Tom's Mad Blog
February 19th, 2011 | Posted in News
I had another short article about myself in yet another local suburban newspaper, this time the Sun Current: Burnsville cartoonist goes MAD – and beyond This one has quotes from MAD art director Sam Viviano and The Lovely Anna! And they didn’t even slam me! The article should have been in the Friday print edition. So, why the local news interest? It’s because of the recent press releases sent out by The Cartoonists Studio website, which had it’s “hard” opening recently and as one of the cartoonists in their collective I was part of that press release. READ MORE
February 18th, 2011 | Posted in General
… that for once I didn’t bring any work along with me on vacation? I lied a little. READ MORE
February 17th, 2011 | Posted in General
MAD and other magazines subscriptions on the iPad are still a long way off… Apple’s recent announcement of a subscription service within their App store seems like a step in the right direction towards the digital delivery of magazines and newspapers on iPad or similar devices, but as many are pointing out their business model is unworkable. Back when the iPad came out, I wrote this post about how I saw the future of magazines and newspapers being tied to tablet devices like the iPad and it’s successors. The portability, form factor and ease of delivery of content solved most if not all of the… READ MORE
February 16th, 2011 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Since I am on vacation (and for once didn’t bring any work with me so no scanner or Cintiq)¬¨‚Ć this installment of “Sketch o’the Week” was drawn on the iPad using Sketchbook Pro. Subject: Liam Neeson. Drawn with my finger as I have none of those weird styluses with the marshmallow ends. Verdict: meh. Give me a pencil anyday. READ MORE
February 15th, 2011 | Posted in Freelancing
This is my cover illustration for Reason magazine’s March 2011 issue featuring California’s new (well, technically his third term but his last two were from 1975-1983) Jerry Brown. The above is the original cover with the state labels but the magazine’s editors decide we needed to drop the labels for the printed version. The article it was accompanying was about how California was separating itself from the surrounding west states politically. Here are some of the rough concept pencils for the job… all variations on the same basic scene which was agreed on earlier: The folks at Reason were fun to work with. READ MORE
February 14th, 2011 | Posted in News
Photo by John Gessner: ThisWeek Newspapers This Week Newspapers, a suburban weekly around these parts, must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel for feature articles because they published a story on me last week which includes the most awkward picture of me ever (see above)… and that’s saying something. Clearly the bat-stuff in my studio intrigued the author. I refused to put on the suit for him but I did throw a couple of batarangs around to demonstrate my mad batarang skilz. By way of clarification (should you be sufficiently bored today to follow the link and read the article), it is not… READ MORE
February 13th, 2011 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I’ve read your answer to the question “do you do any writing for MAD?” (you add background gags and jokes, but don’t write the dialogue, yes?), but who does the writing for MAD? How does that work? A: Having never written anything per se for MAD, I don’t know firsthand about the writing process for them. I have learned a fair amount about it from writers who I have corresponded with, however. Several MAD writers occasionally drop by the MAD Blog just to make sure I am not talking smack about them, so if I have any of this wrong maybe they can set… READ MORE
February 12th, 2011 | Posted in General
I am leaving behind the frigid tundra of Minnesota for the sun and surf of Maui for a week with The Lovely Anna. I plan to get my fill of ahi sashimi, mai tais and sun. I might even blog. READ MORE
