Tom's Mad Blog
January 26th, 2008 | Posted in General
The view at lunch from “The Sea House” in Napili Another annual trip to Maui in the books. We’ll be having our yearly going-away lunch on the ocean at Kimo’s in Lahaina, staring wistfully out at the whales frolicking in the sea and contemplating our return to real life. Finding the time, money and needed help for just the two of us to get away alone one week a year is not easy. However I can say for certain that it is very important to your marriage and your sanity to find some selfish alone time with your spouse. The trappings, responsibilities and aggravation of… READ MORE
January 25th, 2008 | Posted in General
Fellow caricaturist Mike Giblin posted a query on the NCN Forum the other day asking about how one goes about working on licensed property art… like Disney or Looney Tunes or similar. I wrote a long response based on my limited personal experience and what I’ve heard of that side of cartooning from some experienced artists. I thought I’d share it here: About licensed property artwork: The only licensed property work I ever did was when I drew “Married with Children” and “The Coneheads” comics way back in the day, and that was different than your traditional licensing for merchandise. However I do know an… READ MORE
January 24th, 2008 | Posted in It's All Geek to Me!
Last week in San Fransisco Apple held it’s annual ?¬?bergeekfest, the Macworld Conference and Expo. Macheads slobber and salivate for months leading up to this show, speculating about what new geeky goodness Steve Jobs will announce is about to hit the market (and consumer wallets) that year. Third party vendors who make Mac compatible hardware and software products also show off their newest innovations at the expo. Usually there is a dearth of new toys and gadgets, many of which are super high on the “tech envy” meter. That’s all fine and well, but how many of these new toys are ready for the real… READ MORE
January 23rd, 2008 | Posted in On the Drawing Board
This is just a goofy doodle I did working up some concepts for a spot illustration job. It reminds me a little of a piece Hermann Mejia did in MAD a while back with Spartans on a game show of some kind. Then again it also reminds me a little of a Wally Wood drawing… except not as good. READ MORE
January 22nd, 2008 | Posted in MAD Magazine
The latest issue of MAD (and presumably several DC comic books this month as well) has a special advertising insert similar to the one done several months ago for Ball Park Franks. The concept is the same… kind of a mini MAD with “articles” pertaining to the ad subject. Unlike the Ball Park ad, this one does not advertise a product as much as a group of people… NYC sketch comedy troupe “The Whitest Kids U’ Know“. The “WKUK” had a sketch comedy television show on the FUSE Network in 2007, and has moved to the Independent Film Channel for season two. IFC is uncensored… READ MORE
January 21st, 2008 | Posted in MAD Magazine
On news stands tomorrow, January 22nd: MAD # 486 (Feb. 2008) Cover (Uncredited) The Fundalini Pages (Charles Akins, Peter Bagge, Scott Bricher, Tom Bunk, Desmond Devlin, Darren Johnson, Jeff Kruse, Jacob Lambert, Jack Syracuse, Sumukh Torgalkar, P.C. Vey) George W. Bush “Spins” his Final State of the Union Address (Idea: Frank Jacobs, Ward Sutton) Spy vs Spy (Peter Kuper) Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions (Al Jaffee, colorist: Ryan Flanders) Zeroes- A MAD Political Parody (Uncredited) A MAD Look at Death (Sergio Aragon?¬©s) MAD Presents- The Whitest Kids U Know- A Special Pull Out Advertising Section Cover (Mark Fredrickson) Get To Know The Whitest Kids U’… READ MORE
January 20th, 2008 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: You mentioned you drew caricatures in bars to help support yourself in school. What’s the financial arrangement between you the artist and lounge owner drawing in bars? A friend told me-why bother spending/wasting money socializing in bars when you can get paid for doing the same thing working in a bar as a bartender-bouncer-barback? I thought about it and he made sense-but drawing sounds a lot more fun and lucrative. A: I didn’t really make much money doing it, but I did draw caricatures in bars and clubs when I was a full time student between summers at the theme park. The Lovely Anna… READ MORE
January 19th, 2008 | Posted in General
The Lovely Anna and I are off today on our annual week away from kids, work and the Minnesota winter. We have a timeshare on Maui, and spend one very relaxing week sleeping in, reading books, sitting by the pool or the sea and eating at some excellent restaurants. This is our time to charge our parental and professional batteries, and take a little selfish me time in order that we do not go crazy and beat our kids, the neighbors or a few art directors I know. Fear not, gentle reader… through the magic of pre-posting and wifi The MAD Blog will continue it’s… READ MORE
