November 24th, 2009 | Posted in General
Whenever we have people over to the house inevitably they end up in my studio for a tour… all one room of it. Maybe it’s not the Taj Mahal but still for most people it’s a bit like a visit to a candy store… I have surrounded myself with a lot of cool stuff for inspiration and a generally creative atmosphere and tried to lay out the space for both maximum efficiency and functionality. Laymen marvel, women weep and fellow artists turn green with envy. I’ve been threatening to redo it for years now. Well, I finally pulled the trigger this fall and remodeled the… READ MORE
November 23rd, 2009 | Posted in General
…that after being gone for the last 12 days the Dreaded Deadline Demon would be making an appearance today? READ MORE
November 21st, 2009 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: What happens when you are headed back from a trip to Australia and have absolutely no time, between packing and checking out and getting to the airport and going through security and customs and eventually getting all the way back to Minnesota, but you need to do a Sunday Mailbag blog post? Do you shamelessly cop out by posting a meaningless answer to a completely made up question, and even more shamelessly recycle a previously used gag? Yes. Thanks to A.E. Neuman for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar,… READ MORE
November 20th, 2009 | Posted in MAD Magazine
So far 2009 hasn’t been the best of years for MAD magazine. The announcement back in February that as of issue #500 MAD was going to start publishing quarterly instead of monthly was cited by some as the death knell of the publication. I get asked about the reduction in publication all the time, and what I think the future holds for MAD. I think the rumors of MAD‘s death have been greatly exaggerated. There are a number of things in the works right now that bode well for MAD and not only it’s continued publication but a resurgence in it’s visibility and maybe a… READ MORE
November 19th, 2009 | Posted in General
I learned a lot of stuff about Australia while visiting Sydney and the Hunter Valley this past week for the 25th annual ACA Stanley Awards. Here are some highlights: Koalas may look cuddly but they have big F%$#% claws and will scalp you if you bother them. What in the U.S. is the turn signal lever in the steering column of cars is instead the windshield wiper control in Australia. Cars driving down the road on a dry, sunny day with their windshield wipers going are being driven by American/European tourists. Australia is brimming with fantastic caricature artists. I was honored to be the presenter… READ MORE
November 18th, 2009 | Posted in General
Its amazing how quickly the cynics come out when something like what happened with the “Bobble Rep” app last week takes place. While the vast majority of people I have heard and read comments from are supportive of the app and our trouble with Apple, a few have come out of the woodwork to malign and cast stones at myself and app developer Ray Griggs. Most of these people are woefully uniformed and guilty of the usual crime of the internet serial commenter… that being not bothering to read the entire story but casting judgment based on a headline. So, here are some of the… READ MORE
November 17th, 2009 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
This week’s sketch is in honor of our trip to Australia… I did this little gag drawing in a number of sketchbooks when at the Stanleys. Marker/pen on sketch paper. READ MORE
November 16th, 2009 | Posted in News
I was honored and privileged to be invited to beautiful Sydney, Australia to be a guest speaker at the Australian Cartoonists Association‘s 25th annual Stanley Awards this past weekend. The ACA is the Aussie equivalent of the National Cartoonists Society in the U.S., and in fact is an even older organization having grown from the original Australian Black and White Artist’s Club formed back in 1924. Australia is brimming with fantastic talent in the cartooning field… so much of the work I saw there was absolutely top notch. I was humbled to be asked to be a speaker at their event this year. The Stanley… READ MORE
