Tom's Mad Blog
October 30th, 2006 | Posted in General
As promised, here are some pictures and details of the finished Superman costume. These were taken in a dark nightclub on Saturday night, where Anna and I went to meet some friends and fellow caricaturists. I had a lot more pictures but many were just so blurry I couldn’t post them. Some of the artists we met there had some great costumes, and I don’t have pictures of everybody. Too bad. Me in the Supersuit… a little bulgy in places. Heather and Wade as Peg and Al Bundy Zack Wallenfang as Steve Irwin My ravishing wife Anna as Kryptonite!! Kelly and Jim Hungaski as a… READ MORE
October 29th, 2006 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I’ve been looking everywhere for the materials you mentioned in your inking tutorial. Where can I get Gillott nibs and that stuff? A: Few if any art stores carry anything but a few token inking supplies, mostly in the form of “Cartooning Kits”. Ecccch. Thank goodness for the internet. Here are some sources for inking supplies: Gillot Pen nibs: Tough to find these in the US. You have to order them from overseas, and that’s expensive. But, if you have to have them, try: Scribblers (UK) John Neal Booksellers There are others but these are under $1.00 US each. If you look elsewhere, usually… READ MORE
October 28th, 2006 | Posted in On the Drawing Board
I’m finally getting some projects out the door here at the end of the week. Here’s a couple finals of some little jobs: Workplace poster: I don’t think this one will be winning any awards or anything, but it gets the message across. I changed the figure that was bothering me and adjusted the sizes of some of the heads. I left the main guy with the wheelbarrow bigger than the others as a kind of exaggeration for humorous effect… sometimes cheating the perspective or the relative sizes of objects and people creates better focus on the important aspects of an image. This is my… READ MORE
October 27th, 2006 | Posted in General
I mentioned in a few posts a while back that, at certain points in the process of a job, I listen to audiobooks in my studio via my iPod. As I also mentioned, I can only listen to audiobooks I have either already read or have listened to before. This is because I cannot devote the kind of attention necessary to follow every word and action in the book… I have to be able to zone in and out just a little or it would be a distraction rather than a way to stay focused and on task. A while back someone in a comment… READ MORE
October 26th, 2006 | Posted in General
It seems like ever since I was in art school, the rumors of the death of commercial illustration as a career and a viable market have been numerous and unending. They still are. Organizations like the Illustrators Partnership and the Graphic Artists Guild have been rallying against various issues that have adversely affected the ability of illustrators to make a living and/or have hurt the illustration market in general. Some things are inevitable and beyond anyone’s control, and some are being thrust upon illustrators and their market… and some are us shooting ourselves in the foot. Even as early as 20 years ago, when I… READ MORE
October 25th, 2006 | Posted in General
In honor of Halloween’s approach, I thought I’d share this story. When ever we have guests at the house they are inevitably shown into my studio for a look around. It’s full of fun and cool stuff, so there’s a lot to look at. The one object that gets their attention initially is always the same, however. No, it’s not the original Al Hirschfeld, nor the original Mort Drucker. It’s not the original Sebastian Krüger, either… not the Twins bobbleheads, or the shelves of old Batman toys, or even the Shakespeare bust with the flip-up head. It’s always: “Where did you get that Batman statue?!”… READ MORE
October 24th, 2006 | Posted in On the Drawing Board
Very busy with several jobs right now but here are the pencil roughs for two in the works: Workplace poster job: Yet another one of these, but they are always fun and the Marlin Co. is a great client. I am unhappy with the figure on the left handing the deposit slip to the teller… he is very awkward and stiff looking. I’ll have to play with that one. Personal commission: This is the President of the Minneapolis Club, who is retiring this year. This is technically a print job for his “retirement brochure” (whatever that is), but he wants the original so it’s more… READ MORE
October 23rd, 2006 | Posted in General
I know… I’m too busy to blog today. I had to post this link to a post on the outstanding blog of writer Mark Evanier. I am envious he was actually on hand Saturday evening at the Comic Art Professional Society‘s dinner honoring Jack Davis, which was the subject of this post of mine last week. I wish I could have been there. Follow the first link above to read Mark’s report on the evening. I knew about the secret plans to also honor Sergio, as CAPS president Chad Frye quietly asked for artists to do their version of Groo for a book to be… READ MORE
