Tom's Mad Blog
May 29th, 2010 | Posted in General
Artwork by Patrick McDonnell The annual Reuben Awards from the National Cartoonists Society is currenty happening in Jersey City, NJ. I’m at the event all weekend, which is filled with speakers, seminars, parties and general mayhem. Tonight is the big awards banquet. Here, again, are the nominees: The Reuben Award for “Cartoonist of the Year”: Stephen Pastis Dan Piraro Richard Thompson TELEVISION ANIMATION Kevin Deters – “Walt Disney Prep and Landing” Mike Gray – “The Infinite Goliath” Seth McFarlane – “Family Guy” FEATURE ANIMATION Ronnie del Carmen – Storyboard Artist – “Up” Tomm Moore – Director – “The Secret of Kells” Barry Reynolds – Character… READ MORE
May 27th, 2010 | Posted in News
I am currently in Jersey City, New Jersey getting ready for the National Cartoonists Society’s annual Reuben Awards, sometimes called the “Oscars of cartooning”. The festivities begin tomorrow and I am in early for an NCS board meeting (of which I am a vice president) and to mooch lunch off Sam Viviano and the guys at the MAD offices… if they let me into the building that is. I will be live tweeting the winners of the divisions and the big award for Cartoonist of the Year if $#@#$%* AT&T has service for my iPhone there. Follow the action here. READ MORE
May 26th, 2010 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
I’m sort of taking this week off from the “Sketch o’the Week” after spending quite a bit more time than usual on that series of ink wash sketches over the last two plus months. This week’s sketch is actually the rough sketch for a small project. It’s a trading card that is part of a series being used in an ad campaign for a company. Once the campaign is launched I’ll post the finished art here, and tell you about the project and the rarefied company I am keeping in doing one of these cards… some of the artists they have doing art for this… READ MORE
May 25th, 2010 | Posted in General
Sorry, I know The MAD Blog has been extremely LOST-centric for the last few months. This will probably be my last post about the show now that it’s over. If you have never watched LOST, then talk amongst yourselves… but I feel sorry for you. I know I am always saying I never watch TV, but that’s not exactly true. I do catch the occasional episode of “30 Rock” and “The Big Bang Theory” and maybe one or two other shows. This is mostly through osmosis because The Lovely Anna and my kids watch TV which means I do occasionally watch TV. However I find… READ MORE
May 24th, 2010 | Posted in General
Well… LOST is over and it will be a day or two before I will blog about my thoughts on the wrap-up of the show. Overall I will say I was satisfied, but I am a little sad the journey is over. On a purely crass and commercial front, I am now auctioning off most of the sketches (the good ones, anyway) I did over the last two months for in honor of the end of the series. each of the sketches below is up for auction on eBay, all ending on Sunday, May 30th. If you are interested in bidding and directly participating in… READ MORE
May 23rd, 2010 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: If I have just begun working as a cartoonist/illustrator what should I include in my portfolio since I never gotten published before? I know I should include my best work but what’s the subject for me to illustrate? Finally, how to get my work noticed? A: These days a “portfolio”, meaning a little case that contains samples of your illustration work, is almost a thing of the past. It’s the electronic age, and websites have taken the place of the traditional leather portfolio. Website porfolios have so many benefits over thier physical counterparts… they are accessible 24/7. They do not need to be dropped… READ MORE
May 22nd, 2010 | Posted in MAD Magazine
It’s been a while since news of the proposed bio-pic of the life of MAD publisher William M. Gaines saw any light of day. It’s been in the rumor mill for about 4 years now. About three years ago The MAD Blog linked to reports that Joel Eisenberg and his Iron Mountain Media had picked up the film “life rights” of Gaines and planned to co-produce a biopic based on his life. tentatively titled, “Ghoulishly Yours, William M. Gaines”. A year later director John Landis (Animal House, Blues Brothers, Trading Places, etc.) was attached to the project. Just this past week the film project reared… READ MORE
May 21st, 2010 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
As promised, here is a step by step of the ink wash sketch process I have been using for the sketch series of LOST characters over the last month or two. I’m afraid it’s not exactly scientific, so I don’t know how much people will get from it… but here it is regardless. Our subject again is Daniel Dae Kim as Jin Kwon. Pencil Sketch Here is the initial sketch (darkened to show up better on the screen). I lightly sketch out the caricature using a hard lead, in this case an “H” but a 2H or harder works fine. Ultimately you want the sketch… READ MORE
