Tom's Mad Blog
January 29th, 2009 | Posted in General
Funny how life works. Last week DC Comics and Time Warner announced that MAD will be going from a monthly to a quarterly publication, presumably due to dropping circulation amid the increasing costs and difficulties of a badly ailing magazine marketplace. Almost simultaneously, MAD began getting the most attention I’ve seen it receive in a long time from the media and on the internet from its latest issue, cover pictured above. The inside of the issue featured “The First 100 Minutes of the Obama Presidency” as well as the feature I did the art for and previously mentioned, “MAD Exposes Who’s Thinking What at the… READ MORE
January 28th, 2009 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
This week’s subject is actor Jack Black, drawn from a smallish picture out of an entertainment magazine. Black is heavy set but interestingly his face does not have a lot of fat on it. On the contrary it’s quite bony except for a suggestion of a puffy sort of underbite. He was brilliant in “Tropic Thunder”. READ MORE
January 27th, 2009 | Posted in Surf's Up Dept.
Last night I finished a last minute job for MAD that was probably the toughest deadline they’ve ever given me. Surprisingly I finished two days ahead of schedule. As a result I am frazzled and need a break, so today’s post is just going to be a disturbing Youtube video I ran across on the excellent DRAWN! illustration and cartooning blog. This was an actual commercial for Green Giant canned peas and corn using stop motion animation: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDbKlaWgR3Q[/youtube] That is incredibly frightening. The giant is a leering, psychotic horror… especially terrifying is this final pose where he leans down and thrusts the cans at the… READ MORE
January 26th, 2009 | Posted in General
There’s been a lot of discussion over “teh interweb” the last few days about DC Comic’s announcement that MAD will be switching to a quarterly as of issue #500 in April. I’ve read a lot of lamenting about “the good old days” and some expected responses about how it’s what MAD deserves because its “content has gone downhill” in the last 5, 10, 15, 20 years…. blah, blah, blah. Some people are determined to blame the content of MAD for the current state of the magazine. Anybody who honestly thinks the problems MAD has had with its circulation and readership is a result of its… READ MORE
January 25th, 2009 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: In a past article you said, regarding showing potential clients your reliability and professionalism: “the easiest way to demonstrate this is by having a body of work already established… in comics, magazine illustration, advertising, etc.”¬¨‚Ć As someone who has only done commissions for friends and very small published works, my big question is how do you go about getting professional freelance work in the first place?¬¨‚Ć You have an impressive client list and I realized I don’t know the first thing about trying to contact those types of clients (ex: Scholastic, magazines, advertising).¬¨‚Ć Any hints, tips or tricks for a beginning freelancer on how… READ MORE
January 24th, 2009 | Posted in On the Drawing Board
Here’s my latest spot caricature for The Independent. Not sure what “AMHC” stands for or what milking has to do with it, but I can guess considering the subject matter. These are seriously down and dirty quick illustrations. READ MORE
January 23rd, 2009 | Posted in MAD Magazine
The rumors of MAD‘s demise after issue #500 were greatly exaggerated… but not that greatly. Newsarama reports today that DC has announced MAD will become a quarterly publication following issue #500, which will be on the stands in April. Issue 501 will be released in August, with issue 502 in November and so on. The magazine will go from 48 pages to 56. More on Publisher’s Beat. DC also announced that both MAD Kids and MAD Classics will be discontinued. Three full time MAD staffers are also being laid off, along with a number of other DC staff members. Obviously this is very sad news.… READ MORE
January 23rd, 2009 | Posted in News
Artwork by Michael Ramirez, Pulitzer prize winning editorial cartoonist One last reminder about the February 6th deadline for the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship. The National Cartoonists Society Foundation has a new website with news and information about both the scholarships and other NCSF programs. This from the NCF: The annual Jay Kennedy Scholarship, in memory of the late King Features editor, was funded by an initial $100,000 grant from the Hearst Foundation/King Features Syndicate and additional generous donations from Jerry Scott, Jim Borgman, Patrick McDonnell and many other prominent cartoonists. Submissions are adjudicated by a panel of top cartoonists and an award is given to… READ MORE
