Tom's Mad Blog
September 27th, 2006 | Posted in General
Looks like my new Mac Pro is finally coming around. After two re-installs of OS X the firmware update that kept hanging and crashing the computer finally took. It is important to note I did nothing different on tries number one and two, which resulted in my DVD drive drawer popping open and the computer freezing, than I did on successful try number three. It’s a little scary that the AppleCare people just shrugged their shoulders and said “well, it’s working now, so… no problem”. Seems to me there is a problem when apparently dumb luck is the only discernible reason for the solution of… READ MORE
September 26th, 2006 | Posted in General
You knew it was coming….. READ MORE
September 25th, 2006 | Posted in General
Well, it finally happened. This morning I am coloring happily along in PhotoShop when the blue screen of death pops up on my PC monitor. For the most part Windows XP is a very stable OS and I sometimes go weeks without rebooting, but this one was bad. I instantly lost all the work I had been doing as the computer began dumping physical memory to reboot. Unfortunately it went downhill from there. Apparently my Dell workstation uses a hard drive configuration called “RAID”, which as I understand it is for drive mirroring and server/data security. I don’t need those things, but they came with… READ MORE
September 24th, 2006 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: What materials do you use to do your live caricatures? A: I don’t do a lot of live caricature anymore, but when I do I’m still using the same basic materials I have for the last 20 plus years. Paper: I buy large quantities of paper for the theme park operations, so I use a special paper that is difficult to get in an art store. It’s an bristol vellum, bright white, 12 x 16 inches and 67 lb weight. That’s a good, heavyweight paper without being a cardstock. It is smoother on one side than the other, so I can use the rough… READ MORE
September 23rd, 2006 | Posted in General
Eighteen years ago today I married my best friend, the love of my life and luckily a woman with very low standards in men, Anna Voss. We are celebrating tonight with a fancy dinner out. 18 years has gone by in the blink of an eye. I’m a very lucky man. As much as I’d like to write about my lovely wife and the wonderful years we’ve shared, there is something else I need to write about today. Last year on this day Anna and I also celebrated our anniversary with a fancy dinner out. Unfortunately we spent most of it staring into our plates… READ MORE
September 22nd, 2006 | Posted in MAD Magazine
As promised, some of the pencils from my upcoming parody of “Grey’s Anatomy” in MAD: I’ll post a sneak peek of some of the finished panels next week when it’s “in the can”. In the meantime, back to work!!! READ MORE
September 21st, 2006 | Posted in On the Drawing Board
Things are getting crazy in the studio. After finishing the pencil roughs (and I mean ROUGHS) for the “Gray’s Anatomy” parody for MAD, I just had time to ink and color the Scholastic illustration and ink the poster job before approvals came in from MAD. Haven’t touched the Nader finals yet. Hoo boy. Here’s the final art for the Scholastic job. If the colors look garish and without a lot of contrast, it’s because I did it on purpose. The Scholastic publication this will appear in is printed on uncoated stock, and that causes the ink to soak into the paper. As a result, colors… READ MORE
September 20th, 2006 | Posted in General
When I was a kid, the only thing I wanted to do when I grew up was draw Batman comics. I might have settled for Superman or the Flash, but Batman would have been the coolest. Like many kids I would spend hours in my basement drawing my own comics… I can honestly say a love for Batman and comic books is what started me drawing and developed my love of cartooning. Later the focus of my art would take a turn to the humorous, and drawing comic books wasn’t really in the plan anymore, but I still retained a love for them. Imagine my… READ MORE
