This week’s SotW subject is Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Michael Peter Balzary aka “Flea“. He wasn’t naked in the picture I drew this from, but as he was known for playing entire concerts naked back in the late 1990’s… thus the Full Monte treatment. READ MORE
MAD debuted 60 years ago in 1952. It’s success, first as a comic book and then as a magazine (or “slick” as the vernacular of the day went) caused the spawning of imitators… MANY imitators. The longest running of them all was Cracked magazine, which lasted almost 50 years (1958-2007), but the list of less long-lived MAD clones was much longer. Here’s a few off the top of my head: Sick Crazy Plop! Nuts! Not Brand Eccch! Eh! Madhouse From Here to Insanity An upcoming book (to be released in April) from Fantagraphics, The Sincerest Form of Parody, reprints some of the material from the… READ MORE
I don’t post often enough about the good stuff being done on MAD’s official blog The Idiotical. The other day they posted their predictions for the 2012 Oscars: Click to visit The Idiotical There are daily updates with combinations of stuff from the magazine (both classic and current), plus a lot of original content. If you don’t regularly visit, you are missing out on some daily chuckles. READ MORE
Q: I remember about a year ago you wrote a post about the decline in quality of Strathmore bristol boards, a brand you used with your work. Whatever happened with that? Did you find a suitable replacement? Have the Strathmore boards improved? A: Here is the post to which you refer: Strathless Bristol Bored. I contacted Strathmore about my concerns and found their customer service department very receptive to working with me. They were concerned and, while they didn’t come right out and say it, I got the feeling mine was not the first complaint they had received. They asked me to send them some… READ MORE
We interrupt this blog for a few days while the blog admin gets himself a serious sunburn and combats the pain with copious amounts of Mai Tais on vacation. The blog will resume with the Sunday Mailbag. Mahalo. READ MORE
I had the pleasure of being a guest on the excellent comics podcast Tall Tale Radio with Tom Racine. The show is up on the TTR website now. Tom and I talk about the NCS, the new online comics divisional award, the MAD, MAD, SCAD weekend I attended back in November, my book and a few other stories. Check it out here! READ MORE
Actually I’m on vacation! But, there’s still work either in progress or waiting for me when I get back: Book Illustration– Doing a ten page/cover job for a book pitch. Don’t worry, I’m getting paid for it whether the book get’s picked up or not. Warner Bros. Video Box Artwork– a spot illustration that is being used for product packaging. NCS Reuben Brochure Art– My usual artwork for the cover of the Reuben Brochure. Here’s my latest Marlin workplace poster illustration, pencil roughs and finals. There were some changes to the patient’s expressions asked for, as you can see from the end result. As always,… READ MORE
Q: I’d like to do freelance illustration and cartooning for a career, but I hate marketing and invoicing and dealing with the business side of things. I just want to draw. How do you handle all that business stuff? A: There is supposedly a scientific reason for a highly creative person not liking (or in some cases being any good at) the business side of art. Most people have heard of the concept of “right-brained” and “left-brained” people. As the theory goes, people who’s brains are left-side dominant are more analytical and logical, and are generally better at math and other structured concepts. Those who… READ MORE
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