Tom's Mad Blog
July 28th, 2006 | Posted in Tutorials
I was hoping to put together a step by step tutorial of my digital coloring technique for MAD while working on this “Hell’s Kitchen” parody, but it has become obvious to me that a real tutorial will take a great deal of time to compile. I tend to paint areas in spurts and often render background elements completely before laying in flat foreground color, and that makes it hard to follow. Also, it’s apparent to me that I will have to use screen captures to demonstrate palettes, selections and brushes in order to illustrate the steps fully, rather than just saving the image itself as… READ MORE
July 27th, 2006 | Posted in MAD Magazine
As promised, here is a scan of the inked version of the section of the splash page I had previously posted in pencil form: When comparing the two, you can see where I added to??ᬨ‚Ćand changed the drawing while inking. That all goes back to what I said before about the necessity of drawing while inking, and not just mechanically tracing the pencils. I changed his nose somewhat, added texture and more??ᬨ‚Ćdisarray to his hair, fleshed out some of the backgrounds and other??ᬨ‚Ćdetails and used both crosshatching and a little bit of a wash to add some values. I am coloring the piece so a… READ MORE
July 26th, 2006 | Posted in General
Can’t blog today, I’ve got inky fingers. I will scan the same image from “Hell’s Kitchen” in the after the ink stage tomorrow, so reader’s can track the progress. If I can I’ll do a tutorial with the image on the color process. In the meantime…. READ MORE
July 25th, 2006 | Posted in MAD Magazine
As promised, here is a quick peek??ᬨ‚Ćof part of??ᬨ‚Ćthe pencil rough for the MAD “Hell’s Kitchen” parody. This is a “reality” show that starts with 12 contestants all trying to be the last chef standing??ᬨ‚Ćto win their own resturant in Las Vegas. This is a caricature of the main antagonist, head chef Gordon Ramsey. He is a very interesting guy, very magnetic and highly volitile. He makes the show pretty entertaining. He also has a face that a caricaturist would salivate over… a heavy brow, craggy features and a nose like a potato glued to his face. This one is much better than my first… READ MORE
July 24th, 2006 | Posted in MAD Magazine
So far I have managed to enter something in this blog almost every day since it’s inception, although an argument can be made as to if I actually had anything to say all those days… but I digress. This little recurring feature, entitled “On the Drawing Board” will give visitors a look at some of the projects I’ve got in progress, complete with some images of the roughs or various other stages. Right now I have three jobs in the works: The Ralph Nader vs. GM images for the Museum of Tort Law– I just finished the color comps for this job. Not much to… READ MORE
July 23rd, 2006 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Q: How do I break into MAD? A: If you want to break into MAD, the easiest way is with a grappling hook, 50 feet of rope, a glass cutter and suction cups. You can bribe your way in on Wednesdays with home baked cookies offered to Dick DeBartolo. Seriously, getting into MAD is notoriously hard to do, but it isn’t quite the impenetrable fortress it was in the 70’s and 80’s. Back then MAD had their legendary freelancers in their prime, and there was frankly very little work they had in the magazine that one of their established and well known “Usual Gang of… READ MORE
July 22nd, 2006 | Posted in News
As long as we’re on the subject of cartoonist events…. Last year in September I was one of several guest speakers at a festival in a little, sleepy town in Missouri named Marceline. The event was called “Toonfest” and it’s presence in Marceline was because Walt Disney had called this charming little town his home for about 5 years, from age 4-9. Other guest speakers that year included Gary and Glenn McCoy, Jim Borgman (Zits), Tom Wilson Jr. (Ziggy), Charles Solomon (animation and cartoon critic) and Tony Bancroft (Disney VP of Imagineering). The people of Marceline welcomed us with open arms and the festival was… READ MORE
July 21st, 2006 | Posted in News
I mentioned before that I am a member of the National Cartoonists Society, a 60 year old organization of professional cartoonists. The NCS also has local chapters throughout the country, and I belong to the North Central Chapter. Since the mid-west is apparently no man’s land for cartoonists, our chapter easily covers the largest geographical area: Minnesota, Iowa, the Dakotas, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado. While most chapters are only one state (and in some cases one area like Long Island’s “Berndt Toast Gang”) and get togther monthly for a meal and some fun, it’s difficult to get us all together in the North Central.… READ MORE
