Tom's Mad Blog
September 16th, 2009 | Posted in General
Mi amigo Luis Edwardo Leon was kind enough to translate both my post about Ismael’s passing and the Exaggerated Features interview with him into Spanish: He recibido una noticia terrible hoy en d??a. Al parecer, la caricatura ilustrador Ismael Rold?¬?n, falleci?? hoy a los 45 a?¬±os en Nueva York, de acuerdo con su amigo y colega caricaturista colombiano Jorge Restrepo. Jorge confirm?? la noticia a trav?¬©s de uno de los primos de Ismael que a??n viven en Colombia. Ismael naci?? all??, pero ha vivido en los Estados Unidos por m?¬?s de 20 a?¬±os. Sin embargo, no hay m?¬?s detalles sobre la causa de su muerte.… READ MORE
September 16th, 2009 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
I often get requests from readers to post rougher sketches and doodles on the blog as opposed to more meticulously drawn out pieces. Those ridiculously rendered and worked up “sketches” you see on many an art blog aren’t really sketches or studies anyway… they are more like illustrations with all the thinking and exploring worked out of them. I’m guilty of that myself, and I can see the value of seeing something a lot looser with the thought process more evident. So, with that in mind here are a few rough studies I did for a job I am working on that includes a head… READ MORE
September 15th, 2009 | Posted in News
Self Caricature by Ismael Roldan I recieved some terrible news today. Apparently caricature illustrator Ismael Roldan died today at age 45 in New York, according to his friend and fellow Colombian caricaturist Jorge Restrepo. Jorge confirmed the news through one of Ismael’s cousins still living in Colombia. Ismael was born there but has lived in the United States for over 20 years. No further details yet on his cause of death. Besides being enormously talented, Ismael was a very generous man, giving of his time and advice to aspiring artists. He was the special guest of honor at the last convention of the International Society… READ MORE
September 15th, 2009 | Posted in News
Mort Drucker- Photo by Ruby Washington for the New York Times The Lovely Anna and I are headed to New York City on Thursday in part to attend the opening of the Long Island chapter (otherwise known as the Berndt Toast Gang) of the National Cartoonists Society‘s art show “Laugh Lines” at the Art-trium Gallery on Melville Park Road in Melville. The show is going to feature original art by the members of the Long Islad chapter including Mort Drucker, Ray Alma, John Reiner, Adrian Sinnott and my good buddy Ed Steckley. There are lots of other artists but those are the ones I am… READ MORE
September 14th, 2009 | Posted in News
I had several friends e-mail me to say that my illustrations of Brett Farve from the Star Tribune were featured on ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown” show with Chris Berman yesterday. I didn’t see it, and cannot find any reference to it on their website. Oh well, guess I missed it. Still that’s pretty cool. READ MORE
September 14th, 2009 | Posted in News
The morning after my little talk in Aitkin, MN I was able to visit the exhibit “What’s So Funny? A Celebration of Cartooning!” in the nearby Jaques Art Center. Located in a renovated Carnegie Library, the Jaques (pronounced “Jay-Kweez”) Art Center is a marvelous little museum featuring a permanent collection of work from well known local wildlife artist Francis Lee Jaques, rotating exhibits and regular educational classes and workshops. A more accurate title for the show might be “What’s So Funny? A Celebration of MINNESOTA Cartoonists!” because that’s really the focus of the exhibit. Curator (and Minnesota cartoonist) Duane Barnhart did a lot of telephone,… READ MORE
September 13th, 2009 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: You’re making a living with your artistic skills. From that vantage point, what art skills would you hope would be taught to students (12-15 years old) with similar cartooning / illustration aspirations for their livelihood? A: At the age you cite there is no specific set of skills or instruction that I feel would be of direct benefit to an aspiring cartoonist/illustrator. At that point it’s all about being exposed to as much art, illustration and inspiration as possible and to experiment with various mediums… and of course to draw. As a teenager an artist is still very much a blank canvas and is… READ MORE
September 12th, 2009 | Posted in News
Hot on the heels of the big Disney buys Marvel news was this week’s announcement of the restructuring of DC Comics into DC Entertainment Inc. which was quickly followed by DC publisher Paul Levitz stepping down from the head job and “transitioning” to a full time writer, editor and consultant. No word on who will be “transitioning” in. Diane Nelson, who handled the Harry Potter marketing for Warner Bros. was named the head of the new DC Entertainment Inc. I have gotten a number of e-mails asking me “how does this affect MAD“? My answer: I have no idea. I have no idea what is… READ MORE
