Richmond Illustration Inc.

Tom's Mad Blog

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

Bart Visits MAD

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

Dick De’s MAD Tour

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

Sunday Mailbag

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

Some New Self Marketing

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

Dud The Lousy Hunter

May 11th, 2007 | Posted in MAD Magazine

As promised, here’s a quick sneak peek at some of the art from the parody of “DOG the Bounty Hunter” in this month’s MAD: Pencil roughs of the splash page. Click image for a closer look Final colored art. Click image for a closer look A few panels from the parody… Surprisingly I rather enjoyed the show itself. You have to admire a man who places so much emphasis on his family and God as “Dog” does… even if the people he’s chasing are about as dangerous as your average librarian. TV also works magic on making someone look bigger than life… DOG looks like… READ MORE

On the Stands: MAD #478

May 10th, 2007 | Posted in MAD Magazine

In comic book shops today and on newsstands on Tuesday, May 15th: MAD # 478 (June 2007) Cover (Mark Frederickson) The Fundalini Pages (Charles Akins, John Caldwell, Paul Coker, Dick DeBartolo, Desmond Devlin, Darren Johnson, Jeff Kruse, Jacob Lambert, Glen LeLievre, Kevin Pope, Irving Schild, Jack Syracuse, Jason Yungbluth) Lewd and Disorder: It’s P.U. (Arnie Kogen, Mort Drucker) Rejected Army Recruitment Posters (Jacob Lambert, Irving Schild) 10 Ways to Liven Up the National Spelling Bee (Jeff Kruse, Paul Coker) MAD’s Vemonous Outtakes from “Spider-Man 3” (Uncredited) Monroe and… Cruelty Free (Anthony Barbieri, Tom Fowler) The Average 5th Grader Knows… (J. Prete, Peter Bagge) A MAD… READ MORE