Tom's Mad Blog
June 3rd, 2010 | Posted in MAD Magazine
An updated tribute from a previous post a few years ago: Today is a sad anniversary. Eighteen years ago today MAD founder and longtime publisher William M. Gaines passed away at the age of 70. Working for MAD is great. The people and staff there really respect the tradition and history of the magazine. However I will always feel that I missed out on something special in that I never met or knew Bill Gaines. I started for MAD about 9 years after Bill’s passing. While MAD has of course continued since his death a chapter of it’s history closed on June 3rd, 1992. In… READ MORE
June 2nd, 2010 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Click image for a closer look… Yikes. How can my being gone from the studio for one week result in three weeks worth of work to catch up on??? And I even worked on a job the first few days I was in New Jersey for the Reubens… oh well. It’s a good problem to have these days, even if it means life is about to become very complicated. Sadly this means another cop out on the Sketch o’the Week. This week will have to be a rough of a recent job… this being one of those workplace poster illustrations. I’ll post the finishes sometime… READ MORE
June 1st, 2010 | Posted in General
On the way home from New Jersey today with The Lovely Anna from the Reuben Awards. Great time as always, but life must now return to normal… or at least what passes for normal around here. READ MORE
May 31st, 2010 | Posted in General
As usual, the Reuben Awards weekend was a blast thanks to the hard work of NCS President Jeff Keane, awards show coordinator Steve McGarry, emcee Tom Gammill, all the speakers, presenters and many others too numerous to list. It’s great fun getting to hang out with so many of the giants of the cartooning world, but it’s easy for those attendees who’s greatest challenge is dragging themselves out of bed after a late late night to forget how much time, effort and energy go into giving us that time. A huge thanks you to Jeff and everyone who worked so hard to make the weekend… READ MORE
May 30th, 2010 | Posted in News
The 64th annual Reuben Awards from the National Cartoonists Society are history. It was a great evening as usual. Master of Ceremonies Tom Gammill was brilliant and there were two hilarious films that opened the show that were fantastic. Here are the results of the awards and the The Reuben Award for “Cartoonist of the Year”: Dan Piraro TELEVISION ANIMATION Seth McFarlane – “Family Guy” FEATURE ANIMATION Ronnie del Carmen – Storyboard Artist – “Up” NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION Tom Richmond GAG CARTOONS Glenn McCoy GREETING CARDS Debbie Tomassi NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman – “Zits” NEWSPAPER PANEL CARTOONS Hilary Price – “Rhymes with… READ MORE
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
