Tom's Mad Blog
December 6th, 2007 | Posted in News
It was odd that yesterday, after just getting the sad news about James Kemsley‘s passing, I received something else concerning another cartooning collegaue’s earthly departure. This time the news was a little brighter, even though it’s circumstances are as somber. Back in April, King Feature’s longtime editor Jay Kennedy died in a tragic boating accident when on vacation in Costa Rica. Jay was a great friend to many artists and to the art of cartooning in general. He has been sorely missed. In memory of Jay, King Features Syndicate has established the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship Fund, which is “designed to acknowledge excellence among college-aged… READ MORE
December 5th, 2007 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
A quick study of Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar. This sketch was actually done some time ago, from a picture dated when the series was big. READ MORE
December 4th, 2007 | Posted in News
In May of 2002 The Lovely Anna and I went to our third NCS Reuben awards weekend, this one held in sunny Cancun, Mexico. After two previous trips we were finally getting to know a few people and feel somewhat comfortable in the crowd. This year there was a number of boisterous and fun loving cartoonists from Australia we hadn’t met before. This crew were about as friendly and approachable as anyone you will ever meet, and the man leading the charge was a short, round-faced bearded bloke everyone knew as “Kems“. The Cancun Reubens was one of the less attended weekends in some time… READ MORE
December 3rd, 2007 | Posted in General
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December 2nd, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
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
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
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
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
