Tom's Mad Blog
June 24th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I have a question for your blog site about MAD artists. I have heard there are two kinds. Those younger artists who grew up reading MAD and the older ones who first drew for MAD (could not read it as a youngster as it did not exist). Can you comment on these types and do you think there is a difference between what a newer artist can contribute as a result of “growing up” on MAD? A: Well, it’s like they say… there’s nothing like the original. I think the early generation of MAD artists were no less than trail blazers and giants in… READ MORE
June 23rd, 2007 | Posted in News
The iPhone hasn’t even come out yet before the copycat rip-offs start appearing. Here’s a YouTube video of one such device: There are several things about this video that I find hilarious. First, it’s very accurate in regards to the opening of the package, as the ‘owner’ briefly glances at each piece and tosses it aside, including the manual, before turning on the device and pressing buttons. Nobody ever reads the manual! Second, even though there is an Apple logo (sometimes backwards) and the OS X look to the interface, when the device is turned on you hear the Windows chimes! I still can’t call… READ MORE
June 23rd, 2007 | Posted in News
Image courtesy of www.editorialcartoonists.com The annual Association of American Editorial Cartoonists is having their 50th anniversary convention next month, and it looks to be quite an event as usual. It’s being held at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C. on July 4th -7th. Like always, it’s chock full of speakers and panel discussions with titles like “What’s so Funny About War?” or “What Do You Mean You’re Not Animating Yet?”. They also usually con one of their targets into being the keynote speaker… this year is Democratic presidential candidate and veggie lover Dennis Kucinich. I don’t know how they do that. The convention was here… READ MORE
June 22nd, 2007 | Posted in On the Drawing Board
I haven’t done one of these for a while, mainly because it’s so boring to post what I’m working on but no images due to client confidentiality. Oh well, things are beginning to pile up a bit in the studio: Scholastic- Full page illustration to accompany an article for their “Dynamath” magazine. This one’s a take-off on “High School Musical”. CD Cover– Sort of. It’s actually for an virtual CD cover to accompany a collection of Sherlock Holmes audiobooks for Audible and other downloads. I should be able to post pencils and that image when I’m done with it, as well as a link to… READ MORE
June 21st, 2007 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
A little less ambitious than “Sketch O’The Day“. Here’s a quick study of Ed O’Neill from his “Married… with Children” days. I saw in the news that this is the 20th anniversary of the show. Back in “the day” I penciled 20 some issues of a comic based on the show for NOW Comics. I posted a while back about those days, but sometime in the future I’ll post some more stories. I drew the actors so many times I think I could pull off a decent caricature of any of them out of my head to this day. I could probably draw the living… READ MORE
June 20th, 2007 | Posted in General
I have been traveling a lot this spring to my different theme park operations, working with new artists far more than I have in the past few years due to a set of unusual circumstances. I both enjoy it and find it exhausting and frustrating, but always rewarding. I never fail to learn something myself, if nothing more than a better way of explaining some concept for new artists to grasp. Live caricaturing is a unique and challenging art form. Part cartooning, part illustration, part performance and part gestural drawing, it can seem complex and intimating to the rookie artist. In fact there are two… READ MORE
June 19th, 2007 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Back in February I posted a few video links to some animated Don Martin cartoons. In it I mentioned a MAD TV special from 1974(ish… that is in dispute) that never aired. As the story goes the TV genius who commissioned the show wasn’t very familiar with MAD, and he and the network were surprised by the tone and adult nature of the humor and did not air the completed show. I wrote the following: Speaking of MAD TV specials (not the sketch comedy show), apparently there exists a never aired, 30 minute MAD TV Special pilot from the mid 1970s. This special was supposedly… READ MORE
June 18th, 2007 | Posted in General
Alice and Roger Armstrong in 2000 On Thursday, June the 9th, the world of cartooning lost a talented and well loved artist named Roger Armstrong at the age of 89 to natural causes. Roger was so accomplished in so many areas it’s hard to make a list. He worked on comic books for Warner Brothers, Disney and others, did animation and illustration for Walter Lantz, worked on many syndicated comic strips including Little Lulu and Disney’s Scamp, and many other cartooning endeavors. That list in no way actually describes Roger’s body of work. He was also a world class watercolorist and art teacher, who’s work… READ MORE
