Tom's Mad Blog
December 17th, 2010 | Posted in General
I received a note from an interested party yesterday concerning The Great MAD Art Sale (which officially ends on Monday, BTW… don’t delay, order now!) asking about original MAD cover artwork. He was looking to buy an original MAD cover, and wanted to know if I had any or if Mark Fredrickson has any originals available for sale? My answers were: No, unfortunately I’ve never done a cover for MAD (well, two for MAD Kids and one for a MAD advertising insert… but they hardly count) and have no originals of cover art and, regarding Mark’s covers, I don’t believe any originals exist because he… READ MORE
December 16th, 2010 | Posted in General
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6w0r-ScEG4[/youtube] This video has really been making the rounds on the Interwebby. Before anyone cries foul over the ‘dark’ nature of the clip, go rent and watch “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”. Not only is it an underrated movie, but the climatic assassination/death scene in it is what this clip parodies. Michael Cavna of the excellent Comics Riffs blog on Washingtonpost.com interviews animator and creator of the short Edmund Earle. READ MORE
December 15th, 2010 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
It’s been a long time since I did a caricature of actor and nutcase Tom Cruise. Just watched the movie “Knight and Day”, which was watchable but a long way from good. I still can’t figure out where the “Day” in the title comes from… Cruise’s characters real surname is “Knight”, but I can’t think of any connection to a “Day”. Cameron Diaz‘s character’s name is June Havens. Ah well, the title makes about as much sense as the plot. READ MORE
December 14th, 2010 | Posted in Freelancing
Penthouse Magazine assigned me a series of illustrations to use as a “header” (pun not intended) for a new monthly feature column by musician/celebrity Dave Navarro. These spot illustrations will accompany Dave’s articles in each issue. The one above is in the latest issue, and I have two more “in the can” as they say in the biz for future issues. READ MORE
December 13th, 2010 | Posted in General
Just another friendly reminder that The Great MAD Art Sale ends one week from today, on Dec. 20th. Some of the artwork will be available after in the “Studio Store” but gone will be the insanely expensive cheap prices and they will be even more ridiculously overpriced than they are now. There are still a number of full parody pages from movies like “Traffic” (my first movie parody in MAD), “Behind Enemy Lines”, “The Royal Tennenbaums” and “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” , as well as TV shows like “Scrubs”, “Entourage”, “Dog the Bounty Hunter”, “The Bernie Mac Show”, “America’s Most Wanted” and… READ MORE
December 12th, 2010 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: How do you choose the colors for your illustrations and parodies?¬¨‚Ć Do you use the colors you see in the DVD’s and photo boards, or do you just make them up?¬¨‚Ć I know the basics of color selection such as the color wheel etc, but do you have any special techniques? A: Occasionally I am asked the same or similar questions for the mailbag, and every once and awhile I will repost the answer to a commonly asked question for the benefit of those who are newer readers, although I often add things to them or expand on the original answer. This is such… READ MORE
December 10th, 2010 | Posted in News
Once again, the National Cartoonists Society Foundation will soon be bestowing some lucky and talented young student of cartooning the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship, an award of both prestige and plenty of dough for the recipient’s college education in memory of the late King Features cartoon editor: From the NCSF Website: Jay Kennedy Scholarship The annual Jay Kennedy Scholarship, in memory of the late King Features editor, was funded by an initial $100,000 grant from the Hearst Foundation/King Features Syndicate and additional generous donations from Jerry Scott, Jim Borgman, Patrick McDonnell and many other prominent cartoonists. Submissions are adjudicated by a panel of top cartoonists… READ MORE
December 9th, 2010 | Posted in Freelancing
In the traditional business model of goods and payment the seller hands the goods to the customer, who then hands over payment. That works pretty well when the transactions take place face to face, over a counter where the goods get examines first and the payment is in currency that goes right into the cash register. Conflicts and questions are asked and answered right on the spot, and if they cannot be answered or resolved the seller and buyer go their separate ways with their goods and money in their respective possession and no one is out anything except a little shopping time. As a… READ MORE
