Mailbag
December 7th, 2008 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: You have a great skill for likeness, Every time that I look at your “park” caricatures I can really see the likeness in it. But, if you were asked to do a “realistic” illustration of someone, do you think you would be able to “carry their likeness” to the illustration? I’ve always felt that, a great caricaturist can be able to be a great portrait artist. How do you feel about this matter? Is it harder to do an portrait than to do a cartoon? or its the contrary? A: I read or heard a quote by someone somewhere once that described a caricature… READ MORE
November 30th, 2008 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I’m curious about how your creative process has evolved since you were a newbie. I’m fresh out of school myself, and I’ve landed a few low-profile illustration gigs, but I’m often pretty clueless about how to proceed after I’m hired. How do you go about working up your initial roughs? What processes are involved immediately after you get the greenlight? How much time do you spend brainstorming, looking up references … how much work do you put into your initial roughs? And how has this changed since you were as clueless as someone like me? A: My process from beginning stage to final art… READ MORE
November 23rd, 2008 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Q: I notice in the “Ironic, Man” Mad movie parody that there are caricatures of George W. Bush and Osama Bin Laden as well as a guy with an egg frying on his head. My question is: How much artistic licence do you have when it comes to producing the parodies? Do the ideas of putting Bush and Bin Laden in the picture stem from you or does the writer determine those sight gags? A: I have a great deal of artistic license when it comes to adding sight gags within the art of a parody or any MAD piece. In fact, the editors greatly… READ MORE
November 16th, 2008 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Do you have any advice for becoming a professional cartoonist? A: Ordinarily I would write on and on about a subject like this one, but I’m just going to provide a link to answer this question today because I am lazy unable to come up with a better answer than Chris Browne’s “How to Be a Cartoonist” That link comes courtesy of the National Cartoonists Society’s website. Chris is of course the writer and artist of “Hagar the Horrible”, and an all around swell guy. He’s got his own blog as well. Thanks to Grant Jonen for the question. If you have a question… READ MORE
November 9th, 2008 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Could you address ‘Parody/Satire’ and how it relates to copyright issues or even “right of publicity”? For instance when MAD does movies parodies they always change the names of the movie and the characters. What about merchandising of parodies? Could MAD produce ‘Dork Knight’ action figures? A: Satire and parody are very well protected free speech rights under the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The first amendment guarantees a person’s rights to voice their views or opinions about anything and everything. Those views include the right to criticize something or someone, and that includes making fun of them. Copyrights and the “right of… READ MORE
October 26th, 2008 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: How did you execute your Holmes graphic (see above) ? Did you scan the material for the clothing and hat then skew it in Photoshop.¬¨‚Ć It looks very cool ! Maybe you don’t want to share your secret. I hope you do. A: It’s not really any kind of secret. It’s just some simple Photoshop trickery. I didn’t save a “step by step” nor did I save the original pattern files, so I will just have to explain it. I do have the original unflattened file so you can see the various elements. First, I inked the image and scanned it as I always… READ MORE
October 19th, 2008 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I recently went with a friend to a chiropractor, and after telling the doc it was my first time even stepping in an office he proceeded to explain what he was doing to my friend and the benefits of it. I got to watch the whole process and it made me cautiously curious. My mom on the other hand has been a RN for most of my life and needless to say has thought none too highly of chiropractors, or “those quack back-crackers” as she likes to call them. Like most in the illustration profession I find myself hunched over a desk all day… READ MORE
October 12th, 2008 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Thanks again for another great article,¬¨‚Ć Friday Sept 19, it is really helpful to know those things are going on out there. I wonder what happens if such magazine would have used the Al Jaffe caricature anyways, what do you do then, if there’s anything at all? A:The article he’s referring to, in case you didn’t click the link above, is where a magazine called me asking to use a caricature I had done on the blog of Al Jaffee, and then not doing so when I had the audacity to ask to be paid for the use. They may well have used the… READ MORE
