Tom's Mad Blog
February 22nd, 2007 | Posted in It's All Geek to Me!
With all the hype and attention that the iPhone announcement got last month at Macworld, the introduction of another new Apple product got less limelight than it would otherwise have enjoyed… Apple TV. The Apple TV (formerly known in development as iTv) is a small media box that connects not to your computer but to your living room TV, home theater or wherever you kick off your shoes and stare at a screen for entertainment. It uses the latest flavors of media connections including HDMI, component video, optical audio and analog (2 channel only) audio. It also had an Ethernet socket and built in wifi… READ MORE
February 21st, 2007 | Posted in General
This weekend number one son Tommy and I extended Comic Book Day to become Comic Book Movie Day, as we caught a matinee of “Ghost Rider” starring Nicholas Cage and Eva Mendes. I am only barely familiar with the Ghost Rider character from the comics. I vaguely remember him to be a motorcycle stuntman named Johnny Blaze that was somehow cursed to become the Ghost Rider, a kind of Specter wannabe creature of vengeance. I suspected he was the result of Stan Lee and some of the Marvel boys getting together and thinking a motorcycle rider with a burning skull for a head and chain… READ MORE
February 20th, 2007 | Posted in Freelancing
An art director’s job, as it pertains to illustrators, is to work with an artist to create an image or images for a project, be it to accompany an article in a magazine, illustrate a book, add visuals to an advertisement or a product packaging. Anytime a client needs a piece of art there is almost always an art director (AD) involved. Basically ADs act as a translator for the client. They translate what the client’s needs are into the artist’s visual language. They have several tasks along the way. First they need to find an artist who’s work is what the project and client… READ MORE
February 19th, 2007 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
If there was ever a poster child for the seedy side of becoming famous, she is it. I bought an entertainment mag with Anna Nicole Smith on the cover intending it as reference for this sketch at a train station bookstore. The clerk who rang me up immediately offered me her opinion on the matter. “Double murder”, she says. She’s probably right, but it’s the circus of it all that makes me cringe. READ MORE
February 18th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: What movies have you done the parody art for? A. Do you mean “what movies have you done the parody art for in MAD” or “… for any humor publication”? Before I worked for MAD I did a few parodies for MAD knock-off Cracked Magazine. I don’t have the dates or issue numbers for the Cracked work handy, but here’s the breakdown: Cracked- “God-Hilla” (Godzilla)… also wrote this one “X-creMENt” (X-Men) “Glad-idiot” (Gladiator) MAD- #405 (May 01) “Traff-eccch” (Traffic) #410 (Oct 01) “Lotta Crotch- Bazoom Raider”(Lara Croft- Tomb Raider) #415 (Mar 02) “Behind Empty Lines” (Behind Enemy Lines) #417 (May 02) “The Royal Paininthebums”… READ MORE
February 17th, 2007 | Posted in Freelancing
I received the following e-mail from artist Ernie Kwiat: Every company I work for seems to have a different Work for Hire contract for me to sign. Since I usually am dealing with licensed characters and have no claim to their copyright or trademark, I usually just sign the contracts and hope to get my money. Lately these contracts have been getting more and more objectionable to me. How do you handle them? I’d have used that as a mailbag question but it needs a lot more than a quick answer. It also opens up the opportunity for me to write about the differences between… READ MORE
February 16th, 2007 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Hard to believe pitchers and catchers are reporting to spring training this week. Baseball season is right around the corner. Here is a quick study of Boston Red Sox slugger (and former Minnesota Twin) David Ortiz. Twin’s GM Terry Ryan is a wizard at trades and knowing who to keep and who to let go, but this was one of his few glaring mistakes. READ MORE
February 15th, 2007 | Posted in General
??ᬨ‚Ć To be honest I am not under any pressing deadlines but am just too busy with everything today to get any blogging done. Sorry…. READ MORE
