Tom's Mad Blog
March 28th, 2021 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: When is the “Virtual Artist’s Alley” comic con table you are doing right now going to end? A: I’m glad you asked that question! It ends at 5 pm CDT TODAY! That leaves only a few more hours to get one of my comic-con exclusive type commissions and order merchandise with FREE domestic shipping! So what are you waiting for, you putz? A furshlugginer invitation? Stop by my virtual table ASAP! Thanks to A.E. Neuman 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
March 27th, 2021 | Posted in General
It’s day two of my “Virtual Artist’s Alley” table, being held this weekend in lieu of the cancelled/postponed C2E2 and Wondercon (I forgot that one was also supposed to be this weekend). The above is an example of one of the kinds of commissions that I only do at conventions, live or virtual. It’s a “mock” MAD cover, done with brush pens and copic markers on a 9×12 piece of bristol paper with the MAD logo professionally printed just like a real cover. You get to art direct your own MAD cover! It can feature you, or characters from your favorite movie, TV show, or… READ MORE
March 26th, 2021 | Posted in News
Since no one can be at C2E2 in Chicago this weekend, I’m doing another of my “Virtual Artist’s Alley” booth events during the original 2021 C2E2 dates. That’s this weekend! I have all the stuff I usually sell at comic cons, including a lot of EXCLUSIVE commission stuff I ONLY do at comic cons. Visit here for all the details! Ends on Sunday at 5:00 pm CDT! READ MORE
March 25th, 2021 | Posted in Illustration Throwback Thursday
I did these spot illustrations for Cleveland Magazine back in 2011 for a story on oddball events in the city that year. They included a zombie bike race, a concession called “Slaphots” where you got a shot of booze and a slap across the face, and a very expensive foodie buffet. I found my pencil sketches for them as well. READ MORE
March 24th, 2021 | Posted in Classic Rock Sketch Series
I’m going back to my “Classic Rock” sketch subjects with this one of the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain! As always, the original is available in the Studio Store. READ MORE
March 23rd, 2021 | Posted in News
This Friday March 26th was supposed to be the start of the big three day 2021 C2E2 comic con, but it has of course been cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic. It’s been rescheduled for Dec 10-12, and we’ll see if shows like this are back to being allowed by then. Let’s hope so. I’m hoping I can make it if they do. In the meantime, I am going to do another “Virtual Artist’s Alley” table event on the dates I would have been sitting in a real artist’s alley table at McCormick Place in Chicago. Like the ones I did last year, I’ll be… READ MORE
March 22nd, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
We continue the agonizingly slow chronological crawl through my MAD work with a look at my 18th job for the magazine, a movie parody of the second “Harry Potter” film, written by my CLAPTRAP cohort Desmond Devlin. that appeared in MAD #424, Dec 2002. I remember this job being a pretty big deal for me, because we in the Richmond household were big fans of the Harry Potter books. We used to read them to the kids when we put them to bed each night, and then we’d go downstairs and keep reading them. So, when I got the call to do this movie spoof… READ MORE
March 21st, 2021 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: What do you think of courtroom sketches? Here in the UK, artists are not allowed to draw in the courtroom, and must draw from memory. Could you render a scene from memory, quickly, and with recognisable likenesses? How would you approach the task, if you were required to do it? A: I have no familiarity or experience with courtroom sketching. I know a couple of artists who do it as a side gig, but they are allowed to draw in the courtroom as the proceedings take place. I don’t know of anyone who does it as you describe, having to work from memory after leaving… READ MORE
