Tom's Mad Blog
September 21st, 2010 | Posted in General
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Du-MBgUQw[/youtube] We interrupt this art blog for a little fitness discussion… Today was “Back Day” at Renegade Fitness, the local gym where I have been working out for several years now. About 10 minutes into the workout, a delivery guy drops by with the gym’s newest piece of equipment… an Olympic hex bar. Good timing, since dead lifts were the next lift for the workout. A hex bar is so called because it’s shaped in a hexagonal form making it easy to step in and out of the bar and centering the weight on each side, ideal for shrugs and dead lifts. Doing dead lifts… READ MORE
September 20th, 2010 | Posted in MAD Magazine
The Cartoon Network posted the first episode of the animated MAD show on their website recently. You can see it here. That one does have some of my work in it (the CSiCarly skit). Tonight’s episode looks like it won’t have any of my stuff in it again. Usually the program description will contain the name of the segment I worked on, and tonight’s episode lists “2012 Dalmatians, Grey’s in Anime” as the featured skits, and I didn’t work on either of those. However next week’s episode lists “Star Blecch, uGlee” as being included, and the Glee segment I did a lot of work on. READ MORE
September 19th, 2010 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: You seem to do a lot of political caricatures and humorous illustrations.¬¨‚Ć Is it a preferred subject for you, or is this just the way things work out? A: When you are known for doing caricature you inevitably get a lot of work dealing with politics and politicians… especially in an election year. It’s certainly not a preferred subject for me, but it is a subject that seems to lend itself to work for my style of illustration. I’ve done political-centric work for magazines, newspapers, products, movies, iPhone and iPad apps and even campaign materials. One thing I try hard to do in regards… READ MORE
September 16th, 2010 | Posted in News
Every three years Ohio State University and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum puts on the Festival of Cartoon Art, a weekend of presentations, lectures and panels on the art of cartoonist both past and present. The festival is self-described as “a unique celebration of cartoons and comics featuring exhibitions, presentations by top creators, panel discussions, an academic pre-conference, and other special programs.” This is a big deal in the cartooning community and something I am very much looking forward to attending for the first time when it takes place in Columbus, OH, October 14-17. Circumstances have prevented my being able to go to… READ MORE
September 15th, 2010 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Here’s something completely different. In the last 6 months I’ve been asked to do quite a bit of illustration for animation… stuff like iPad Apps, movie character design, character design for advertising and now of course the stuff for the MAD Show. The thing is I have never done anything like that before, and am flying mostly blind when it comes to doing things like turnarounds, style sheets… basically all the fundamentals that make animation character design work. So, I am taking my pal Steve Silver‘s highly recommended on-line “Character Design” course through Schoolism.com. Steve is one of the best animation character designers working today,… READ MORE
September 14th, 2010 | Posted in On the Drawing Board
I just finished up a bunch of projects over a brutal two weeks including: MAD– TV parody for issue #506 Workplace poster– The usual monthly thing MAD Show– some character design for this ongoing project Caricature Illustration– Sen. Harry Reid for a political campaign firm Product Illustration– Caricature of Rep. Dennis Kucinich for a deck of cards Private Commission– Rare one of these Now I am working on: Another Workplace Poster More MAD Show stuff Another private commission Here’s a little project I worked on a few weeks ago… this was a quick animation for a promo for that movie I did the CGI Animation… READ MORE
September 13th, 2010 | Posted in General
Mondays……Ecccccch. READ MORE
September 12th, 2010 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Any idea when your caricature book will be finished and made available to all us who can’t wait to get a copy? A: Unfortunately work on the book has ground to a screeching halt in the last 6 months as I have been increasingly busy with work, including on the MAD cartoon. I am determined to have it done in time for the San Diego Comic Con next July, so we’ll shoot for that time as a release date. There, now I’ve set MY OWN DEADLINE. I’ll try not to blow it. A lot will depend on if a book publisher decides to pick… READ MORE
