Tom's Mad Blog
October 21st, 2012 | Posted in Mailbag
Q:¬¨‚Ć I wanted my son to follow my love for art & music, but it seems his interest is more on computer games and some sports. Do you encourage or just wish one of your children would follow your footsteps as an illustrator regardless if they would make it as a career or not? A: I know your exact question is more specifically geared toward my feelings, and I’ll answer that at the end of this post, but this is an interesting general topic. Whenever I am in conversation with someone and they ask “Do you have any kids?”, they always (assuming they know what… READ MORE
October 19th, 2012 | Posted in MAD Magazine
This past week I went to NYC to participate in the filming of a CBS Sunday Morning special segment on MAD’s 60th anniversary, and spent Wednesday in the MAD offices with several other members of the Usual Gang of Idiots. Not sure I will actually be on TV at all, but it was fun to hang out. Present were the entire MAD staff (including longtime artist and current art director Sam Viviano) as well as UGOI’s Tom Bunk, Dick DeBartolo,¬¨‚ĆDesmond Devlin, Al Jaffee, Peter Kuper, Jacob Lambert (also a staffer now), Matt Lassen, Patrick Merrell and James Warhola, Here are some pictures (clicky to embiggen):… READ MORE
October 18th, 2012 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Here is a great article on MAD‘s 60 years of history from FastCompany.com, which includes a slideshow of covers, and interview with MAD editor John Ficarra and plenty of other pics (even one with me in it from our Comic-Con panel!). Well worth a read… READ MORE
October 17th, 2012 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
And now for something completely different . . . a sketch done entirely on the iPad using one of those stupid, marshmallow-ended Pogo styluses. This was mainly an exercise in frustration. I gave up on it after spending 4 times as long on what you see as I would have just using a good, old fashioned pencil and paper. I stand by my previous opinion that, while drawing on an iPad is possible, its not very fun or intuitive. I spend most of my time fighting the limitations of the iPad, so I didn’t really concentrate on the drawing and it’s pretty so-so at best… READ MORE
October 16th, 2012 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Clicky to embiggen… Well, since this is the whole article I guess it doesn’t qualify as a “sneak peek”, but here it is. Not my usual MAD style but a fun departure on a rare “not a movie or TV parody” job. I thought the feature needed a painted look. Article written by Barry Liebmann. Speaking of movie parodies, check out the 8 page tour-de-force “Twilight” parody (all 5 movies!) in this issue written by Desmond Devlin with art by terrific Aussie illustrator Anton Emdin. It almost makes me wish I’d seen the movies or read the books so I knew what the hell they… READ MORE
October 15th, 2012 | Posted in MAD Magazine
On news stands Oct 23rd, in comic book shops this week, available for download on the iPad right now, and in many subscriber mailboxes already: MAD # 518 (December 2012) Cover (Mark Fredrickson) The Fundalini Pages (Jeff Kruse, Ward Sutton, Bob Staake, Rick Tulka, Emily Flake, Nick Meglin, Paul Coker, Sam Sisco, Jay Ruth, Kenny Keil, Hermann Mejia, Garth Gerhart, Peter Bagge, Dick DeBartolo, John Caldwell) The Toilet Saga (Desmond Devlin, Anton Emdin) Are You and activist or a Slacktivist? (Desmond Devlin, Paul Coker) A MAD Look at College (Sergio Aragon?¬©s, Colors: Tom Luth) 2013 MAD Pull-Out Calendar (John Caldwell) Expectorate Native American Sputum- A… READ MORE
October 14th, 2012 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: How do you feel when clients ask caricature artists to “water down” their exaggeration. I feel they do not understand why they hired an artist in the first place. I believe you said you were asked to tone down your caricatures at the Democratic National Convention gig you worked at. I guess they did not want to offend public figures being drawn. Has a client made you change a commissioned project to be less exaggerated? As an analogy I do not think someone would ask a chef to tone down their spices at a restaurant. Recently a downtown restaurant asked four muralists to paint… READ MORE
October 12th, 2012 | Posted in News
Next month I will be one of several cartoonists who will visit Boise, Idaho in support of the Wyakin Warriors Foundation, an organization that helps severely injured veterans for life after their service to our country through education, professional training, job placement and more. Started by NCS member Jeff Bacon, who has been the driving force behind the USO trips many cartoonists have participated in over the last 5 years, the WW Foundation is a fantastic initiative and deserving of everyone’s support. There will be an online silent auction for all the cartoons and other stuff dontated by the cartoonists… I will give you more… READ MORE
