General
July 3rd, 2012 | Posted in Freelancing
I received this email the other day from a reader: Hi Tom, You are a prolific artist. I was wondering if you could do a blog showing the time-line of your normal work day? I think this might help to explain how you get so much done and what new artists, (including my self), might wish to emulate to achieve more productivity in their own pursuits. Thank you for all your insight. Tom Breitling Thanks for the email, Tom! I thought this would make a good blog article rather than a “Sunday Mailbag”. I can’t really put together a daily “time-line” because there really isn’t… READ MORE
June 28th, 2012 | Posted in General
The National Cartoonists Society Foundation is the charitable arm of the National Cartoonists Society. It officially formed in 2005 from it’s predecessor, the Milt Gross Fund, and several bequests from various cartoonists including David Pascal, Herblock and Toni Mendez, as well as continuing donations and bequests from NCS members, other foundations and supporters. Today the NCSF continues the charitable and educational works the NCS has been well known for, including the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship. Most recently, the NCSF has partnered with the The Kenosha Festival of Cartooning to sponsor their event in September. As a result, the Festival will be adding a silent auction… READ MORE
June 26th, 2012 | Posted in General
I only met the late Mark Cohen once. This was in 1999 at the NCS Reuben Weekend in San Antonio, and before I started doing work for MAD. Mark was a prominent collector of cartoon artwork, and had 9among other things) one of the largest collections of original MAD art on the planet. His collections toured around galleries, and he was a tireless advocate for the cartooning world. I wish I had gotten a chance to get to know him. One of Mark’s more well-known collections was of self-caricatures of cartoonists, of which he was said to have had close to 1,000. In 1998 he… READ MORE
June 22nd, 2012 | Posted in General
If you are a fan of MAD magazine, either past or present, you would behoove yourself to make a regular habit of visiting Doug Gilford‘s MAD cover site. Doug is a great supporter and fan of MAD, and has dedicated a lot of time an effort in cataloging and tracking all things MAD. Not only does he have scans of every MAD cover ever, he has complete lists of the tables of contents of every issue, an exhaustive compiling of every appearance by a MAD contributor (here’s mine), a list of every TV and movie satire that’s ever appeared in the magazine, updated MAD news… READ MORE
June 18th, 2012 | Posted in General
Things might be ugly here for the next week or so. Talk amongst yourselves. READ MORE
June 14th, 2012 | Posted in General
A couple of days ago I mentioned here on Tom’s MAD Blog that I did the art for a parody of the TV show “Breaking Bad” in the latest issue of MAD. Reader Anthony wrote in the comments: Breaking Bad satire?? YAAAAY! Best show, cannot wait to see this. Hey with the satires of big drama serials, do you watch the whole series so far or just the most recent season? The cast and locations change a bit over the course of the four seasons. That’s a good question, and really begs a little examination of how I approach a TV or movie parody in… READ MORE
June 3rd, 2012 | Posted in General
I could not let today go by without reposting this tribute to Bill from a few years ago: William M. “Bill” Gaines, March 1, 1922 – June 3, 1992 Working for MAD is great. The people and staff there really respect the tradition and history of the magazine. However I will always feel that I missed out on something special in that I never met or knew Bill Gaines. I started for MAD about 8 years after Bill’s passing. While MAD has of course continued since his death a chapter of it’s history closed on June 3rd, 1992. In his time as publisher I’ve heard… READ MORE
May 31st, 2012 | Posted in General
One of the highlights of the NCS Reueben Weekend was that advanced copies of the soon-to-be-released Team Cul de Sac book were floating about for all to see. For those who are not familiar, the TCDS book is a collection of illustrations from hundreds of cartoonists honoring the work of the great Richard Thompson and his brilliant comic strip Cul de Sac, and raising mony for Parkinson’s disease research. Richard has Parkinson’s, and is an inspiration not only for his incredible cartooning but for his perseverance and refusal to let the disease stop him. Team Cul de Sac is the brainchild of Chris Sparks, who… READ MORE
