Mailbag
October 30th, 2011 | Posted in Mailbag
Q. You may have covered this already but when drawing clothes, do you look for real examples in perhaps magazines to see how a material would crease in certain positions. Or do you just imagine in your head how it would look? So basically my question is, Tom, how do you draw clothing so well!? A: I’m not sure I would agree that I draw clothes all that well, but thanks for the kind words. I do think I have improved quite a bit in the last few years on how I draw clothes, particularly simplifying the folds and such so they don’t look overwrought… READ MORE
October 23rd, 2011 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I wanted to ask you a question about your Photoshop coloring technique: how do you avoid getting ‘spotting’ in Photoshop when you’re using washes? I’m referring to the crossover area between one wash and another: where they intersect there’s an area of brush-shaped darker color caused by laying down a wash with less-than-100% opacity and crossing over it with another wash of less-than-100% opacity. How do you avoid that? Your finished pieces never have that artifacting, which probably has a better term than “spotting.” The video tutorial, while fantastic on its own, does not have the resolution to show something that detailed. So I… READ MORE
October 9th, 2011 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Hey Tom! I sometimes find myself drawing fairly complex settings for many of my cartoon layouts and more often than I would like to admit I frequently end up illustrating things -especially oval related objects- using Photoshop tools. Earlier this year you posted an illustration of some folks washing dishes with stacks of plates all around the sink area. Do you use tools like the “Elliptical¬¨‚Ć Marquee Tool” to help you achieve some of your artwork or is everything done freehand? A: Here is the illustration he’s talking about: Click for a closer look… While I am all for using the computer to make… READ MORE
October 2nd, 2011 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: When you were first starting out, how did your parents react to your decision to become a cartoonist? Were they supportive of your chosen profession, try to talk you out of it, or somewhere in between? Also, how did the in-laws feel about having their daughter marry someone who aspired to become one of “the usual gang of idiots”? A: As a young kid my parents were very supportive of my desire to be an artist. My dad worked as a manager for a chain of grocery stores and would bring home reams of this computer track-paper that was used with old dot-matrix printers… READ MORE
September 18th, 2011 | Posted in Mailbag
Q:¬¨‚Ć What advice would you have for someone thinking about getting into live caricature? I’ve been doing them for about 3 years now but still have much to learn. It started out as something I did for fun/practice and lately I have been selling them. The thing is I’m used to having a lot of time, often times days to find a person’s likeness, color, etc, drawing and redrawing until I’m satisfied. Usually in illustrator/photoshop but also paper on occasion.¬¨‚Ć How do I know when I’m ready to go live? Is there a way to get my feet wet first before diving in head first?… READ MORE
September 11th, 2011 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: When did you publish your first artwork? And where? When did you publish your first artwork in Mad magazine? A: My first really published work, not including stuff for local restaurants or ads for realtors or similar, was for the comic book Married… with Children, for NOW Comics (as to how it all came about, you can read about my NOW Comics story here). I did the pencils for Vol. 1, issue #7: This comic book job was a disaster. Originally the story was supposed to be about Al Bundy getting mixed up in some kind of caper with an “Elvira” type character. But… READ MORE
September 4th, 2011 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: When you teach new artists your techniques for drawing caricatures in a theme park, what are some common problems you see? A: Everybody is different, of course, but there are some issues that in the 20 plus years I have been training theme park artists I have noticed seem to be typical of many beginning live caricaturists. Fear of line- This is very typical and to be expected. Live caricature is an exercise in fearlessness and audacity, where you make bold, confident lines on the paper like you have been doing it for years. New artists almost always lack this fearlessness and confidence, and… READ MORE
August 28th, 2011 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Have you ever been asked to do a job that you weren’t comfortable with for philosophical or ethical reasons? How did you handle it? A: Yes, I have had a few occasions where I have been approached to do some job that I was not comfortable doing. I handled it by politely turning it down. What kind of jobs? Well, I am a pretty open-minded sort of guy, so there isn’t a whole lot of things that would bother me to the point of refusing to do work associated with it. There are shades of definition in everything, but in simplest terms I won’t… READ MORE
