Tom's Mad Blog
July 3rd, 2012 | Posted in Freelancing
I received this email the other day from a reader: Hi Tom, You are a prolific artist. I was wondering if you could do a blog showing the time-line of your normal work day? I think this might help to explain how you get so much done and what new artists, (including my self), might wish to emulate to achieve more productivity in their own pursuits. Thank you for all your insight. Tom Breitling Thanks for the email, Tom! I thought this would make a good blog article rather than a “Sunday Mailbag”. I can’t really put together a daily “time-line” because there really isn’t… READ MORE
July 2nd, 2012 | Posted in MAD Magazine
In this clip from a local Sacramento morning show, this guy explains how he considers having a letter printed in MAD to be one of the highlights of his life. I’m surprised having a letter printed in MAD didn’t get him expelled from school! READ MORE
July 1st, 2012 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I’m going to be getting married soon, and moving into a two bedroom apartment. This means that for the first time in my life, I’ll have a studio that isn’t also my bedroom. So I’m thinking about the best way to organize and layout my new studio, and also how to keep it neat and tidy, so I’m wondering what thoughts you put into your studio, and how you keep it clean (I’m thinking particularly about all those tiny figurines and batman memorabilia you have on shelves). Do you have a cleaning system or schedule? Or do you simply Photoshop out all the mess… READ MORE
June 28th, 2012 | Posted in General
The National Cartoonists Society Foundation is the charitable arm of the National Cartoonists Society. It officially formed in 2005 from it’s predecessor, the Milt Gross Fund, and several bequests from various cartoonists including David Pascal, Herblock and Toni Mendez, as well as continuing donations and bequests from NCS members, other foundations and supporters. Today the NCSF continues the charitable and educational works the NCS has been well known for, including the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship. Most recently, the NCSF has partnered with the The Kenosha Festival of Cartooning to sponsor their event in September. As a result, the Festival will be adding a silent auction… READ MORE
June 27th, 2012 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Continuing our “Pawn Stars” run, here is Cory “Big Hoss” Harrison. You know, I don;t even watch this show. . . but these guys are pretty fun to draw. READ MORE
June 26th, 2012 | Posted in General
I only met the late Mark Cohen once. This was in 1999 at the NCS Reuben Weekend in San Antonio, and before I started doing work for MAD. Mark was a prominent collector of cartoon artwork, and had 9among other things) one of the largest collections of original MAD art on the planet. His collections toured around galleries, and he was a tireless advocate for the cartooning world. I wish I had gotten a chance to get to know him. One of Mark’s more well-known collections was of self-caricatures of cartoonists, of which he was said to have had close to 1,000. In 1998 he… READ MORE
June 25th, 2012 | Posted in On the Drawing Board
Can’t seem to get ahead . . . a great problem for a freelancer to have but I am going to be doing a lot of traveling this summer and the drawing board just keeps getting crazier and crazier. Here’s what’s on the board currently: Marlin Co. Workplace poster- Doing finals today. They allow me to post the results right away so perhaps tomorrow on that. Jeff Dunham art- More finished illustration for some future products, also finishing today Utne Reader cover– just got this assignment, pencils due tomorrow, final next week. MAD Parody– The Avengers for MAD #517! Usually I have to keep what… READ MORE
June 24th, 2012 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Do you have an assistant or is there any part of a drawing that you farm out?¬¨‚Ć If so, What part and Why? A: I just had a conversation about this very topic with my long-time friend, comic book artist super-star Doug Mahnke, who came down to the house with his wife Michelle for my daughter’s graduation party. I was telling him how utterly and completely swamped I was with all these freelance assignments, and he asked me if I’d ever considered hiring an assistant to whom I could assign some of the more tedious “busy work” like backgrounds or clean up or such… READ MORE
