Richmond Illustration Inc.

Tom's Mad Blog

The Dreaded Deadline Demon

October 27th, 2008 | Posted in General

Monday deadline blues…. Look for an “On the Drawing Board” post tomorrow with a “step by step” of a recent job. READ MORE

Q: How did you execute your Holmes graphic (see above) ? Did you scan the material for the clothing and hat then skew it in Photoshop.¬¨‚Ä† It looks very cool ! Maybe you don’t want to share your secret. I hope you do. A: It’s not really any kind of secret. It’s just some simple Photoshop trickery. I didn’t save a “step by step” nor did I save the original pattern files, so I will just have to explain it. I do have the original unflattened file so you can see the various elements. First, I inked the image and scanned it as I always… READ MORE

Insurance and Treatments for Autism?

October 25th, 2008 | Posted in General

Our Elizabeth and one of her favorites, Rachel Ray As the parent of an autistic child, no ones knows better than I both the difficulties and expenses involved with raising a kid with autism. As a self employed person, it’s doubly tough as health insurance is a wallet buster under the best of circumstances, let alone when one of your kids has a disability. Autism isn’t nearly as expensive to deal with as other disabilities might be… we didn’t have to remodel our home to accommodate a wheelchair for example. Still there are plenty of extra expenses involved including doctors visits, medication and the like.… READ MORE

MAD About the Movies: The Sequel?

October 24th, 2008 | Posted in MAD Magazine

Not the sequel… the “Directors’ Cut“. Back in 1998 MAD published MAD About the Movies, a collection of movie spoofs from over the years. It was in part to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Warner Bros. (WB owns DC Comics which in turn owns MAD) and all the movies in the book were Warner Bros. films. 10 years later MAD is coming out with a new version of the book featuring parodies of films from other studios as well as some from WB. MAD About the Movies: Director’s Cut weighs in at a whopping 400 pages and contains not only SIXTY movie parodies from films… READ MORE

Phone-a-Phriend Phanatic

October 23rd, 2008 | Posted in General

Today’s the day I am sitting by the phone in case I am called upon to be a “Phone-a-Friend” lifeline for my pal and fellow caricaturist Jim Batts, who is taping his show this afternoon in New York City. Actually the way this works is he is there and ready to compete if called upon. It is possible he might not be picked from the pool of possible contestants during the taping sessions he is scheduled for. I doubt that, as he is just the kind of guy they’d want on the show… he’s quirky, has an interesting career and he knows a #%^$*@ lot… READ MORE

Sketch o’the Week

October 22nd, 2008 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week

Almost forgot “Sketch o’the Week” today. In honor of the 2008 World Series, which starts tonight, here’s a quick pencil study of baseball’s meek commissioner “Bud” Selig. Who am I rooting for in the Series? I guess if I had to choose I’d go with Philly, just because I think a team needs to be around for more than a decade before they deserve to be in the World Series. The whole Florida Marlins thing in 1997 and 2003 still makes me a little sick to my stomach. I’m not sure Philly can win it, though. I think it will all come down to whether… READ MORE

Caricaturists Convention in Raleigh NC

October 21st, 2008 | Posted in General

Next month several hundred caricaturists from all over the world will descend on the unsuspecting city of Raleigh, North Carolina to attend the 17th annual National Caricaturist Network’s convention. No caricaturist should miss attending at least one of these gatherings in their lifetime. I am not exaggerating (pun intended) when I say it can be a career and life changing event. There is a wide diversity of style, skill level and application within the NCN itself and especially on vivid display at their yearly convention. Attending artists are inspired, creatively energized, humbled and altogether blown away by the experience. In general the NCN Con is… READ MORE

Mahalo, Maui

October 20th, 2008 | Posted in General

The black sand beach at Waianapanapa State Park near Hana on Maui The Richmond Family returns today to the wonderful world of impending snow and ice of Minnesota from the Hawaiian islands. The Lovely Anna and I renewed our wedding vows for our 20th anniversary on the 13th from a beautiful beach in West Maui, surrounded by family and friends. We then spent a week enjoying the island with everyone. Maui has always been our little home away from home, where the two of us spend a week a year in a timeshare. It was fun to share it with everyone. Of course when you… READ MORE