Richmond Illustration Inc.

Tom's Mad Blog

Q: Have you ever turned down an project because you disagreed with the content/subject matter of the project the client approached you with? Subject matter that was too “adult/explicit”, violent, racist, clashed against something you supported etc.? The reason I ask is that artists who may encounter such projects may get project offers in that vein and need the money but also wonder about possible future work loss from drawing such content. However the flipside is also drawing such controversial project may also get you exposure as suddenly your work is more noticed/discussed than ever before. A: An excellent question. Yes, I have had many… READ MORE

Surf’s Up Dept.

December 1st, 2007 | Posted in General

Cartoons at Large Dept. A study conducted at the University of Central Lancashire in the United Kingdom has determined that caricatures drawn of crooks were twice as easy to identify with their targets than traditional photofits. According to the article from The Guardian UK: In tests, volunteers were asked to identify people from the standard photofit of their face and from their caricature. On average, a photofit face was correctly identified 20% of the time, compared with 40% for the caricature, according to a report in this month’s Visual Cognition journal. I can see it now… “Attention all units, be on the lookout for suspect… READ MORE

New Cintiq “Sketchbook”

November 30th, 2007 | Posted in It's All Geek to Me!

Wacom just announced the release of a new version of it’s Cintiq line of pressure sensitive tablets/LCD monitors… the 12WX. Unlike the heavy and bulky 21UX and it’s predecessors, this one designed to be far more portable and lightweight… more like a sketchbook for “on the go”…. sorry, I just drooled a little bit. The Cintiq’s are a combination of a pressure sentive tablet and an LCD monitor, enabling the user to draw right on the screen using all the benefits and features of a wacom tablet. I use the Cintiq 21UX in the studio, and love it. The new Cintiq 12WX is much smaller… READ MORE

From the Freelance Files…

November 29th, 2007 | Posted in Freelancing

Last week I posted the final artwork for an ad job I did for Hardee’s Restaurants that was supposed to be used in full page ads in Rolling Stone and other magazines, but ended up not being used at all due to ad budget cuts and instead was used for some internal promotion. That may seem outrageous but that is what sometimes happens in the advertising business. Companies often just burn up money producing images and designs for ad campaigns that never get off the ground. I’ll get paid full rates (and advertising generally pays a lot better than editorial) to do finished art that… READ MORE

Sketch O’The Week

November 28th, 2007 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week

The silicon enhanced, calorically challenged former Posh Spice Victoria Beckham. This is a study where the body and posture are central to the caricature. READ MORE

Leopard for Artists

November 27th, 2007 | Posted in It's All Geek to Me!

A Guide for the Visual Artist: Mac OS 10.5 Leopard Computer operating systems are tricky pieces of software. Imagine if the manufacturer of your car, something you use and need every day, had to build their vehicles so that you could buy and use seats from one company, a steering wheel from another, tires from a third, etc. That’s the challenge for companies like Microsoft… write a program that runs your computer put will also work with all the hardware and software out there on store shelves. The car analogy goes even further in that most consumers don’t need (or care) to know how a… READ MORE

On the Drawing Board

November 26th, 2007 | Posted in On the Drawing Board

I have a moderate amount of stuff on the board right now. Today I had deadlines for two jobs, one a workplace poster and one an ad job… both “in the can” as they say in the bidness. The poster job is another of the workplace posters which I can share after I complete, so that is posted below. Other stuff right now includes: MAD– I’m trying to wrap up that two pager from September that got bumped because I have a new one coming possibly today, and it’s going to be a really fun job. There is something to like about every MAD job,… READ MORE