Tom's Mad Blog
January 2nd, 2008 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
WIP sketch of recently deceased former talk show host Merv Griffin. This one was from a few months back, just after he passed away from a picture in one of the entertainment magazines. Obviously I never finished it so I never posted it here, but I thought it might be of interest to see an unfinished sketch or two every once and a while. You can see things like explorations of form and shape with the sketchier lines, and how the small suggestion of shadows and just the beginning of the rendering still produces a strong likeness if the initial drawing is strong. A good… READ MORE
January 1st, 2008 | Posted in General
I revised this image from last year, and here’s the same message: Don’t start 2008 on the wrong foot. As my grandma used to say, “It’s a brand new, shiny year, and it’s going to be better than ever!”… of course grandma was a few cards short of a full deck, but her heart was in the right place. Happy New Year! READ MORE
December 31st, 2007 | Posted in News
Still crazy busy with a deadline for MAD, so today I am just going to post this reminder again about my guest speaker appearance and inking workshop March 2-5th in St. Louis. Today is the last day you can register at a discounted rate for the St. Louis NCN Minicon. You can still register tomorrow and later, but it’ll be more dough and they do have limited capacity. This will be a lot of fun and full of opportunities to learn with all the seminars and workshops going on. I hope to see you there. READ MORE
December 30th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Do you have some set of rules that determine a particular way a caricature should be done depending on face shape or features or is it simply an acquired gut feeling? A: If by “rules” you mean following a template that is applied to any face that is drawn, then absolutely not. Following the same rules or pattern of exaggeration for all faces isn’t caricature, it’s stylization and distortion. If you apply the same relationship of features, for example, on each face you draw, you may get a likeness depending on your skill with the individual features but you would be missing the target… READ MORE
December 29th, 2007 | Posted in General
In case you haven’t seen it via Drawn! or the Wisenhiemer Cartoonists forum, here’s a link to Gizmodo’s review of the new 12″ portable Cintiq tablet/display from Wacom. It features a video with unpacking and the creating of a color image of “Bender” from “Futurama” along with subtitles commentary. The verdict from Gizmodo is “professional artists: GET IT!”. Another independent and even more in depth review can be found at my friend Cedric Hohnstadt’s blog. Cedric got the new Cintiq and has good things to say. Both these reviews are highly useful as they are done by working artists, as opposed to being reviewed by… READ MORE
December 28th, 2007 | Posted in General
I know I’m a tough guy to get gifts for. The Lovely Anna constantly reminds me of this. She says it’s not that I don’t want or need anything, it’s just that I have this habit of buying things I want for myself… Well, I hate waiting. Lately Anna and I have been in the habit of getting something together and calling it our Christmas present to each other. This year it was a case of six bottles of Silver Oak cabernet sauvignon, 1998-2003 that had a Thomas Arvid painting reproduced on the case lid. Anna loves Arvid’s work, which is a realistic style of… READ MORE
December 27th, 2007 | Posted in General
READ MORE
December 26th, 2007 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Another quick study of a politician, this time Ohio congressman, presidential hopeful, veggie-munching, UFO spotting democrat Dennis Kucinich. READ MORE
