Tom's Mad Blog
February 13th, 2008 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Better late than never today… I am getting bored with all the heads I’ve been doing lately so I thought I’d do something with a figure this week. This is NBA star Vince Carter, although I didn’t really work too hard on the caricature. I spent more time studying the folds and action of his uniform. These fast shutter sports action shots capture billowing clothing in very unnatural feeling “frozen” positions, so when drawing them it’s better to simplify rather than trying to duplicate every single tiny wrinkle. I went halfway between simplifying and going wrinkle-crazy. READ MORE
February 12th, 2008 | Posted in MAD Magazine
In comic shops now and on news stands Tuesday, February 19th: MAD # 487 (Mar. 2008) Cover (Uncredited) The Fundalini Pages (Charles Akins, John Caldwell, Evan Dorkin & Sarah Dyer, Garth Gerhart, Jeff Kruse, Jacob Lambert, Greg Leitman, Ryan Pagelow, Adam Rust, Sam Sisco, Jack Syracuse) “Zeroes” (Desmond Devlin, Tom Richmond) The Darker Side of The Lighter Side (Dave Berg) Monroe and… High School Musical (Anthony Barbieri, Tom Fowler, Ryan Flanders) Zygote 101 (Scott Bricher) If Classic Old Movie Scenes Were Filmed Today (Dick DeBartolo, Hermann Mejia) Planet TAD!!!!! (Tim Carvell, Brian Durniak) Spy vs Spy (Peter Kuper) Why George W. Bush is in Favor… READ MORE
February 11th, 2008 | Posted in General
Plenty going on right now including some substantial blog posts and tutorials coming this week after a long time in waiting. The website has also been neglected a bit lately, and so I updated it last night with seven new pieces in the Portfolio, 4 new selected MAD pieces in MAD Art and seven new caricatures in the the Me Gallery. The caricatures of me in the Me Gallery come from Jhomil Bansil, Neil Kempsell, Dan Shultz, Mike Lynch, Tiary, Anthony Pagano and Fred Eyer. Thanks for the great caricatures of me and for being patient in waiting for them to get posted. As far… READ MORE
February 10th, 2008 | Posted in Freelancing
Q: After years of doing what you do, how often do you find you need to refer to reference photos? I’d expect it with celebrities or well know figures, but do you have to pull out reference for rather ordinary things from time to time (vehicles, houses, interiors, etc.)? Or can you can usually work mostly from your imagination (mental picture)? Your illustrations are often so detailed (even backgrounds). I’ve never been able to (nor really worked on) drawing from memory. I would hope with repetition and practice that it’s possible, but just wondered during a typical assignment how much reference you might need to… READ MORE
February 9th, 2008 | Posted in General
I finally got a little free time and caught the “season premiere” of LOST and it’s second episode as well. I have to admit I was not in a hurry to watch the DVR’ed episodes… I just could not generate any enthusiasm for the show. Call it apathy after a great deal of disappointment last season and the incredibly long layoff. I don’t know if the writer’s strike was the reason they waited until January 31st to premiere the first show of the season, but I don’t think so. I believe I read that the creators planned it that way so they could show all… READ MORE
February 8th, 2008 | Posted in News
It’s that time of year again. Submissions for the National Cartoonists Society‘s divisional Reuben awards need to be received by February 23rd. From the NCS Website: Only work published between the dates of December 1, 2006 and December 31, 2007 will be considered. Please submit published tear sheets when possible and document when and where the work was published. Submissions must be submitted to their respective locations by February 23, 2008. Each submission must be accompanied by an Entry Form and Bio Sheet. Here are this year’s divisions: Television Animation Newspaper Illustration Greeting Cards Newspaper Panel Cartoons Book Illustration Advertising Illustration Feature Animation Gag Cartoons… READ MORE
February 7th, 2008 | Posted in General
Back some time ago I blogged about an interesting project I had doing an image of Sherlock Holmes for One Voice Recordings and it’s awesome voice artist David Ian Davies to use as “album art” for a collection of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s complete Holmes canon audiobooks on Audible.com. I subsequently wrote about how David’s son Dana, who produces resin pens and other items done by wonderfully talented sculptors and hand painted and distributes them for sale all over the world, wanted to produce a pen from the image. The other day I received the final product and it’s very well done indeed. It’s not… READ MORE
February 6th, 2008 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
I thought I’d try something different this week and do a sketch while scanning in several stages to show the progression. This week’s subject is guitar legend Eddie Van Halen, circa 2007. I start out very loose and geometric, aiming to establish the head shape and placement of the features. 80% of the caricature is figured out at this point, including the exaggerations. Eddie’s forehead is very prominent these days, and his square jaw and chin. His famous goofy grin and squinty eyes are still a big part of his look. I have zero concern about superficial likeness at this stage. Now I begin fleshing… READ MORE
