Tom's Mad Blog
August 6th, 2012 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Sitting at Charles Schulz’s drawing board The Lovely Anna and I are on the way back from the west coast to Minnesota (the no coast) after a fun visit to San Francisco, Santa Rosa and the Sonoma wine country. We have family in this area so it’s always a treat to come out to see them and this beautiful part of the country. While there I did a few speaking engagements and a workshop on caricature at the Cartoon art Museum and the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa. At the Schulz museum, I did an adult class on drawing caricatures, then a presentation… READ MORE
August 5th, 2012 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Q: I just have a couple of quick questions for you. How big do you draw your art? When you do a piece for MAD, like a two page spread for instance, how big is the original drawing? You manage to get such a lot of detail in, so I can only imagine that it would be drawn quite big. ¬¨‚Ć Lastly, do you recommend always drawing big when practicing? A: I usually do my non-MAD illustration work at 150% of whatever the print size is going to be, which is an unwritten traditional standard in illustration. So, a full page magazine illustration (given an… READ MORE
August 3rd, 2012 | Posted in General
It is believed that the first piece of art was painted on the wall of a cave by early man. The second piece of art was also painted on the wall of a cave, but the prehistoric man that painted it was heard to complain that “they just don’t make this paint like they used to.” So began a long tradition of artists complaining that the art supplies they make today are no where near as good as the ones they used to make. Art supplies are discontinued, formulas changed, manufacturing methods altered, materials switched, etc. and nothing makes artists who use these supplies more… READ MORE
August 2nd, 2012 | Posted in Freelancing
Final art- Clicky to embiggen As promised, here are the inks and color final of my latest workplace poster assignment. This was a tricky one, as the wrong attitude/expression on the “Peter Peter” character and you have a whole different message. Also I wanted to have some fun playing with the lighting but I knew I could not have the kids depicted trick or treating in the full dark. The inks . . . Clicky to embiggen READ MORE
August 1st, 2012 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Clicky to embiggen Another cheat this week, as I am currently winging my way to San Francisco for those speaking engagements I listed Monday. This is the pencil sketch for a recent workplace poster illustration. Actually it’s not the rough, which I usually post, but the transfered drawing on illustration board ready for inking. I am purposefully loose with this stage so I can “draw” more with the inks. I’ll post the finished art tomorrow. I promise next week I’ll be back to original SotW drawings… it’s been a rough summer. READ MORE
July 31st, 2012 | Posted in General
MAD‘s very own Spy vs. Spy debuted recently in the App Store for Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iTouch. It’s been wildly successful and as been on-and-off the number one game in the app store, much to the chagrin of Perry. It’s an update of the original game that was made for the Commodore 64, Apple II and Atari. I remember having that game for the Atari, circa 1984 or so. This one is designed for the awesome retina screen of the Apple devices, but also includes an 8-bit “retro mode” so you can go back in time and enjoy the wonderfully clunky, boxy squares of… READ MORE
July 30th, 2012 | Posted in General
This weekend I’ll be in the San Francisco / Santa Rosa areas in California speaking at the Cartoon Art Museum and The Charles M. Schulz Museum respectively. Here are the details again, if you are int he area come out and see me! Fri, Aug 3rd: The MAD Art of Caricature! with Tom Richmond Cartoon Art Museum Event: Friday, August 3, 2012, 7:00-9:00pm $5 general public, two-for-one admission for Cartoon Art Museum members San Francisco, CA: The Cartoon Art Museum welcomes celebrated MAD artist and 2012 Reuben Award Winner Tom Richmond for a special look at his latest book, The Mad Art of Caricature! on… READ MORE
July 29th, 2012 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Q: When doing your movie and TV parodies, and occasional other stuff for MAD, how closely do you work with the writers on a given piece? A: This question was actually put to me at the MAD panel at Comic-Con, and I thought it would be a good one to answer here in the Sunday Mailbag. The answer is: I don’t directly work with the writers at all, ever. Any questions or concerns I have with the script I take to MAD art director Sam Viviano, who will go to the writer if it’s something he cannot answer and then relay the response to me.… READ MORE
