Tom's Mad Blog
May 23rd, 2021 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: When you worked at Six Flags Great America, did you ever have a customer so deeply touched by his or her caricature that they actually shed a tear? A: Well, I did make a few people cry with my caricatures… but not for the reason you mentioned. Thanks to David Strickler for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here! READ MORE
May 21st, 2021 | Posted in General
And now for something completely different… here’s a pretty obscure commission request. You’ll only recognize this one is you’ve seen the movie “Chappie” or you are into the South African hip-hop scene. This “mock MAD cover” commission from my last “Virtual Artist’s Alley” event features the music duo “Die Antwoord” from the movie “Chappie”. Brush pens and Copic markers on bristol. READ MORE
May 20th, 2021 | Posted in Illustration Throwback Thursday
Back in 2012 writer and entrepreneur Ryan Sohmer hired me to do the cover illustration for the third Omnibus collection of his feature Gutters. Gutters was a webcomic that spoofed the comics industry and characters therein. The art for each page was done by a different artist, while Ryan did the writing. It was damn funny stuff. Gutters ran from 2010-2014. Ryan’s company Blind Ferret collected the comic in three huge, hardcover volumes. Each cover spoofed some famous picture or painting. Ryan wanted mine to parody the “V-J Day in Times Square”. I did the pencils/inks and it was wonderfully colored by Ed Ryzowski. I… READ MORE
May 19th, 2021 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Here’s a couple of “live caricature style” commissions I did for my last “Virtual Artists Alley” event. The buyer already had me do a few “Dukes of Hazzard” caricatures for him, so he’s completing the cast with Daisy, Uncle Jesse and Cooter, and Enos and Cletus! The older ones are also below. READ MORE
May 18th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Former president Barack Obama and his family’s Portuguese water dog Bo passed away last week. They got the dog as a puppy shortly after they moved into the White House. I am reluctantly reminded of the first book I ever illustrated for the MAD gang, Bo Confidential: The Secret Files of America’s First Dog. Bo moved into the White House on April 14th of 2009, and he got a LOT of media attention. Naturally the folks at MAD thought that was ridiculous, so they quickly wrote a short book and it was rushed to press… and I mean RUSHED. I got the assignment in late April of… READ MORE
May 17th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
I’m sure you are on the edge of your seat for yet another fascinating episode from our weekly chronological crawl through my work for MAD Magazine. This week’s episode features a spoof of the TLC home improvement show “Trading Spaces”, written by MAD‘s Maddest writer Dick Debartolo, and appearing in MAD #435, November 2003. This was the first of what would be four home improvement/HGTV “reality” show parodies I would draw for MAD, and I believe they did a couple of others drawn by other artists. This always made me scratch my head a bit. There were many really popular TV series that MAD never… READ MORE
May 16th, 2021 | Posted in General
Q: Do you think that going to college for art after high school is necessary or super important? I’ve had some people tell me yes and others say no, but I was curious of what the opinion of someone who has been in the art industry for years would have to say. I would like to go into a career in illustration, whether that be comics, magazines, covers, books, etc. I was planning on applying to college this year in order to go this coming fall, but due to Covid, I decided it would be a better idea to hold off a year and just… READ MORE
May 14th, 2021 | Posted in General
Here’s another of my “Virtual Artist’s Alley” commissions. Having just finished a big corporate job that took nearly 4 weeks to complete, I had to put everything on hold for almost a month. However, I am spending the next few days wrapping up the last few of these I have to do. If you are waiting for one, they should all be shipped by Monday! Then, it’s back to CLAPTRAP. READ MORE
