Tom's Mad Blog
May 3rd, 2009 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: You love to write and illustrate. Have you written any of your own books, if not when will you? A: No, I have never written a book. I am currently working (inbetween everything else) on a “How to Draw Caricatures” book, but every time I think I’ll have a little time to work on it some big job comes along and it’s shoved to the back burner. Currently the big job keeping me from working on the caricature book is, coincidentally, a book… written by someone else, however. This project will take me the entire month of May, but the end result I hope… READ MORE
May 2nd, 2009 | Posted in News
To be more accurate: I remember seeing this exact sign on a wire rotating rack at the Ben Franklin “five and dime” store when I was a really little kid. My dad would buy me Batman, Superman or Captain Marvel comics and I’d take them home, read them over and over, copy all the drawings and then draw my own adventures with kid versions of the characters. Great fun. Today is “Free Comic Book Day“, and I’ll be bringing my own son with me to the local comic shop to see what’s out there that’s cool and interesting. Free Comic Book Day is when participating… READ MORE
May 1st, 2009 | Posted in General
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 56 short stories and 4 novels starring his famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and his “Boswell” Dr. John Watson. They are collectively known as the “canon” to Sherlockians. These are his “official” adventures, treated as if they were his biography were he an actual person from history. Holmes’ adventures in fiction hardly stop there. It is said there have been more books written about Holmes and related characters than any other character in literary history. I have not been able to find even an estimate as to the number of non-canon works, but it certainly numbers near or over a… READ MORE
April 30th, 2009 | Posted in On the Drawing Board
I’m still staying remarkably busy considering the dire state of the economy. Here’s what I have on the board right now: MAD job– This one is still in the final pencil stage, as it sadly isn’t due for 6 weeks. Other stuff keeps cropping up preventing me from finishing it. Stay Tooned! Cover- This for John Read‘s fantastic magazine. I will have this done today. Book Job– Impossible deadline on a massive project I can’t talk about yet… so what else is new? I’m afraid you can expect to see the Dreaded Deadline Demon a few times in the next several weeks. Comic book– This… READ MORE
April 29th, 2009 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Here’s another quick study attempt at actress Amy Adams. I did one a few months ago I was not too happy with. This one is certainly less of an exaggeration and still not quite on target. This was from a small picture where she is in her role of Amelia Earhart from the “Night in the Museum” sequel. Update- Here’s a scan of the reference I used. My observations keyed in on her big, round eyes and small, thin mouth. Image from Entertainment Weekly used under Fair Use. READ MORE
April 28th, 2009 | Posted in Surf's Up Dept.
Embedded video from <a href=”http://www.cnn.com/video” mce_href=”http://www.cnn.com/video”>CNN Video</a> “Alliance, Assemble?” Ummmm. no. You know that silly super-deep voice Christian Bale used in the Batman movies suddenly doesn’t seem so ridiculous. READ MORE
April 28th, 2009 | Posted in News
This past weekend I drove down to picturesque Lake Okoboji, IA to attend the 2009 Toon Awards Exhibition, held at the Pearson Lakes Art Center right in Okoboji (in the town, not in the lake). It was organized by Toon-Ed, a cartoon education group led by Sioux Falls cartoonist Ken Alvine. Veteran magazine gag cartoonist and Iowa resident Dave Carpenter and Ken did a fantastic job with the show, program and all the arrangements. The folks at Pearson also did a great job, especially Lissa and Danielle. It’s not easy setting something like this up. Toon-Ed is dedicated to educating the student of cartooning and… READ MORE
April 28th, 2009 | Posted in Freelancing
Click for a closer look… The poker game website I did the artwork for just had a press release about new unique features like private tables, on-demand tournaments and other cool stuff. Here is the full release: NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 27, 2009 Contact: Alan Curtis Info@5pmpoker.com New Poker Web Application Features Free Private Tables HERMOSA BEACH & HONOLULU – The new online poker site 5PMPoker.com officially launched today, setting itself apart from competitive sites with features such as free Host-Your-Own Tables. This feature allows online poker players to invite friends (and foes) to private invite-only games whenever they desire. The web application… READ MORE
