Tom's Mad Blog
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
December 8th, 2010 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Better late than never today. Our Sketch o’the Week subject is actor Jon Hamm from the critically acclaimed AMC show “Mad Men”. His name has been mentioned in connection with playing several superheroes including Superman, Batman, Captain America, etc. He certainly has the squint-eyed, square-jawed look. Interviews with him indicate he’s not very enthusiastic about those kinds of roles, although he had no problem playing a supervillian recently: “Lex Luthor Bailout” with Jon Hamm from Jon Hamm READ MORE
December 7th, 2010 | Posted in News
So, last week I posted about how my USO trip coincided with two other events I would have considered attending: the Australian Cartoonists Association’s Stanley Awards and the International Society of Caricature Artists’ annual Convention and Competition. At that time I posted the results of the ACA’s Stanley awards, but I still haven’t posted the results of the exhaustive ISCA competition… so here you go. If you aren’t an ISCA member or not into the live caricature scene, these names might not mean a lot to you, but these represent some incredibly talented folks who are all well deserving of recognition for their work: The… READ MORE
December 6th, 2010 | Posted in General
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December 5th, 2010 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I’ve read on your blog that you have appeared at a couple of comic book conventions, especially San Diego Comic Con. I’m wondering why you don’t do more conventions like New York, Chicago or Atlanta? You should get your own booth. A: Realistically there are only two reasons to get a booth space at a comic book convention: either to directly sell something or to promote the later sale of something. I haven’t really had either to do before, so getting my own booth at multiple comic cons doesn’t make much sense financially. The promotion angle doesn’t fit for me because the only thing… READ MORE
December 3rd, 2010 | Posted in General
This is just a reminder that there is still plenty of original artwork straight from the pages of MAD available on The Great MAD Art Sale page. A lot of pieces have been snapped up, but many more remain including full parody pages from movies like “Traffic” (Oscar award winner), “Behind Enemy Lines” (Oscar Meyer winner), “The Royal Tennenbaums” (Oscar the Grouch winner) and “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (Oscar Madison winner), as well as TV shows like “Scrubs”, “Entourage”, “Dog the Bounty Hunter”, “the Bernie Mac Show”, “America’s Most Wanted” and “Boston Public”. I’ve been accused by some very well respected pals… READ MORE
December 2nd, 2010 | Posted in On the Drawing Board
I haven’t been able to get caught up since coming back from the USO trip… plenty to do and still a lot ahead. Here’s what’s currently cooking in the studio: Feature Illustrations for Honolulu Magazine– A full page and several spots for an annual year end article. Might be hard to wrap my head around Hawaiian imagery in the midst of Minnesota winter. Column Header illustration for Penthouse– Several spots for a new monthly celebrity column in the magazine MAD TV parody– Just got assigned a 6 page parody of a show that’s been begging for the MAD treatment for a few seasons now. Sorry,… READ MORE
December 1st, 2010 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Oops… forgot to post this yesterday. Too busy. This quick warm up sketch is in honor of the passing of one of the all-time great comedic “straight-men”. Leslie Nielson, who passed away a few days ago at age 84, also was one of the greatest “career reinvention” stories in entertainment. Nielson had a long career as a protoypical handsome leading man and was often cast as the serious minded hero in movies and TV. Then in 1980 his turn in the hit parody movie “Airplane” changed his focus from drama to comedy and launched him to greater heights as a deadpan staple in spoof movies… READ MORE
