Tom's Mad Blog
May 19th, 2007 | Posted in General
Only once a generation or so does a comic strip come along that is embraced that it becomes a classic. Peanuts, of course, is the ultimate example but more recently Calvin and Hobbes fits that bill. It was a real shame Bill Watterson quit after only a decade or so of doing it… the art, characters and writing all blended to create something special. Even his “off” days, the ones where the gag was one of those weak ones, were enjoyable. This is via The Daily Cartoonist: This apparently was created as a final project by an Italian film school animator. I’m not sure how… READ MORE
May 18th, 2007 | Posted in It's All Geek to Me!
Back when it was announced, I wrote this article on the upcoming iPhone and how candy-like the appeal would be for it… at least for me. It may be a long time before I look into getting one now. I talked at length with a friend who is as AT&T Wireless store manager about the upcoming iPhone. Under condition of anonymity he told me most AT&T employees are unhappy with Apple and the way they are leaving AT&T on the hook for what is sure to be angry customer backlash over Apple’s handling of the ‘release’ of the gadget. They are not allowed to tell… READ MORE
May 17th, 2007 | Posted in General
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May 16th, 2007 | Posted in General
The next two weeks leading up to Memorial Day weekend are going to be ugly, and I don’t expect to find the time to write too many meaty blog posts. The Dreaded Deadline Demon will probably be making a few appearances. Last week The Lovely Anna and I took a grown-ups night off and went with friends to dinner at Chambers Kitchen in Minneapolis, after which we attended a benefit auction and concert for PACER Center, a local foundation that serves disabled children. Chambers is a new restaurant by famed chef Jean Georges, and dinner was excellent. I am sure Anna will be reviewing our… READ MORE
May 15th, 2007 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Since we are doing video links already this week, here’s one from the Simpson’s episode where the family visits NYC and Bart wanders off to find the MAD offices: I seem to remember hearing about another episdoe (or maybe this same one?) where the MAD offices gets blown up by a missile. Chances are after 9-11 that one won’t be seen on reruns. I couldn’t find that one on YouTube. READ MORE
May 14th, 2007 | Posted in MAD Magazine
MAD has a Myspace page where Alfred posts announcements and info about the latest MAD stuff. On it Dick Debartolo, MAD’s Maddest Writer, posts comments and other stuff, including installments of a “Backstage Tour” of the MAD offices that are now on YouTube: Part One Part Two There is supposed to be a part three done but I have no idea when it will be posted. There isn’t much to the MAD offices, except for some awesome original cover art on the walls. They moved from the 5th floor to the 4th floor of the building that also houses DC Comics, and they lost some… READ MORE
May 13th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I noticed you do a lot of cropping in your work. Now do you do that more dramatic effect or is it for expediency? Will you do many thumbnails to arrive at your final piece? A: I’m not sure what you mean by “cropping”. “Cropping” is where one takes an image and removes some of it around the edges, like matting a photo and hiding some of the photo behind the matte. I don’t usually crop my images, as that is a waste of time. I would not want to spend time drawing and rendering an area of an illustration that would be cropped… READ MORE
May 12th, 2007 | Posted in General
I haven’t done a lot of self promotion in the last few years as I am lucky to have several steady clients that keep me very busy, and I seem to pick up enough other jobs through word of mouth to fill in whatever down time I have. I used to spend thousands for ads in source books like Serbin’s “Directory of Illustration“, but stopped when I was constantly turning down work for lack of time. The problem with that is eventually even the best of client relationships end. Art directors change, the concept and look of publications change, projects end or any of countless… READ MORE
