Richmond Illustration Inc.

Tom's Mad Blog

The Dreaded Deadline Demon

October 12th, 2007 | Posted in General

Must work??á¬¨‚Ä† must work must work must work must work must work must work must work must work must work must work…. READ MORE

MADvertising

October 11th, 2007 | Posted in MAD Magazine

Whenever I appear at a comic book convention, there is one thing I can always count on happening, and I’m not talking about seeing fat, sweaty guys in spandex superhero suits… It never fails that I end up defending MAD‘s taking on real ads in the magazine back in 2001 with some irate attendee. Sometimes they seem to really take this personally… like the fact that there are ads in MAD is an affront to their personal liberty. Usually the person I have the debate with is an old hippy or codger, and they seem very offended that MAD has “knuckled under to The Man”.… READ MORE

Sketch O’The Week

October 10th, 2007 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week

Number One Son Thomas is doing so well in his first year of middle school that last week he got a reward… a copy of Halo 3 for his Xbox 360. He loves playing those chase and shoot games. A few days ago he came into my studio and asked if I would draw a picture of Halo’s “Master Chief” for the cover of his school organizer. The sketch above is the result. Loosely based on the cover of Halo 2, but with some creative fudging of the armor. READ MORE

Sour Peanuts?

October 9th, 2007 | Posted in News

I mentioned a week or so ago about stopping in at the Charles M. Schulz Museum on our trip to the Sonoma County area of California and spending some time with Jeanne Schulz and other friends, and of course enjoying the exhibits. I read this article yesterday in my local paper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune (reprinted from the New York Times), concerning the release of a new biography of Charles Schulz by David Michaelis: ‘Peanuts’ creator cold, tormented, biography says The article relates how the extended Schulz family is very unhappy about the book, which paints Schulz as “a depressed, cold and bitter man who… READ MORE

FallCon Report

October 8th, 2007 | Posted in General

I rarely go to comic book conventions, being that MAD doesn’t really fit in to the comic book world. Yes, it’s full of cartooning, but it’s a little like the red-headed stepchild in that environment. There are certain factions of exhibitors and attendees at these conventions. You have the cape and tights crowd, that go primarily for the mainstream superhero genre comics, and the majority of them don’t have any time for the ‘funny books’ or a lot of the underground type stuff. Then you have the kind of La Bohemme crowd, most of whom are creators of various underground or avant garde comics with… READ MORE

Sunday Mailbag

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

Off to FallCon

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

Better, Stronger, Faster?

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