Tom's Mad Blog
February 1st, 2009 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Q: When I was a kid, Mad was all in black and white.¬¨‚Ć All your jobs are in color.¬¨‚Ć Do you feel this affects how you work compared to when Mad artists didn’t have to worry about coloring?¬¨‚Ć Are there things in the sketching and inking process you have to sacrifice because of the coloring phase? A: As I have said here in the past, I will always feel a little like I missed out on the “good old days” having not been a part of the old black and white MAD. That isn’t exactly accurate, as I technically did appear in the last issue… READ MORE
January 31st, 2009 | Posted in News
Yes, it’s that day again… the national holiday that isn’t officially recognized (yet) but one we all look forward to the other 364 days of the year. Yes, its National Gorilla Suit Day. What is National Gorilla Suit Day??? Are you joking?!? It began, as almost all nonsensical and idiotic things do, with Don Martin. A series of cartoons in the 1964 book Don Martin Bounces Back! concerns the misadventures of Fester Bestertester and his railings against various gorilla suit companies and the holiday National Gorilla Suit Day. Proving that Don Martin was about 40 years ahead of his time, his National Gorilla Suit Day… READ MORE
January 31st, 2009 | Posted in News
Yesterdays’ deadline for submissions for the NCS divisional Reuben awards has left my studio overflowing with nearly three dozen submissions for the “Editorial Cartoon” category which my North Central Chapter is judging. We’ll be meeting in Lincoln, NE next month to judge the entries. That reminds me of somehting I have been meaning to tell folks about. It has been some years since the website of the National Cartoonist Society’s website was updated, but recently it’s gotten a facelift. In flew in sort of “under the radar”. The new site, designed and created by fromer NCS president Steve McGarry‘s sons Joe and Luke McGarry, sports… READ MORE
January 30th, 2009 | Posted in General
I’d like to take a second to shamelessly plug a new book that will be released to the wide, wide world in March but is currently available for pre-order at an internet near you! Joe Bluhm is one of those artists that makes other artists jealous. His talent is prodigious, his enthusiasm for his art immense, and his dedication to it all inspirational. I kind of hate him… but not really. Actually he’s a good friend, and he’s got a new book coming out that is going to be a must have for the bookshelf. The book is called “Sketch Infectus”, and it’s chock full… READ MORE
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
