Tom's Mad Blog
September 3rd, 2009 | Posted in News
About a year ago I blogged about a pending lawsuit against Hallmark Cards courtesy of Paris Hilton citing a right of publicity/trademark claim over the Hallmark card pictured above. At the time I thought that is was going to be a slam dunk for Hilton, but then I was not so sure. In a stunning demonstration of the swift wheels of justice in the United States courts, a federal court of appeals decided Monday that Hilton can go ahead and pursue her lawsuit (link courtesy of The Daily Cartoonist). Wow, that only took a year. Actually there had been action on the case in the… READ MORE
September 2nd, 2009 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
This week’s subject is a fellow caricaturist and ISCA member Rocky Sawyer who’s caricature I did for the International Society of Caricature Artists “Firing Squad”. The “Firing Squad” is a forum on the ISCA Message Board where members post pictures of themselves and then they are drawn by other members. A fun idea and it results in lots of caricatures in many different styles. I don’t get much time to participate but Rocky’s wife e-mailed me asking if I’d take a shot at her husband as it was his birthday, so I thought it would make an interesting sketch o’the week. The reference pic is… READ MORE
September 1st, 2009 | Posted in Tutorials
This series of “How to Draw Caricatures” tutorials are a just a small taste of a larger and much more in-depth book I wrote called The Mad Art of Caricature! The book is 175 full-color pages, lavishly illustrated and contains greatly expanded explanations of the concepts presented in these tutorials, as well and a great deal of additional material on caricaturing other facial features, posture, hands, expression and more, techniques on drawing from live models, doing caricature for freeplace illustration and for MAD Magazine. This is a must have book for anyone interested in caricature, cartooning or humorous illustration. You can order it online here.… READ MORE
August 31st, 2009 | Posted in News
I ran across this shocker on CNN this morning and thought I’d post a link. Seems there is an offer from Disney to buy Marvel Comics for 4 billion dollars, pending stockholder approval. This begs two interesting questions: first, what will happen with the Marvel movie production company? Marvel has been doing it right with Iron Man and other offerings lately. If Marvel movies become Disney movies, that does not bode well for the Marvel characters. Second, what happens in Orlando? Right now the Universal Studios theme park relies heavily on the Marvel characters as part of their Islands of Adventure park. If Disney now… READ MORE
August 31st, 2009 | Posted in General
I know I promised the “Nose” tutorial today and it’s almost done but due to a scheduling snafu at my parks I will instead be drawing live caricatures at Nickelodeon Universe today. Rest assured, the tutorial will be up and running early tomorrow. Oh… and I have had a request from a few people to post in advance when I will be drawing caricatures at one of my park locations. I will be drawing at Valleyfair here in Minnesota this Saturday, Sept. 5th from 12-8 at our location near the “Wild Thing” roller coaster. READ MORE
August 30th, 2009 | Posted in Mailbag
I really get a lot out of your “How to Draw Caricatures” tutorials. They are the best instruction I’ve found anywhere. It’s been so long since your last one. When will we see a new one? A: I am sorry about the length of time in between those tutorials. The blog is something I do just for fun and it has to take a backseat to paying jobs and projects. When will the long promised tutorial on “Noses” be posted? How about… tomorrow! It’s all done except for a few doodles so I will do those and post that tutorial Monday. Thanks to Grant Jonen… READ MORE
August 29th, 2009 | Posted in News
Yesterday was the official opening of the previously mentioned cartoon art show in Aitkin, MN, and today is the opening reception gala: August 28 – October 3, 2009 In the Main Gallery at the Jaques Art Center, 121 Second Street North West, Aitkin, MN Artist reception: August 29, 1-4 pm public is welcome! What’s So Funny? features an entire gallery of original cartoon art including comic strips, comic book art, panel cartoons, editorial cartoons, advertising art, book illustration, caricatures, animation art, cells, and storyboards and more created by many of the world’s foremost cartoonists including Charles Schulz (Peanuts) and Jim Davis (Garfield). If you are… READ MORE
August 28th, 2009 | Posted in News
The show of my MAD work is still hanging through October 4th at the Pittsburgh Toonseum, a museum of cartoon art located inside the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. Toonseum curator Joe Wos recently send me a link to the following video posted on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette website about the exhibit: Sorry can’t embed you’ll just have to click the image to go to the video page… The big news is that the Toonseum is going to be moving out of the Children’s Museum and into their own separate location in downtown Pittsburgh. The location is in the “Cultural District” across from the August Wilson center… READ MORE
