Tom's Mad Blog
May 11th, 2010 | Posted in General
Click for a closer look… Today the interwebby will be full of tributes and remembrances of Frank Frazetta, who passed away at the age of 82 yesterday… ones that will be much more eloquent and personal than anything I could say (including this one by my pal Ed Steckley). I never met the man, but I am like so many who were in awe of and inspired by the work of this master artist. As a young reader of the Robert E. Howard “Conan” stories (and the pastiches of Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp that were camouflaged among Howard’s actual tales), the cover… READ MORE
May 10th, 2010 | Posted in General
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW-z76F9SYQ[/youtube] Grrrrreat…. “Jimmy Jamz” of Super Experts USA reveals exactly how to get your work into MAD Magazine. It’s almost the exact path I took to break in… except I sent them work from about 6th grade on. Now the work will be even more scarce for everybody at MAD. Thanks a LOT, Jimmy Jamz!! :mad::mad: READ MORE
May 9th, 2010 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Great art you posted the other day for the upcoming NCS Reuben awards. I was wondering what the requirements are to become a member of the NCS? A: Thanks for the kind words about the Reuben illustration. The National Cartoonists Society is an organization of professional cartoonists that started in 1946. You can read all about the history of the NCS here. The requirement for membership, at least as a regular member, is that you are a professional cartoonist i.e. you make a living drawing cartoons. That encompasses a large gamut from syndicated cartoonists to animators, comic book artists, illustrators, gag cartoonists, greeting card… READ MORE
May 8th, 2010 | Posted in Freelancing
I’ve been advertising on and off in Serbin Communication’s Directory of Illustration for about 15 years now, and while the results aren’t exactly staggering I usually get enough new jobs from my ad to pay for it. The real value of it comes from not picking up new jobs per se but new clients from whom I get ongoing work. I still believe the best way to market yourself as a freelancer is a combination of an internet presence, direct mailing and ads like this that get distributed to tens of thousands of buyers of illustration. The toughest part for me is always putting the… READ MORE
May 7th, 2010 | Posted in MAD Magazine
I was sent a link to this story from MAD editor John Ficarra earlier this week. The story is from a blog called “Scouting NY“, where a gentlemen named Nick Carr recounts tales of some of the hidden gems and interesting locations he’s stumbled across in the course of his work… scouting locations in New York City for films. This particular story is about 225 Lafayette Street, currently condos on the corner of Spring Street in Soho, but back in the 1950’s it was an office building with one very MAD tenant: Entertaining Comics (E.C.) run by a young Bill Gaines, who had been forced… READ MORE
May 6th, 2010 | Posted in General
Click for a closer look… I wasn’t going to post about this job until I finished up a second similar commission for a friend and colleague who has been patiently waiting for me to do his painting for so long it is just plain embarrassing, but considering a number of people have e-mailed and Facebooked me about it since Al twittered (tweeted?) a picture of the art I might as well tell the story. That other long LONG overdue original is almost done anyway. I was contacted by the brilliant greeting card/illustrator/author/cartoonist Sandra Boynton a couple of months back about doing a private commission for… READ MORE
May 5th, 2010 | Posted in General
Sorry Folks, but Wednesday’s “Sketch o’the Week” is going to have to turn into Thursday’s “Sketch o’the Week” this week. No time today as I have burned all my midnight oil and then some, and am still going on a late job. READ MORE
May 4th, 2010 | Posted in General
Today is my birthday… 44 years old. Yikes. Time does fly by. I don’t feel a day over 48. So what am I going to do on my birthday? Why, work of course! Sadly I got behind on a MAD job that is desperately needing to be done so I will be working on it all day. However, tonight The Lovely Anna and all four of my kids will be taking me to the ballgame at the shiny new Target Field where we will (hopefully) watch our Minnesota Twins beat the snot out of the Detroit Tigers. I will also be ignoring my diet for… READ MORE
