Tom's Mad Blog
September 6th, 2007 | Posted in News
Writer and blogger extraordinare Mark Evanier reminds us that today is the birthday of one of the most beloved and talented cartoonists of the last half century… the great Sergio Aragon?¬©s. Sergio’s work needs no description. He’s been a staple at MAD for 45 years, done about a billion issues of Groo the Wanderer and several billion other cartoons in almost every conceivable forum. To call him merely prolific is an insult. As Mark wrote in his book “MAD Art”: Since his sudden takeover, Aragon?¬©s has been in every issue (of MAD) but one (he had the flu). So let’s crunch some numbers: Figure 8-12… READ MORE
September 6th, 2007 | Posted in It's All Geek to Me!
As anticipated, yesterday Apple unveiled a completely updated line of iPods in advance of the holiday season at a special event in San Francisco. In addition to a refresh of all the current iPod models, including a redesign of their popular “Nano” line, Apple introduced a new direction in their iTunes Music Store business model… wifi access to purchases directly from their newest iPod model. Here’s a quick breakdown of the latest iPod line: The iPod Shuffle, a button sized player with limited capacity aimed at the ultra portable market, got just a simple facelift with some new colors but the specs and price remained… READ MORE
September 5th, 2007 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Still under deadline so this “sketch o’the week” is from an older sketchbook… a study of caricaturist Corbett Vanoni from an online message board community where we all posted our photos and drew each other. I wish I still had time to do that kind of thing, but life intervenes. I was doing a lot of crosshatching in those days. READ MORE
September 4th, 2007 | Posted in General
All full time theme park caricaturists know what I am talking about. The best day of the year. I wish I had it off, but… READ MORE
September 3rd, 2007 | Posted in General
Some live work from Labor Day weekend at Valleyfair. Sorry about the bad lighting, cropped pics, etc. It’s impossible to take a decent picture of the caricatures out there. Also, apparently it was “Gigantic Ears get in Free Day” at the park: READ MORE
September 2nd, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I read your blog post about drawing at a camp for mentally disabled people. I was wondering how do you handle drawing people with obvious physical and mental handicaps? Some subjects, like those with Downs syndrome or Multiple Sclerosis have very obvious physical traits. Do you ignore them? Gloss over them? Exaggerate them? What about people with disfigurements from accidents or such? How do you handle that? A: Great question. It’s natural to be concerned about how to treat such matters when doing live caricatures. The artist is concerned about the sensitivity of the subject, what they are thinking (or their parents) and how… READ MORE
September 1st, 2007 | Posted in General
A few days ago I posted the Deadline Demon, as I am occasionally wont to do, and I got a few comments from some readers saying how they like and use the image as chat icons. I posted the following comment of my own: I don’t know what to say to that, gentlemen. I’m flattered, but you do realize that you shouldn’t just take any image you want to from the internet and use it for whatever you want to use it for? You should at the very least ask permission of the creator, be it myself or anyone. I got two responses, one a… READ MORE
August 31st, 2007 | Posted in General
Being a fan of spy novel master Frederick Forsyth, I have naturally sampled the wares of other authors who write in the genre. Some bring something of their own to the table… Tom Clancy‘s books are much heavier on the modern techno/cyber war elements, for example. Some are more like pale imitations of Forsyth. Robert Ludlum, the author of the “Jason Bourne” books among many others, falls somewhere in between. His books follow the Forsyth pattern of strong, formidable, often reluctant heros who have few equals going up against large organizations that are corrupt, evil and destructive, with sweeping descriptions of exotic locales and plenty… READ MORE
