Tom's Mad Blog
July 12th, 2006 | Posted in News
The 2006 legislative session will have a bill before called the “Orphan Works Act” , specifically H.R. 5439, that should (and is) creating uproar in the world of illustration, art, photography, and other intellectual and creative property field. Internet giants like Google are lobbying hard for the act to be passed, because it represents a huge sum of money in savings to publishers and media who use copyrighted materials for their businesses, especially on the Internet. To sum up the Orphan Works Act, it would provide anyone the legal right to use an image, artwork or certain??ᬨ‚Ćother intellectual properties simply because they could not find… READ MORE
July 11th, 2006 | Posted in General
I work out of a studio in my home, and people often ask me how that “works for me”. The quick answer is that it works fine but presents it’s own challenges. I am never away from the office, and that makes it difficult to relax with the family, especially if I have a number of projects going at once. It always seems like work is beckoning me down to the basement. That one just takes some getting used to. On the other hand, I don’t have to waste time traveling to and from the studio, unless you count the stairs. I can also work… READ MORE
July 10th, 2006 | Posted in MAD Magazine
I have gotten a lot of positive comments about a three page job I did in MAD #467 a month or so ago called “Rejected Characters from CARS”. The article consisted of 15 cars ala the Pixar film that didn’t make the cut as characters for the movie because they were deemed too “kid un-friendly”. The writer on the piece was Jacob Lambert. Most of those commenting pointed out that the art I did for this job was quite different from my usual ink-and-color work. Usually my work for MAD is penciled and inked on board in the traditional manner, then scanned in and colored… READ MORE
July 9th, 2006 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: What kind of art materials do you use? A: That depends on the job. For MAD work, I use Strathmore 3 or 4 ply Bristol with a kid (rough) finish for the paper. I do the pencil drawing??ᬨ‚Ćwith a mechanical lead holder, using “HB” or “F” 2mm leads. I ink with both a dip pen and brushes. Most of the time I use a Gillott 303 pen nib, but sometimes change up to??ᬨ‚Ća Gillott 659 or a Hunt 107. For brushes I use Winsor & Newton red sables, #2, 3 or 5 for the big areas. I use Pelican’s Drawing Ink A for the… READ MORE
July 8th, 2006 | Posted in General
This review contains spoilers! I finally found the time to see Superman Returns while visiting the St. Louis area. It’s always interesting seeing a film that I have already drawn a parody of for MAD, which as I mentioned earlier I had done. I also mentioned I would rather wait and see the film before drawing the parody. No exceptions here. Overall I liked the movie. I’ve heard mixed reviews of the film from various sources, many complaining that it drags in many places and is boring. It’s not bang-bang action from moment one, but I hardly thought it dragged or was boring. I don’t… READ MORE
July 6th, 2006 | Posted in General
This is a bit I have borrowed (okay, stolen) from Mark Evanier’s News from Me. Whenever Mark is too busy with work to??ᬨ‚Ćwrite in his blog, he posts a picture of a Campbell’s Soup can. This apparently is the universal symbol for “can’t talk now, too busy”. The bane of this blog will be freelance job deadlines, which leap seemingly out of nowhere and wreak havoc until I have chased them down and beaten them into submission. I’m on a trip starting today for my park in St. Louis, so technically this isn’t a deadline but a lack of internet access and time preventing a… READ MORE
July 6th, 2006 | Posted in General
After nearly 20 years of drawing caricatures at theme parks and running the show daily out there every summer full time, I went into theme park ‘semi-retirement’ a few years ago. Between my increasing frequency of doing MAD jobs and my other clients and freelance projects, it was becoming impossible to devote the kind of time and attention needed to run one of these operations properly. The last 5 seasons or so I have had a manager out at my park in Minnesota, and my role has been regulated to just the business end of things, teaching the new artists the techniques we use and… READ MORE
July 5th, 2006 | Posted in General
I was contacted a few years ago by an energetic young naval officer by the name of Daniel Kinske, who wanted to commission me to do an illustration for a book he was working on. The story behind this book, and the unique and terrific end result is a worth a look. “Memories of a Munchkin” is an autobiography of a gentleman named Mienhardt Raabe, assisted by Lt. Dan (can’t resisit calling him that!). Mr. Raabe is one of the last surviving cast members of the Wizard of Oz, specifically of the Munchkins. He played the munchkin coroner. Lt. Dan met Mr. Raabe and decided… READ MORE
