Tom's Mad Blog
December 12th, 2006 | Posted in General
I have long arms so developing my chest has always been a struggle. It still lags behind other body parts like arms and shoulders. I am also not very strong on movements like bench press, so the weights are not as heavy as I can do for other muscle groups. Here is my current chest workout. Again, this is a strength/power routine: Chest Day Flat Bench Press- 4 sets x 6 reps: I actually prefer to do these with dumbbells but in this routine we were trying to go too heavy for dumbbells. Load your bar with an appropriate weight on a flat press bench.… READ MORE
December 11th, 2006 | Posted in General
Last week I mentioned periodization as a central concept to successful weight training. Briefly, it means changing your routines often in terms of exercises and target muscle fibers in order to avoid your body becoming used to the routines and no longer responding to them by getting bigger, stronger or both. This week I will be detailing my current workout program, which will be changing shortly. Right now I am at the tail end of a short power and strength routine, which will be followed by a hypertrophy (size gaining)/ strength hybrid workout. I’ll use this as a transition to a longer hypertrophy workout program… READ MORE
December 11th, 2006 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
No caricature of anyone in particular here… just goofing around: READ MORE
December 10th, 2006 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I was wondering how do you design your background characters? I’ve noticed that you occasionally use real people as secondary characters in your illustrations. Is there a reason? A: I’ve learned a lot from MAD art director Sam Viviano in the 6 years I’ve been regularly working with MAD, but if I had to pick one thing he told me that helped me the most, it would be the advice that provides the answer to that question. Sam told me that great cartoonists create a coherent, believable world with their art. It’s the world seen through their eyes, and in it all objects, people… READ MORE
December 9th, 2006 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Better late than never today. After watching the movie last night I couldn’t resist having another try at Daniel Craig: The guy has a great face to draw! It looks like it was chiseled out of granite. READ MORE
December 9th, 2006 | Posted in General
I finally saw Casino Royale last night with the lovely Anna. I could probably be categorized as a little more than a casual 007 fan, although certainly no where near “Trekkie” level (sorry… TrekkER). Still I am a fan of the movie series and was greatly looking forward to seeing the new film. The problem with seeing a movie like this one so late after it’s opening is that the hype and word of mouth can be hard to live up to. I had heard nothing but good things about this film… “Best Bond in decades, maybe ever!”, “Daniel Craig is the best Bond since… READ MORE
December 8th, 2006 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
My wife Anna‘s favorite movie star, Audrey Hepburn: READ MORE
December 8th, 2006 | Posted in On the Drawing Board
Currently still working (slowly) on a TV parody for MAD, poster job for Marlin Co., still waiting on feedback from the Ralph Nader museum job, and the cover job. Not much new to show, but here is the rough draft of the cover illustration: This cover may not happen as a final. Sometimes designer/publishers of magazines pay to develop more than one concept and offer choices to the client. We agreed on a price up to this stage, and another if we go to final. This particular client isn’t sure they want a ‘cartoon’ cover, although I intend to paint this one instead of doing… READ MORE
