Tom's Mad Blog
September 11th, 2011 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: When did you publish your first artwork? And where? When did you publish your first artwork in Mad magazine? A: My first really published work, not including stuff for local restaurants or ads for realtors or similar, was for the comic book Married… with Children, for NOW Comics (as to how it all came about, you can read about my NOW Comics story here). I did the pencils for Vol. 1, issue #7: This comic book job was a disaster. Originally the story was supposed to be about Al Bundy getting mixed up in some kind of caper with an “Elvira” type character. But… READ MORE
September 10th, 2011 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Over at The Idiotical, the Official Blog of MAD Magazine (this is a very UNofficial blog), they have posted the story behind the cover of MAD #411, otherwise known as the 9-11 cover. The tell the tale of how this: replaced this: at the very last minute, following the events of September 11th, 2001. MAD very correctly decided that, despite the innocent marathon scene, having a cover depicting a crowd of people running through the streets of New York with Alfred jumping a dead body would probably be taken in a different way after September 11th. I won’t recount the entire tale here, you can… READ MORE
September 9th, 2011 | Posted in News
Click for a closer look… This week’s sneak peek is the opening splash of Chapter Six: Beyond the Face. In this chapter, I discuss how other aspects of a person’s figure, physicality, and “presence”, contribute to their caricature. I go over drawing and caricaturing the shoulders and neck in detail, talk about posture, have an expanded “drawing hands” section, and examine the differences in how you treat men and women in caricature, complete with drawing tips and examples. This chapter is 20 pages long and contains over 60 illustrations. Book delivery update: The book printing is complete and finished copies are now in the shipping… READ MORE
September 8th, 2011 | Posted in Freelancing
Here’s a set of spots I did recently for Penthouse Magazine, illustrating a story about things people are reluctant or hate to do, or are no good at: Giving a wedding toast Telling your girlfriend or boyfriend they have bad breath… Taking a drunk friend’s keys Visiting a terminally ill friend… The story also gives advice on how to do some of these harder things. In most cases I illustrated how NOT to do it. READ MORE
September 7th, 2011 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Kind of busy again this week so I am going to post another of the more finished sketches I did for my “Secret Agent Man” print. This one is of the most recent actor to play James Bond in the movies, Daniel Craig. In the print, I decided to lose the dripping blood and the pain “stars” because I thought that was a little too much. I’ve been asked why I made Craig look so beat up. I think the answer should be obvious. While all the movie Bonds occasionally took a beating, Craig is one of the few who actually ended up looking like… READ MORE
September 6th, 2011 | Posted in Freelancing
There is a short piece in this month’s issue of SI Kids featuring a few spot illustrations I did. The article is about different types of coaches, and drew a cartoon character version of each “type” showing some of their pro and con attributes. We loosely based some of them on real coaches, but not in their facial features. Things like clothing, accessories and demeanor might remind you of certain real coaches in pro or college sports. None of them are even remotely caricatures of real people, though.¬¨‚Ć Here are the final results . . . I think the details of the type is pretty… READ MORE
September 5th, 2011 | Posted in General
Finally, a little good news on the book’s production and delivery schedule. My printer was able to get our print run squeezed in earlier than expected, and the book is on the press as I speak . . . uh . . . type. Barring any printing run disasters the bound books should ship out on Sept. 12th from Korea, and would arrive here in Minnesota on or around October 5th. I’m knocking on wood right now, as there are still many potential issues that could slow that process down…a messed up print run, tsunamis and such. Still, this is good news and once again… READ MORE
September 4th, 2011 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: When you teach new artists your techniques for drawing caricatures in a theme park, what are some common problems you see? A: Everybody is different, of course, but there are some issues that in the 20 plus years I have been training theme park artists I have noticed seem to be typical of many beginning live caricaturists. Fear of line- This is very typical and to be expected. Live caricature is an exercise in fearlessness and audacity, where you make bold, confident lines on the paper like you have been doing it for years. New artists almost always lack this fearlessness and confidence, and… READ MORE
