Tom's Mad Blog
January 13th, 2008 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I know there is no substitute for actual art instruction. Books have often help me though. I was wondering if there are any books that you recommend on cartooning in general? What books do you recommend for caricaturing? Most of books are geared toward kids or just seem to scratch the surface but don’t give the tools needed to make the connection between what makes a cartoon a caricature. A: There is no definitive book on how to draw caricatures. There are a number of them out there, but each has it’s own focus (i.e. live caricature, general caricature, cutsey cartoon caricature) so you… READ MORE
January 12th, 2008 | Posted in General
This Saturday’s “Surf’s Up Dept.” is very MAD video-centric, with a few other stories tossed in. Revenge of the Mommy Dept. Des Moines mom Jane Hambleton proclaimed herself the “Meanest Mom on the Planet” when she sold her son’s car through the want ads of the Des Moines Register after finding alcohol under the seat of the vehicle. The ad read: OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don’t love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet. Hambleton was then… READ MORE
January 11th, 2008 | Posted in General
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January 10th, 2008 | Posted in It's All Geek to Me!
I’ve blogged a few times over the last year about the format war raging between two competing technologies in high definition disks, HD DVD and Blu-Ray. My opinion was that HD DVD was going to prevail for a number of reasons, but that the race was way too much in it’s infancy to call yet. A lot of things could happen to make a big impact overnight. It looks like HD DVD just got dealt an unexpected death blow. Last week Warner Bros. studios, which had been releasing it’s films on both formats, suddenly announced it’s intention to go exclusively Blu-Ray in May of this… READ MORE
January 9th, 2008 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Sketch in progress of “30 Rock” star and “Saturday Night Live” alum Tracy Morgan. READ MORE
January 8th, 2008 | Posted in Freelancing
I love being a freelance illustrator. While it is challenging in many respects the work is interesting and the deadlines intense, and it’s seldom boring. I don’t punch a time clock every day, collect my paycheck every other Friday and have to conform to anyone’s routine but my own. As I have said many times, financially it is a little more exciting that it needs to be, what with the constant uncertainty about the next job, and how much income will be forthcoming in a given month (or week, or year for that matter). I have been very lucky in that I have other resources… READ MORE
January 7th, 2008 | Posted in General
Underground Atlanta Caricatures Circa 2000 I’m back from Atlanta where I just closed up my long time caricature stand at Underground Atlanta, a downtown retail/tourist complex. As I had mentioned, it was really sad because it was my very first business endeavor and it had been through a lot over the last 18 plus years. Back in 1989 The Lovely Anna and I, freshly married and she just pregnant, moved to Atlanta from St. Paul, Minnesota because I took a job with Fasen Arts Inc, as manager of their new caricature operation at Six Flags Atlanta. I was 23, just graduated from art school and… READ MORE
January 6th, 2008 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Your work is a total rip off of Mort Ducker’s style. How do you sleep at night?- Anonymous A: Other than when my wife pokes me when I snore too loudly, I sleep just fine, thanks. I usually don’t post anonymous questions or comments, but I thought his one would be worth answering. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard that, but am confident in saying that my work isn’t a rip off of Mort Drucker‘s, and anybody who thinks so isn’t looking really looking. Mort will always be identified with caricatures in MAD, and anyone doing traditional ink line, cartoon caricature likenesses in… READ MORE
