Tom's Mad Blog
April 3rd, 2009 | Posted in On the Drawing Board
For a one-armed artist I am staying pretty busy. Here’s what I’ve got going right now on the drawing board: NCS Reuben T-shirt Illustration– Wrapping this up over the weekend. I will share it once I get the okay from NCS president Jeff Keane. Cover art for Stay Tooned #4– I was honored to be asked to do the cover for John Read‘s terrific magazine. That I will finish next week. MAD job– Two pager that got bumped from issue 500 and will now be in #501, so a ton of time before that is due. Workplace poster– My usual monthly assignment from The Marlin… READ MORE
April 2nd, 2009 | Posted in Surf's Up Dept.
Interesting video from Wimp.com. The “icons” they cite as evolutionary seem to fluctuate between Batman’s chest emblem from various film/animation incarnations and the logo used on a given comics title, film poster or mini-series cover graphics. It’s not really an “evolution” of the “bat symbol” as much as a collection of different takes on it from different sources in roughly chronological order. Sorry, can’t embed the video so click on the image or this link to see it. Nicely done, although I find it interesting the creator refuses to let you embed the video but has no problem violating U2’s copyrights for the music. Top… READ MORE
April 1st, 2009 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Continuing the theme of 80’s rock stars I liked as a kid as they look today, here’s a sketch of everyone’s favorite heavy metal elf, Ronnie James Dio. Dio had (still has, I think) this amazingly powerful voice that looked downright bizarre coming out of a 5’4″ slip of a guy who must have weighed barely 100 lbs. He gained stardom as the lead singer of Rainbow, did two studio and one live albums with Black Sabbath after Ozzy left, then headlined his own band Dio. I still love the Sabbath albums. In case you haven’t noticed, I was a serious metal head in high… READ MORE
March 31st, 2009 | Posted in General
I thought this a clever way to decorate your Apple MacBook. Both a great play on the classic Snow White image using the embossed apple logo, and a play on the “white” color of the MacBook. I also like the subtle (and maybe unintentional) dig at technology considering what that apple actually did to Snow White. Doubtless the clever artist who did this paintjob will be getting a call from one of Disney’s mountain of lawyers. Via Stumbleupon. READ MORE
March 30th, 2009 | Posted in On the Drawing Board
Slow going with only one arm… I am surprised to discover how much I actually use my left hand when working. Pencilling and inking become harder when I cannot support nor turn my board with my left hand. Inking is especially difficult and time consuming. Just a few jobs going right now, and a few “in the can” as they say that I will be able to share in the next week or two. Here is the latest “workplace poster” illustration, the inking and coloring was done post surgery: Pencil rough Final Art READ MORE
March 29th, 2009 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Mort Drucker and Me, NYC 2000 No “Sunday Mailbag” this week, as these birthday wishes are much more important. Today is supposedly MAD Magazine legend Mort Drucker‘s 80th birthday. I say “supposedly” because although Mort’s Wikipedia entry and other sources list March 29th, 1929 as his birth date, the book “Familiar Faces: The Art of Mort Drucker” claims it is March 22nd, 1929. I don’t know which to believe, but considering the relative ease at which an error in the date could be corrected in an on-line biography and that one in a book printed in 1988 is incorrectable, I have to conclude the internet… READ MORE
March 28th, 2009 | Posted in General
First off, many thanks to all those who have contacted me with well wishes regarding my rotator cuff / shoulder surgery on the 19th. I thought I’d take a moment to give everyone an update. Yesterday I had my first post-op examination by my surgeon, followed by a physical therapy appointment. I had the sutures removed from the five incisions made to conduct the procedure. My doctor is very pleased with the results. He told me after looking over the condition of my biceps tendon, something that occasionally gets damaged due to the inflammation from the rotator cuff injury, he decided it was fine and… READ MORE
March 27th, 2009 | Posted in General
I’m extremely busy still trying to get caught up after my shoulder surgery… I didn’t realize how much I actually used my left hand when drawing or inking until I was deprived of it. Here is a clip of the SC movie credits using my illustration work. I am pretty sure it would be considered “fair use” to post this short clip for the purpose of demonstrating my work in a final form. I thought they did some very clever things to make the largely static images have some animation to them. Don’t forget to pay attention at 1:31 on the clip. Sorry the video… READ MORE
