Tom's Mad Blog
July 15th, 2011 | Posted in News
Click for a closer look… Here’s another peek at part of my upcoming book The Mad Art of Caricature!. This is the opening two pages of the last chapter, “Caricatures and MAD“, where I go into detail about how caricature specifically applies to MAD parodies, some of the unique challenges the magazine demands and a run-through of a MAD job from script to finished art complete with notes on the thought processes and concerns at each stage. DC Entertainment gave me permission to reproduce the MAD artwork, BTW. Update on the book schedule: Good news and bad news. The good news is I am still… READ MORE
July 14th, 2011 | Posted in MAD Magazine
For those who need a MAD fix before the next issue comes out in August, here’s something to tide you over…a special issue collecting just about all the mockery and ridicule MAD lavished on the Harry Potter books and film franchise over the years. It’s 80 pages of spell-binding “Humorous Stupidous”, including the parodies of all eight movies: “Harry Plodder and the Sorry-Ass Story” (artist: Mort Drucker), MAD #412 “Harry Plodder and the Lamest of Sequels” (artist: Tom Richmond), MAD #424 “Harry Plodder and the Pre-Teen Nerds are Actin’ Bad” (artist: Hermann Mejia), MAD #443 “Harry Plodder Has Got to Retire” (artist: Hermann Mejia), MAD… READ MORE
July 13th, 2011 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Click for a closer look… I’m cheating this week and posting this digital painting instead of a “Sketch o’the Week”. A few people saw this as part of my The Mad Art of Caricature book cover and asked about it. I did it specifically for the book cover, based on an earlier SoTW. It’s your basic Photoshop job. READ MORE
July 12th, 2011 | Posted in General
As a big Batman fan, I found this custom Lego model of the Batcave to be mind-blowing. Creator Alex Schranz used approximately 9,000 Legos, and incorporated a neon lamp for the lighting effects. It’s “68 bricks high”, which is a little over 25 inches. I just don’t get Legos. I understand for some people it’s nearly a cult, and there is a lot of creativity and problem solving involved to build something out of these plastic bricks… but no matter how good you are with them, whatever you end up with still looks like it’s made out of Legos. READ MORE
July 11th, 2011 | Posted in MAD Magazine
When the gang at MAD decided to start an official blog called The Idiotical, they weren’t fooling around. Since it’s launch last month, the blog has consistently been updated with daily (and often multiple daily) bits of bloggy goodness including plenty of original material as well as some classic MAD stuff that has some sudden relevance (like the MAD parody of Columbo after the passing of Peter Falk), and other surprises. They’ve creatively illustrated new humor content with some existing MAD art, done a bunch of all-new stuff, sprinkled in some looks at interesting things like the Spy vs. Spy 50th Anniversary art and custom… READ MORE
July 10th, 2011 | Posted in Mailbag
Uh oh… looks like the mailbag is empty! Well, it’s not really completely empty, but the only ones I’ve got right now are of the “can you teach me how to cross-hatch?” or “how do you exaggerate people in caricature?” which aren’t really questions so much as they are requests for long and involved tutorials, and are needing a lot more time than I can give for this weekly feature. A good Sunday Mailbag question can certainly involve an image or two and a somewhat long answer, but anything like a tutorial is a different matter. So, if you have questions concerning cartooning, illustration, freelancing,… READ MORE
July 8th, 2011 | Posted in News
Click for a closer look… In the next few weeks I’ll be posting a few sneak peeks at some of the pages in my upcoming book¬¨‚ĆThe Mad Art of Caricature!, ordering of which will debut at Comic Con in less than two weeks! Here is the opening of chapter one. The chapter consists of 12 pages and contains over 25 illustrations. Chapter one includes my definition of caricature, what I think a good caricature needs to accomplish to be successful, what makes a bad caricature and how to avoid it, and the process of developing your “eye” for caricature. You can pre-order The Mad Art… READ MORE
July 7th, 2011 | Posted in News
My official schedule at Comic-Con is slowly coming into focus, but still has a lot of question marks. However this panel was just announced: Thursday, July 22nd: 4:30-5:30 MAD Men… What’s up with America “s most famous humor magazine (that is, if you don’t count Newsweek)? Your genial moderator Mark Evanier quizzes the Usual Gang of Idiots: editor John Ficarra, art director Sam Viviano, writer Dick DeBartolo and artists Sergio Aragon?¬©s, Peter Kuper, Tom Richmond, and Keith Knight. Room 8 That one will be fun, especially moderated by the insanely busy Mark Evanier, who moderates just under 1,000 panels every Comic-Con. Per day. Otherwise I… READ MORE
