January 12th, 2009 | Posted in MAD Magazine
In comic book stores this week and on news stands on Jan. 20th: MAD # 498 (February 2009) Cover (Mark Frederickson) The Fundalini Pages (Ray Alma, John Cadwell, Dave Crosland, Dick DeBartolo, Desmond Devlin, Gary Hallgren, Tim Hamilton, Darren Johnson, Jeff Kruse, Glen LeLievre, Barry Liebmann, Kevin Pope, Leonardo Rodriguez, Rick Tulka) Lame Attempts by TV to Explain the 2008 Presidential Vote (Barry Liebmann, Ward Sutton) A MAD Look at Snow (Sergio Aragon?¬©s) MAD’s 12 Surefire Tips for Stand-Up Comics (Jeff Kruse, Rick Tulka, Colorist: Ryan Flanders) MAD’s Sucky Twilight Outtakes (Uncredited) The 2009 Al Jaffee Calendar! (Al Jaffee) MAD Exposes Who’s Thinking What at… READ MORE
January 11th, 2009 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: When you work from reference materials, the facial expressions of the people are rarely (never) what you need to incorporate into your drawings. Are there any principles you can give for altering facial expressions to comic proportions and situations while still retaining a good likeness? A: It’s very true that if I were to need to rely on finding the exact angle and facial expression of a given actor in order to pull off a recognizable caricature of them for a given panel in a MAD parody, I’d never get anything done. Instead I gather up multiple references of an actor from various angles,… READ MORE
January 10th, 2009 | Posted in On the Drawing Board
I’m headed back home from Orlando today, but in the meantime here is another of the weekly caricatures I have been doing for The Independent, a local newspaper in North Carolina. These are used as header art for a column called “Good Old Boys Gone Bad” . READ MORE
January 9th, 2009 | Posted in News
Artwork by Michael Ramirez, Pulitzer prize winning editorial cartoonist The National Cartoonists Society Foundation is once again administering the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship for college students who are studying and/or pursuing work as cartoonists. Last year’s winner, Juanita Medina, received not only a scholarship but a free trip to attend and be honored at the NCS Reuben Awards. This year’s winner will get the same treatment! Entry into the competition is pretty straightforward. Here is the official info from the NCSF: THE JAY KENNEDY MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP Applicants must be college students in the United States, Canada or Mexico that will be in their Junior or… READ MORE
January 8th, 2009 | Posted in News
It’s hard to believe but this marks the 1,000th post here on The MAD Blog. I’m celebrating by going to Disney World! Well, actually I’m in Orlando at Disney World with The Lovely Anna and Elizabeth because today is Elizabeth’s 19th birthday (!!!), and Disney World is one of the few places on Earth she can go and really like being there. Of course this means Anna and I will be riding “Peter Pan”, “It’s a Small World” and “Winnie the Pooh” at least a dozen times each today, but every time is like the first time when it makes Elizabeth smile. Thanks to the… READ MORE
January 7th, 2009 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
This week’s sketch is a warm-up study of actress Gwyneth Paltrow. I’ve had to draw her a few times in MAD, specifically for the parody of “The Royal Tennenbaums” some years ago as well as last year in “Iron Man”. For some odd reason I find her somewhat hard to capture. She has smoky eyes with the lower lids either naturally or artifically dark. She also has a slighly wall-eyed look… by that I mean her eyes seem to look off in slightly different directions. Her nose looks different in almost every angle. She can look very glamorous and very ordinary in any given picture. READ MORE
January 6th, 2009 | Posted in Freelancing
I get a fair number of e-mails from artists looking to “break in” to MAD asking for information and advice on how to do it. Most of the following info is in The MAD Blog FAQ, but in the interest of keeping it “out there” here are the recently updated basics you should know if you are a cartoonist interested in working for MAD: If you want to break into MAD, the easiest way is with a grappling hook, 50 feet of rope, a glass cutter and suction cups. You can bribe your way in on Wednesdays with home baked cookies offered to Dick DeBartolo.… READ MORE
January 5th, 2009 | Posted in General
Two jobs with deadlines today and a bunch of stuff to do before a short trip to Orlando requires an appearance by the Dreaded Deadline Demon. Bummer. READ MORE
