Tom's Mad Blog
June 10th, 2009 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
This week’s sketch is a quick one of the new “Tonight Show” host Conan O’Brien. Not much too it, just a straightforward basic study. Conan has a face that is ripe for really going after with exaggeration… I want to do a better one at a later date. The straight on pose is boring. I have yet to see Conan on “The Tonight Show”, but that is hardly surprising as I have watched only¬¨‚Ć handful of minutes of that show since Johnny Carson left, and those were because I was brushing my teeth after the news and couldn’t reach the remote to either turn the… READ MORE
June 9th, 2009 | Posted in General
Here’s the second of numerous¬¨‚Ć video “sample”caricatures from a promo video I used at some of my retail caricature locations in the mid 90’s. This one is of Katey Sagal and Ed O’Neill AKA Peg and Al Bundy from the TV show “Married… with Children“. I likely originally drew this sample from memory one day at the theme park, considering I had been drawing the Bundys for NOW comics for several years at that time. I happen to have a scan of this sample as well, shown below, which I still use at the theme parks believe it or not. With it’s endless syndication, the… READ MORE
June 8th, 2009 | Posted in News
Yes, you read that right… Cali, Colombia, South America. 😯 I am one of the main guest speakers at the 15 Sal??n Internacional de Historietas y Caricaturas Calicomix 2009 (15th Annual International Exhibition of Cartoons and Caricatures Calicomix 2009) taking place in Cali, Colombia from June 8th through June 30th. I’ll be participating in several activities along with cartoonists, illustrators and caricaturists from all around the world including Chile, Ecuador, Mexico and Colombia. Here’s a little rundown of the portions of the event I will be a part of: Tuesday, June 9th- 9:00 am @ Salon Madera, Centro Cultural de Cali- FORO INTERNACIONAL DE HISTORIETA… READ MORE
June 7th, 2009 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: You’ve noted that a bad caricaturist can get trapped using a set of pre-defined exaggeration points – enlarging a chin, making a nose bigger, giving the eyebrows an odd slant, etc. – and that when you are working you try to find something more personal or a little more interesting and less “by the book”. When you are on the clock, where do you draw the line between making the subject look like the typical caricature one might see vs. something YOU find satisfying? A: I think what you are referring to is what I call “generic caricature”, where a caricaturist basically draws the… READ MORE
June 6th, 2009 | Posted in General
I just placed my order for this eagerly anticipated collection of the entire run of Humbug Magazine. I have never seen a single page of this publication, but being that is was edited by Harvey Kurtzman and features work by Jack Davis, Al Jaffee, Arnold Roth, Will Elder and Wally Wood, it is undoubtedly pure genius. Humbug was Kurtzman’s second attempt to recapture the magic of his early MAD work, the second being the VERY short lived (2 issues) Trump! Magazine published by Playboy‘s Hugh Hefner. Humbug was actually published by Kurtzman and the creators themselves, which makes it as pure a creative effort as… READ MORE
June 5th, 2009 | Posted in News
News broke yesterday on the LA Times Blog and was further confirmed on The Comic’s Reporter and Heidi MacDonald‘s The Beat that Viacom is canceling Nickelodeon Magazine effective immediately. From LA Times Blog: Viacom is shutting down Nickelodeon Magazine this week and will lay off about 30 staffers. Launched in 1993, the magazine, with a circulation of more than¬¨‚Ć1 million and a total audience of more than¬¨‚Ć6 million, was for many years an important promotional platform for the¬¨‚Ćchildren’s cable network and provided a steady stream of cash. The magazine even once was a National Magazine Award finalist and also led to a few spin-off products.… READ MORE
June 4th, 2009 | Posted in General
One of our caricature locations at Six Flags New England I’m traveling back from visiting my operation at Six Flags New England today. We’ve got a great group of artists there this summer doing airbrush t-shirts, airbrush tattoos and of course caricatures. The park is located between Springfield, MA and Hartford, CT in a small Massachusetts town called Agawam. If you happen to visit the park this summer stop in and say hello to the artists. EDIT- I should mention I also have caricature operations at Valleyfair in Shakopee MN, Six Flags St. Louis in Eureka, MO, Sy. Louis Union Station in St. Louis, MO… READ MORE
June 3rd, 2009 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
This week’s victim is tabloid queen and “why is this person a celebrity?” poster child Tori Spelling. Tori is having a little trouble with her breast impants these days… some rapid weight loss has caused them to migrate into new positions, kind of like the earth’s tectonic plates. The scan is a little rough as I used a borrowed scanner I was not familiar with since I am currently on the road in Massachusetts visiting my theme park operations at Six Flags New England. In fact this sketch was drawn sitting in one of my caricature booths this morning. READ MORE
