Tom's Mad Blog
March 20th, 2008 | Posted in General
This last issue of MAD was a unique one. It’s an “All Monkey Issue”, filled from front to back with gags about monkeys and apes. They even did a parody of the TV show “Monk” with Mort Drucker drawing a monkey instead of the lead character. Tony Shalhoub must have been disappointed (although the monkey looked a little like him more than occasionally)! My job for the issue was a really different as well. I was called on to draw the staff of MAD as monkeys… or apes as the case may be. I was told not to worry that much about the likenesses of… READ MORE
March 19th, 2008 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Click image for a closer look… Another “cheat” as this is a pencil for a poster job. There may be a lot of cheating on the blog for the next two weeks or so. I have multiple large projects all coming to a head and once and it will be a serious challenge to keep the blog updated daily. The good news is I will have plenty of final art to share once it’s either published or public, or what have you. READ MORE
March 18th, 2008 | Posted in MAD Magazine
In comic shops and on news stands today: MAD # 488 (April 2008) Cover (Irving “Shenanigans” Schild and Jack “Scrambles” Syracuse) Meet The New Staff of MAD (Jeff “Pinky” Kruse, Tom “Pickles” Richmond) The Monkey-lini Pages (Charles “Taffy” Akins, Scott “Jazzy” Bircher, Jacob “Porkchop” Chabot, Tom “Sugar-Pie” Cheney, Desmond “Diapers” Devlin, Garth “Goober” Gerhart, Gary “Giblets” Hallgren, Jeff “Pinky” Kruse, Kevin “Diggles” Pope) “MONKey” (Charlie “Choo-Choo” Kadau, Mort “Squiggles” Drucker) A MAD Look At Humans (Sergio “Grabbers” Aragon?¬©s) MOMA-The Museum Of Monkey Art (Hermann “Knuckles” Mejia, Roberto “Be-Bop” Parada, Richard “Crumples” Williams, James “Gumdrop” Warhola) Snappy Answers To Stupid Human Questions (Al “Muddy Joe” Jaffee,… READ MORE
March 17th, 2008 | Posted in News
“The park formerly known as Camp Snoopy” and “until recently was known as the Park at MOA” officially changed to “Nickelodeon Universe” on Saturday with a grand opening gala. Ashley Simpson was lip syncing on the main stage at noon, several Nick TV stars were on hand to sign autographs, and the new rides and theming were fully unveiled. Four roller coasters, a flume, Ferris wheel and a dozen other major rides in “Nick U”. Yes, it’s all indoors… Our caricature booth, having been previously designed for the “Northwoods Camp” theme of Camp Snoopy, got replaced with a kiosk style cart themed for the new… READ MORE
March 16th, 2008 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Do you sometimes work on more than one project at a time ? I find it difficult to complete one job, knowing there is another job waiting. Even worse when the DEADLINES are the same !! A: Absolutely. I am almost always working on more than one job at a time. Every job has stages, and in between each stage is usually some form of client review and approval to move on to the next stage. This is a process that can take some time. Once I reach that end of a stage point on a job, everything grinds to a halt as I… READ MORE
March 15th, 2008 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
As promised (or threatened, depending on your point of view), here is a bonus “Sketch o’the Week” to make up for Wednesday’s shameful cop out. This one is of toad-like Comedy Central personality Lewis Black. That sunken chin and mouth remind me of Mel Torme. READ MORE
March 14th, 2008 | Posted in General
…aaaaand, we’re back! Maybe nobody noticed, but the blog and my website has been down since early yesterday afternoon. I returned home late last night after spending the day setting up a new caricature booth location to find I was getting database and SQL errors galore whenever I tried to open either my website or my blog. It’s funny how you get used to something and when it’s suddenly not there anymore you realize how much it’s integrated itself into your life. I sent several e-mails (that still worked) out to my web host and the folks who programmed my site in a bit of… READ MORE
March 13th, 2008 | Posted in News
Some time back I posted a “Sketch o’the Week” that was to be a header for an ongoing column by me in the new publication Stay Tooned!, produced by John Read. In said post I promised to let people know when the magazine was out and how to obtain a copy. Well… the publication’s first issue, after a few brief delays, is arriving in subscriber’s mailboxes now. Stay Tooned! is “a quarterly publication devoted to the art and business of cartooning”. It “features profiles of professional cartoonists, plus articles and information of interest to working cartoonists, aspiring cartoonists, and fans of the art of cartooning!”-… READ MORE
