Tom's Mad Blog
October 7th, 2007 | Posted in Freelancing
Q: Sorry for the boring question, but how do you deal with income taxes as a freelancer? I see by your logo you are incorporated. Are there tax benefits to that over being self employed? Do you have to pay quarterly estimated taxes? A: Taxes? Boring? Surely you jest! Being self employed is great except for the paperwork, especially the estimated tax payments. Somehow when your tax payments appear as numbers on your check stub as an employee, and you never get the money in the first place, it’s less painful than to have to remove it from your checking account. It’s like you didn’t… READ MORE
October 6th, 2007 | Posted in News
I’ll be at the Minnesota Comic Book Association‘s FallCon today (and possibly tomorrow). I’ll have a stack of MAD‘s to sign, lot’s of original artwork for sale or just to look at, and will be bringing a bunch of $#^%$# work with me since I am so swamped… bleccch. I’ll also be doing live caricatures for an outrageous fee. Comic cons are fun but bizarre. I never feel quite like I belong since I draw for MAD and not a comic book title per se. People walk up and ask what I do, then want me draw a sexy picture of Wonder Woman in their… READ MORE
October 5th, 2007 | Posted in General
I took a break yesterday and watched the second episode of “Bionic Woman” on my trusty TiVo. Actually it’s a DirecTv DVR and not a TiVo proper, but like “Kleenex” the name “TiVo” seems to be used for any TiVo-like DVR. But I digress…What is it about remakes that gets Hollywood on board to redo just about any TV show or film that had even a glimmer of success, or even a second life in syndication? My guess is that the reason is twofold. First, there is the recognizability of the property. “The Six Million Dollar Man” and “The Bionic Woman” were prime examples of… READ MORE
October 4th, 2007 | Posted in General
Seriously, I may be the busiest I have ever been suddenly with six major projects to do in a little over a week. We may be seeing the Dreaded Deadline Demon a lot in the coming days. READ MORE
October 3rd, 2007 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
The new “Bionic Woman”, Michelle Ryan. I was finally able to watch the premiere the other night, and will try and watch episode two tonight before I impart my first impressions of the show. READ MORE
October 2nd, 2007 | Posted in General
Some grapes still on the vine even in late September in Sonoma The Lovely Anna and I have been lucky enough to travel to some wonderful destinations together over the years. Places like New York City, Hawaii, New Orleans, Paris, Cancun, Chicago, Scottsdale, Orlando, Atlanta and a number of other cities and areas of the US and the world. We’ve enjoyed all of them and often play a little game about what it would be like to live there (especially Hawaii), but in the end we always agree that home is Minnesota. We just can’t see ourselves living anywhere else, even given the attractions of… READ MORE
October 1st, 2007 | Posted in News
This weekend is the annual Minnesota “FallCon” comic book convention at the State Fairgrounds. The last few years I’ve managed to get there once or twice. This year I’ll be at a table with a stack of MAD’s to sign, a bunch of original art for sale and I’ll be doing caricatures as well. Last year we combined the con with our chapter meeting for the North Central Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society, and had a North Central table plus did a panel discussion on cartooning with myself, Micheal Jantze (THE NORM comic strip), Cedric Honstadt (OPPOSITE FORCES, and 3-2-1 PENGUINS ) and Jerry… READ MORE
September 30th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: My question is about how you go about getting your ideas for an assignment or a piece. I assume your clients offer different amount of direction, where do you get your concepts when you have a bit more freedom? Also, do you see the end image in your imagination before putting it down on paper? Have you ever been stymied? A: I always tell people that illustration is communication, and my job as an illustrator is to communicate an idea, message or subject to the viewer through an image inthe same way the writer of whatever article I am illustration is doing with words.… READ MORE
