Tom's Mad Blog
October 29th, 2011 | Posted in News
A couple of days ago I posted some limited info on the ongoing project I am doing with comedian/ventriloquist Jeff Dunham. I mentioned an upcoming but as-yet-unannounced TV special that might have more details on my contributions to Jeff’s project. Well, that TV special is no longer unannounced: BIO Channel presents “Jeff Dunham: Birth of a Dummy,” a 90-minute special that delivers exclusive, unprecedented access to the life of the entertainer who single-handedly made ventriloquism hip again. The special premieres Tuesday, November 22 at 8PM EST and 9PM PST. From his modest upbringing in Dallas, Texas, Jeff Dunham has transformed into an international sensation. He… READ MORE
October 28th, 2011 | Posted in News
This year’s annual International Society of Caricature Artist’s convention and competition will be Nov. 13-18th at the Tradewinds Island Grand Resort in Clearwater, Florida. If you are a caricaturist and have never attended on of these, then you are missing a truly amazing experience. About 200 professional caricaturists, ranging from party artists to illustrators to sculptors to animators, descend on the unsuspecting host resort for 5 days. They spend their time drawing thousands of caricatures in every imaginable style, attending workshops, listening to guest speakers, getting creatively super-charged and in general having a total blast. Then they all vote for the “best of” various categories… READ MORE
October 27th, 2011 | Posted in News
Anyone who got a copy my book The Mad Art of Caricature found a little insert asking that, if they liked it, to spread the work by mentioning it on Facebook, on their blog or on an appropriate message board forum. Some people really went above and beyond, and posted glowing reviews of the book on their blogs. Here’s a sampling (click on the name to go to the full review): Krishna Sadasivam (cartoonist- PC Weenies) “…I have read a LOT of drawing / cartooning / illustration books over the years, and I must say that Tom’s book is right up there with the best… READ MORE
October 26th, 2011 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Once again, a day late and a dollar short. I’ve been working on a MAD job that took far longer to pencil out than I thought it would and didn’t have the time to post a sketch yesterday. Anyway, here’s a drawing of celebrity nutcase Charlie Sheen. I did one of him once before, but I saw a profile/three-quarter view picture of him that was perfect for that pointy nose, jutting chin and neanderthal brow, and couldn’t resist. READ MORE
October 25th, 2011 | Posted in General
Jeff Dunham’s Achmed the Dead Terrorist character I’ve been alluding often here on The MAD Blog for the last year about artwork I am doing for ?¬?ber-popular comedian/ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, but have never been more specific. That’s because, as usually goes along when doing anything for folks in show business, there are confidentiality agreements galore involved. Some of that work is going to start appearing here and there, and Jeff has told me I can fill people in a little (operational word) on what’s all involved. The image above is one of a series of illustrations I’ve done/am working on of his various characters, this… READ MORE
October 24th, 2011 | Posted in General
Click to embiggen This illustration appears on the cover of The UTNE Reader this month, or at least all but the background. I was very unhappy with the way the printed cover looked, and it was all my own fault. I did the color with this vignetted background, and the art department of UTNE decided to lose the background for the final print. Click to embiggen I should have then gone back and reworked the color, because without the intensity of the reds and darkness of the background, the color fell apart. The yellow cast to the facial colors, that were meant to create the… READ MORE
October 23rd, 2011 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I wanted to ask you a question about your Photoshop coloring technique: how do you avoid getting ‘spotting’ in Photoshop when you’re using washes? I’m referring to the crossover area between one wash and another: where they intersect there’s an area of brush-shaped darker color caused by laying down a wash with less-than-100% opacity and crossing over it with another wash of less-than-100% opacity. How do you avoid that? Your finished pieces never have that artifacting, which probably has a better term than “spotting.” The video tutorial, while fantastic on its own, does not have the resolution to show something that detailed. So I… READ MORE
October 21st, 2011 | Posted in News
Last weekend the North Central Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society had our annual fall meeting here in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Here’s a VERY brief rundown of the events: Friday 10/14: In conjunction with the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, we brought Stephan Pastis, the creator of the syndicated comic strip Pearls Before Swine, to the Twin Cities to do a lecture and hang out with us. I know Stephan fairly well… riding together in a Blackhawk above the war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan will do that for you, so it was great fun to have him with us. His evening lecture was standing-room… READ MORE
