Tom's Mad Blog
January 21st, 2011 | Posted in Tutorials
This series of “How to Draw Caricatures” tutorials are a just a small taste of a larger and much more in-depth book I wrote called The Mad Art of Caricature! The book is 175 full-color pages, lavishly illustrated and contains greatly expanded explanations of the concepts presented in these tutorials, as well and a great deal of additional material on caricaturing other facial features, posture, hands, expression and more, techniques on drawing from live models, doing caricature for freeplace illustration and for MAD Magazine. This is a must have book for anyone interested in caricature, cartooning or humorous illustration. You can order it online here.… READ MORE
January 19th, 2011 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
This week’s sketch is of actor Sean Penn. This was done from a relatively small picture in an entertainment magazine. I liked the turned head angle and odd, mid-sentence expression. READ MORE
January 18th, 2011 | Posted in On the Drawing Board
Kind of on the quiet side for a change… Illustration for Sports Illustrated for Kids– A two page feature with assorted athlete caricatures. SI for Kids is one of the publications I’ve always wanted to do work for, so this is exciting. 100 plus new caricatures for the “Bobble Rep” app- The updated app with the 112th congress should be available sometime in Feb… unless Apple bans it of course. Marlin Workplace poster- My usual monthly assignment Jeff Dunham Project- I have some final art to wrap up on this That’s pretty much it, other than some overdue personal work for a few people. The… READ MORE
January 17th, 2011 | Posted in General
Jeff and I backstage after his show in Duluth, MN Since this summer I’ve been working on several illustration projects for world famous comedian/ventriloquist Jeff Dunham. Yesterday The Lovely Anna and my two youngest kids The Effervescent Gabrielle and Number One Son Thomas met my college student daughter The Dramatic Victoria and her boyfriend Pat in Duluth where we caught Jeff’s touring show. It was great fun and fantastic to finally meet Jeff after all the communicating we’ve been doing on our projects. A very funny show by a very funny guy. Sorry I can’t be more specific about the work I’m doing for him,… READ MORE
January 16th, 2011 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Finding clients and jobs seem to be the biggest challenge for freelancers. Of all your freelance marketing efforts, what seems to be the most effective for you these days, and has that changed over the years? A: Things have definitely changed over the last decade when in comes to how clients are finding illustrators for jobs. Back in the late 1990’s, printed sourcebooks like the Directory of Illustration and Workbook were arguably still the primary place art directors went to find illustrators. These sourcebooks are big printed volumes with glossy pages of ads by individual illustrators and representatives of illustrators showcasing the styles of… READ MORE
January 13th, 2011 | Posted in General
The Daily Cartoonist reported today about an auction of Superman memorabilia set for January 22nd that includes a lot of rare stuff like the above costume, reportedly worn by George Reeves in the 1950’s TV show. That costume is estimated to go for about $120,000. I wonder if I’d get anything for my superman costume, circa 2006?? READ MORE
January 12th, 2011 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
This guy is all over the news and internet. Ted Williams (not the late baseball legend) was homeless and destitute until a video on YouTube of him doing his radio announcer voice for a handout caught fire, and now he’s famous. The world loves a redemption story, but it’s more likely this will end badly… addiction and self-destructive behavior is not something you are able to cast away no matter how much good fortune suddenly comes your way. In fact, it’s usually the slow crawl back from “hitting bottom” that ends up sticking and the sudden miraculous break ends up getting squandered. He says he’s… READ MORE
January 11th, 2011 | Posted in News
Every year the National Cartoonists Society gets together for a weekend of fun, seminars and speakers culminating in the Reuben Awards dinner. Known as the Oscars of cartooning, the Reuben Awards honors the “Cartoonist of the Year” with the coveted “Reuben” and also recognizes many other cartoonists for excellence in a variety of categories. It’s that time of year again, and entries for consideration for the various divisions are due on February 6th. It’s important to understand these awards are for excellence in professional cartooning as a whole, not for NCS members only. You do not have to be a member to be considered for… READ MORE
