Tom's Mad Blog
October 20th, 2006 | Posted in General
I mentioned in an earlier post that I was bringing some work with me on this trip to Orlando. I’ve gotten some of it done but as usual less than I was hoping I would. I might still get some more done on our last two days. It may seem counterproductive to bring work along on a vacation, but I learned long ago that sometimes doing so makes the vacation more relaxing than to leave the work to pile up at home. Yes, it can suck to have work along, but by bringing SOME of it along I avoid two things that can really ruin… READ MORE
October 19th, 2006 | Posted in General
Drawing for MAD isn’t exactly doing Batman for DC or Spider-Man for Marvel, so I am hardly on anybody’s short list of special guests at comic book conventions. In fact, the few times I have appeared at them, the typical exchange usually goes: “What do you draw?” “I draw for MAD Magazine” “Oh… can you do a sketch for me?” “Sure, I could draw your caricature… or a picture of Alfred E. Neuman, or…” “Draw a sexy Batgirl with big boobs!!” I go to the Minnesota FallCon every year, but not many other places. Every once and a while I get a gracious invitation to… READ MORE
October 18th, 2006 | Posted in General
Yesterday’s blog post reminded me I have yet to tell people the story of the “Me Gallery” and how it came about. Firstly, if you haven’t yet visited the Me Gallery, take a minute (or several hours) to check it out. It is a huge collection, 192 pieces and counting, of caricatures of me by artists from all over the world. For anyone interested in caricature, it is a very unique study of the infinite diversity the art of caricature can demonstrate via the depiction of a single subject by multiple artists. It originated many years ago as a bit of a joke, but has… READ MORE
October 17th, 2006 | Posted in General
MAD illustrator great and all around terrific guy Rick Tulka brought this to my attention a few days ago. It was done by a fellow caricaturist and NCN member Paul Moyse, and shows the steps of a color airbrushed caricature with me as the subject. I got the final for my “Me Gallery” a while back from Paul, and I had seen this on his website, but did not know he uploaded it for the world to see on YouTube. It’s cool and I thank Paul for the drawing, but what I really wanted to do was post using a nifty new feature with my… READ MORE
October 16th, 2006 | Posted in General
I guess I lied about not blogging while on vacation… but layovers and long flights need to be good for something, right? A few weeks ago I had, and wrote about a major hard drive meltdown on my Dell Precision Workstation PC in the midst of several imminent deadlines. This incident forced me to run out to the local Apple store and buy a Mac Pro. Having used a PC almost exclusively since the days of the 286 Tandy, I was a little apprehensive about switching to a Mac. Not because I did not believe they were good computers, but just because the PC was… READ MORE
October 15th, 2006 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: What do you do if you have no questions to answer for the Sunday Mailbag? A: Exactly what I am doing right now. Nothing! For the first time since I started the blog back in June, I have run out of e-mailed questions. So… no mailbag! If anybody has any questions about freelance illustration, cartooning, caricature, MAD or how to make a kick ass chocolate martini, e-mail them to me and I will endeavor to answer them. READ MORE
October 14th, 2006 | Posted in General
I’m leaving today with Anna and my four kids for our annual trip to Disney World. About ten years ago I did a bizarre but good paying job for a CD-ROM game company called Parody Interactive, and with 4 young kids Anna and I decided to invest the money I earned on the job into a timeshare in Orlando. We’ve been every year since. We have a picture of our kids standing in front of Cinderella’s fountain in the Magic Kingdom every year for a decade… an annual tradition. The fountain looks the same in every picture, but my youngest was 6 months old in… READ MORE
October 13th, 2006 | Posted in MAD Magazine
I haven’t posted one of these in a while. I’ve been busy with computer crashes, conventions, chapter meetings and such, but that doesn’t stop the deadlines and jobs coming and going. Here’s what I’ve been working on lately: Nader Museum Job– Yep, still working on that but it is horribly late now. I was hoping to have it inked and colored by tomorrow but it looks like inked is all it will be. I may have to color it while in Orlando next week. I’ll post the finished job when done, but I have to tell you it will be hard to recognize it as… READ MORE
