Tom's Mad Blog
July 15th, 2006 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Whenever I meet someone who knows that I do work for MAD, I invariably get asked two questions. The first one is “Do they still publish that rag?”. The second is “How do you do the movie/TV parodies?”. Actually that question is usually phrased as a series of questions including “do you get to see the movie ahead of time?”, “does MAD provide you with pictures/copies of the film?”, “do you write the gags?”, and my personal favorite: “can you tell me where the bathroom is?” Over the next few days I will go through the process of doing a job for MAD from beginning… READ MORE
July 14th, 2006 | Posted in General
Back in 1997 I was introduced via an on-line mail list (sort of a first generation message forum) for caricaturists to an organization called the National Caricaturist Network (aka the NCN). The NCN in those days was a loose-knit trade association consisting of about 200-250 professional caricaturists from all around the United States. To become a member you had to demonstrate you were a professional caricaturist, either of the party/gig or theme park ilk, and of course pay your dues which I think were all of $40.00 a year. Members received their quarterly newsletter, “Exaggerated Features“, which was a tabloid sized, 20 plus page publication… READ MORE
July 14th, 2006 | Posted in General
I don’t usually post a lot of links to other blogs and websites, so when??ᬨ‚ĆI do it’s because I really think the content is worth checking out. Of course the links on my blogroll on the right are always worth checking out, but I have two that I recently visited that are worth a look-see.??ᬨ‚Ć First, If you are a comic book fan, Comics101.com is a great site full of pop culture and comics related writings, articles and blogs. Check out the “Special Guest Lecturer” section where there are a lot of fun articles on comics in general. A good friend of mine and a… READ MORE
July 13th, 2006 | Posted in General
Last night I went to see “Superman Returns” again with a good friend, this time at the local Imax, where 20 minutes of the footage was in 3-D. First off, I have mixed feelings about the 3-D moments in the film. In some respects the depth of field made the 3-D scenes even more dynamic. The plane crash scene was especially cool in 3-D, as were parts of the half-ship rescue. Maybe it was just me, but the scenes seemed darker, and the focus was fuzzy enough to make the action harder to follow. Those are probably necessary evils with the technology, but I still… READ MORE
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
