Richmond Illustration Inc.

Tom's Mad Blog

Uhhh, did I say “Later Today”??…

November 14th, 2006 | Posted in General

I meant tomorrow…. READ MORE

Je suis retourn?¬© de Paris

November 14th, 2006 | Posted in General

I’ll be writing about the trip later today, after I get a few jobs caught up. I spent a little time being jet lagged early this morning and fixing up the “Marketing Yourself as a Freelancer” post from yesterday. I wrote it in a ripping hurry before leaving for the trip, and it was riddled with typos and missing information I had intended on including. So, if that subject is one you are interested in, if might behoove you to re-read it. Sorry about that. Uh, I mean Je suis int?¬©ress?¬© par ce sujet. READ MORE

Marketing Yourself as a Freelancer

November 13th, 2006 | Posted in Freelancing

Some time back I wrote a long winded answer to the commonly asked question: How do I get started as a freelancer? One of the points I touched on was self promotion, or how to get your work out in front of people who would want to use it. Freelancing itself is a scary way to make a living. There is no comfortable, bi-weekly paycheck to count on. You often do not know how much income to expect from month to month. That’s a hard way to pay the rent, let alone raise a family. The biggest problem with freelancing is figuring out how to… READ MORE

Sunday Mailbag

November 12th, 2006 | Posted in Mailbag

Q: What is the usual amount of panels that you draw without getting sloppy? And more randomly, What is your favorite movie? A: A two for one! I don’t fully understand the first question, but it seems to me you are asking how long I can work before I get tired and the work suffers. The answer is anywhere between 30 seconds and 30 hours. When I am drawing I can get sloppy or lose concentration at any time. That is when I have to get up and go do something else for a little while. Usually I go upstairs and get something to eat/drink… READ MORE

“Lost” in Thought

November 11th, 2006 | Posted in General

I finally got a chance to catch up on “LOST” last night. That meant watching last week’s episode from the TIVO and then this week’s “live”. Regular readers might remember me rambling about the season premiere a month or so ago, where I questioned if the show was going anywhere or if it was meandering around trying to draw things out without any appreciable plot advancements. First off, what the hell is a “Fall Finale“??? I have never heard of that. The next scheduled new episode of LOST will air on February 7th, 2007… ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? We have had a total of five… READ MORE

Three Nights in Paris!

November 10th, 2006 | Posted in General

No, I haven’t left Anna for a weekend with hotel heiress Paris Hilton. Paris won’t return my phone calls. Actually, I’d be afraid if I got too close to her Paris might fatally stab me with one of her shoulder blades anyway. Nope. As a gift for Anna’s 40th birthday (and our 18th anniversary) I arranged a long weekend trip to Paris just for the two of us. We’ll be dining at some incredible restaurants, seeing some museums and famous sights, and hanging out with long-time MAD artist Rick Tulka, and his wife Brenda. Rick and Brenda moved to Paris over 10 years ago from… READ MORE

On the Drawing Board

November 9th, 2006 | Posted in On the Drawing Board

Without a MAD job on the board, I’m actually getting caught up on a bunch of jobs. Here are the finals of the “Nader vs. GM” project for the American Museum of Tort Law. These final images will be printed at the outrageous size of 36″ x 60″. Each ‘page’ has areas that will contain inset elements like an actual copy of Ralph Nader‘s “Unsafe at Any Speed” book, newspaper articles, informational text and video monitors. Thus there are ‘dead spaces’ and unfinished areas to accommodate these separate elements. I expect a final round of revisions on this, as Nader has had comments all along… READ MORE

What a Guy

November 8th, 2006 | Posted in General

A few weeks ago I wrote a short article about the great Jack Davis on the eve of this receiving yet another award for his brilliant work and career. This one came from the Comic Art Professional Society, and part of the festivities included the presentation of a book made up of tribute drawings for Jack by admiring and grateful cartoonists, myself included. A week or so after the event I received a booklet entitled “Jack Davis: A CAPS Tribute” in the mail which must have served as the evening’s program. Among other contents it had a terrific article/bio of Jack by long-time MAD editor… READ MORE