Tom's Mad Blog
March 20th, 2011 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Have you ever worked on a MAD splash page (or any page for that matter) and have an accident happen to it that made it impossible to repair (for example, spilled ink all over the drawing)?¬¨‚Ć And along with that, have you ever completed a page, and when you were finished (inking, coloring, etc.) noticed that you left out a critical detail, or messed up on a very necessary feature that needed changed and would be close to impossible to just “add in”?¬¨‚Ć If anything like this were to happen, would MAD have to send out a new board to draw on or how… READ MORE
March 18th, 2011 | Posted in Freelancing
Scrippsnetworks ©2011 Television Food Network, G.P. All rights reserved The folks at the Food Network gave me the okay to share this piece I did for them of FN stars Rachel Ray and Guy Fieri. To be honest I am not 100% sure what the purpose of it was, but I know it was not for print or broadcast. I believe it was supposed to be for some internal promo or something similar. The assignment was to do a simple caricature of Rachel and Guy in a “Dancing with the Stars” pose with a simple background. READ MORE
March 17th, 2011 | Posted in News
The nominees for this year’s National Cartoonists Society’s Divisional Awards have been officially announced. They are: TELEVISION ANIMATION Dave Filoni – Supervising Director / Production Designer, “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” Dan Krall – Art Director, “Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated” Scott Wills – Art Director, “Sym-Bionic Titan” FEATURE ANIMATION Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders, Directors, “How to Train Your Dragon” Glen Keane, Animation Director, “Tangled” Nicolas Marlet, Character Designer, “How to Train Your Dragon” NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION Sean Kelly Michael McParlane Dave Whamond GAG CARTOONS Bob Eckstein Zachary Kanin Gary McCoy GREETING CARDS Jim Benton Dan Collins Teresa Roberts Logan NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS Brian Bassett “Red and Rover”… READ MORE
March 16th, 2011 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
This week’s subject: 2011 Academy Awards co-host and Oscar nominated actor James Franco. READ MORE
March 15th, 2011 | Posted in On the Drawing Board
It’s rare that I don’t do any posting on The MAD Blog on any day but Saturday, but yesterday I was completely swamped after an all-nighter sunday night/Monday morning and some furious painting on a magazine cover illustration due yesterday afternoon. Then I passed out. Still recovering but on two two other jobs due ASAP, having just finished up a bunch of jobs in the last three weeks since getting back from vacation. Here’s what I’ve done since Feb 22th: NCS Reuben Weekend Illustration– See here 6 page MAD TV parody for #509– Another fun one of another popular show Illustration for the Food Network–… READ MORE
March 13th, 2011 | Posted in General
Q: With freelancing for magazines and stuff, is there a time of year that is always busier than others? Is there one that is slower? If so, why? A: I’ve noticed over the years that the first few months of the year and October were busier than others, and November/December were always the slowest months when it came to getting freelance illustration jobs. The discrepancy was obvious enough that I finally asked one of my art directors why that might be. He told me it was all about budgets. Most magazines and periodicals operate under budgets for things like illustration, freelance writing, etc. They get… READ MORE
March 11th, 2011 | Posted in News
I got some cool news yesterday, or at least cool if you are a fan of Stephen King‘s The Dark Tower series. Although the long series ended some years ago with the publication of The Dark Tower 7: The Dark Tower, there are plenty of holes where King could add to the tale via backstory and adventures alluded to in the existing books. I didn’t really expect him to do that, but it was something I was hoping would happen. Well, it has happened. King just made this announcement yesterday: Dear Constant Readers, At some point, while worrying over the copyedited manuscript of the… READ MORE
March 11th, 2011 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Yesterday MAD very quietly revamped their website to a new, cleaner and more streamlined design. You can now browse the PDF previews of back issues of MAD and extras like MAD Classics, etc. There are links to the Carto0n Network show and promo videos, “The Untold History of MAD” timeline by Desmond Devlin, a page with downloadable parody posters, and even a collection of the “Idiot of the Issue” feature from the old MAD Classics, which features an interview/bio of members of the Usual Gang of Idiots in PDF form! Nice to see this… yet another sign MAD is not being ignored by the new… READ MORE
