Tom's Mad Blog
April 24th, 2009 | Posted in Freelancing
This is a job I did a few months back for Penthouse, now on the stands. The assignment was an unusual one, and one I had to briefly consider if I wanted to do or not. Although I do not have a problem working for Penthouse (nor would I for Playboy) those would be the only two “adult” magazines I would agree to do work for… they have a certain mainstream acceptability that Hustler, etc. does not. Additionally, I would not accept a job even from them drawing nude women or a sexually explicit subject. I have zero problem with anyone’s right or willingness to… READ MORE
April 23rd, 2009 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Promo art by Peter “PG” Gustafsson “The MAD Generation” is an exhibition of MAD inspired artwork showing at The Gallery at East Atlanta Tattoo in Atlanta, GA. It only runs for two weeks and the final three days are today, tomorrow and Saturday. The artwork in the show are tributes to MAD and the visual images that made it successful as seen through the eyes of about 50 different artists. This looks like a fun show and I wish it was nearby. I don’t get to Atlanta anymore after having closed up my Underground Atlanta caricature location over a year ago… not that I would… READ MORE
April 22nd, 2009 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
This week’s sketch is of recent media sensation and “Britain’s Got Talent” phenom Susan Boyle. Just in case you have been living under a rock for the last 11 days, she is a contestant in a UK talent show who created a media storm with her performance on the show on Saturday the 11th. All of England was buzzing about her during our trip to London. She is this dowdy, frumpy sort of middle aged woman who acted very “cheeky” and goofy before her number, and everyone watching was expecting the second coming of William Hung. Instead she belted out a flawless and spine tingling… READ MORE
April 21st, 2009 | Posted in MAD Magazine
It took a little over 57 years, but this week MAD Magazine‘s 500th issue hits the stands… thereby officially thumbing their noses at TIME Magazine‘s famous critical opinion of the publication as a “short lived satirical pulp”. MAD might not be doing well in this age of dying print publications, but lasting 57 years and 500 issues is no mean feat. Upon my gently broaching the subject of whether or not I’d have a piece in #500, art director Sam Viviano told me he was being asked the sames thing by a staggering number of current and former MAD contributors. The editors and staff wanted… READ MORE
April 20th, 2009 | Posted in MAD Magazine
This is it!! Big number 500 is in comic book stores this week and on news stands April 28th: MAD # 500 (June 2009) Cover (Mark Frederickson) The Fundalini Pages (Jeff Kruse & Liz Lomax, Garth Gerhart, Duck Edwing, Tom Cheney, Jeff Kruse & Scott Bricher, Sam Sisco, Michael Grinspan & Bob Clarke, Peter Paul Porges, Al Jaffee, Stan Sinberg & Bob Staake, The Notorious A.I.G. (Scott Bricher) The Fundalini Pages, con’t (Scott Maiko & Leonardo Rodriguez, Desmond Devlin & Kevin Pope, Peter Bagge, Anthony Barbieri & Tom Fowler & Carl Peterson & Rob Liegh, Jeff Kruse & Jos?¬© Garibaldi, Jacob Lambert, Jeff Kruse &… READ MORE
April 19th, 2009 | Posted in Mailbag
Q:¬¨‚Ć I recently saw a display for some caricaturists at the Sydney Easter Show that showed the caricature of you done by Mort Drucker. They were using it as a sample of work. I know your work itself is also always being used to promote others (placed on their displays meant to make potential customers think they did it themselves).¬¨‚Ć I would love to hear your thoughts on this. A: Here’s a picture from the Sydney Easter Show he is referring to: Photo courtesy of Aussie cartoonist Lee Sheppard That’s a caricature of me by Mort Drucker on the left. I also see (from left… READ MORE
April 18th, 2009 | Posted in General
After a great week in London, The Lovely Anna and I are going home today. Back to reality… and a couple of jobs needing urgent attention. London was great fun. There are so many famous places and things to see that one week was no where near long enough. We could easily have filled another week and still only seen the major things. Still, we did pretty well and feel like we got a good feel for the city. I accomplished most of my goals, except I got tired of fish n’ chips after the third day so “eating fish n’ chips everyday” was probably… READ MORE
April 17th, 2009 | Posted in General
I was clearing out the old tear sheet files and came across this old job from 1992 that represents some interesting points about the dos and don’ts of freelance illustration. This was the first job I remember getting directly from my sourcebook ad in the “Directory of Illustration”. I almost turning it down because I was not sure ethically if I should do it, considering the circumstances. The client was a company called “Business and Legal Reports”, and as the name suggests they usually designed and printed business and legal reports. They had started what would be a series of comic book-like educational booklets meant… READ MORE
