | Posted in News
Today the National Cartoonists Society posted their annual call for submissions for the 2012 NCS Division Awards, and announced some changes to the awards field: Advertising and Product Illustration– The former “Advertising Illustration” division has been expanded to include illustration for retail products. This would include things like cartoon art/humorous illustration for merchandise (posters, calendars, menus, apparel, etc.) as well as for retail packaging (kid’s meal boxes, toy packaging, etc.). It was always a gray area as to if that kind of work was acceptable, now it definitely is. Animation Divisions– The TV Animation and Film Animation divisions are now more specific as to what… READ MORE
January 3rd, 2013 | Posted in News
From the NCS Website: The National Cartoonists Society is starting it’s annual call for entries for consideration for their NCS Divisional Awards recognizing excellence in professional cartooning. As always, you DO NOT have to be a member of the NCS to have your work considered for a divisional award… all that is required is that the work be eligible as detailed below. NEW THIS YEAR: – There are now two divisions for Online Comics, Short Form and Long Form. See below for details. – The Advertising Illustration division has been expanded to Advertising and Product Illustration, which will include not only cartooning for advertising but… READ MORE
January 2nd, 2013 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
I wasn’t planning on posting any more of these caricatures done for the Limited Artist’s Edition of my book, but then I received several emails from people who said they really liked seeing the caricature AND the references I worked from. They thought it was a useful learning tool. So, I will occasionally throw one of these up as a SotW. This one is of Yougeshwar “BJ” Ramkissoon Jr., aged 13, and a budding caricaturist/cartoonist. Incidentally, I am officially at the halfway point of my 120 limited copies of this offer. If you have an interest in this one-of-a-kind, never to be repeated offer,… READ MORE
January 1st, 2013 | Posted in General
Don’t be a sourpuss like this guy. Here’s wishing everyone a happy, healthy, prosperous New Year! READ MORE
December 31st, 2012 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Before you worked for MAD, was it your goal to work for MAD? And at this point, did you really believe you would work for MAD? How did you get your first gig with them? A: Working for MAD was a relatively late goal of mine, although once I became focused on it I went all out. Here’s the short version of the story: Like many American boys I had a time when I was really “into” MAD Magazine. This was between 5th and 7th grades, so I would have been 10-12 years old. My friend had a subscription, so when his copy arrived… READ MORE
