Mailbag
February 18th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: What movies have you done the parody art for? A. Do you mean “what movies have you done the parody art for in MAD” or “… for any humor publication”? Before I worked for MAD I did a few parodies for MAD knock-off Cracked Magazine. I don’t have the dates or issue numbers for the Cracked work handy, but here’s the breakdown: Cracked- “God-Hilla” (Godzilla)… also wrote this one “X-creMENt” (X-Men) “Glad-idiot” (Gladiator) MAD- #405 (May 01) “Traff-eccch” (Traffic) #410 (Oct 01) “Lotta Crotch- Bazoom Raider”(Lara Croft- Tomb Raider) #415 (Mar 02) “Behind Empty Lines” (Behind Enemy Lines) #417 (May 02) “The Royal Paininthebums”… READ MORE
February 11th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: What does your business card look like? Surely an artist like you has put some creativity into your own advertising. A: Until this past June, I hadn’t had a business card for over ten years. I just felt there was no need for it. Serious clients contacted me through either another art director or via one of my marketing efforts like a direct mail piece or a sourcebook ad. It seemed like the only people who asked for a business card were ones I didn’t want to hear back from… generally people who wanted a caricature of grandpa for Christmas or an artist to… READ MORE
February 4th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I was wondering if you ever try out new things? Perhaps a different medium or art form entirely, not just for commercial work but for personal interest? A: Yes, I do lots of things that are different from my typical style or approach. I think the artist side demands some experimentation or things get boring. I used to regularly attend a figure drawing co-op in north Minneapolis, where I did realistic figure drawing with charcoal, graphite or pastels. That proved to be too far away to keep up, but I enjoyed it. I also have taken some painting workshop classes here in Burnsville at… READ MORE
January 28th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: What’s the deal with “Mad Kids“? I’m curious what the target market is for Mad vs. Mad Kids or why they started Mad Kids. A: MAD Kids is a recent addition to the MAD family. It’s a quarterly publication from the folks that bring you MAD that is geared towards a younger audience. Why, you say? Isn’t MAD already geared towards kids? No, not really. The regular magazine contains some kid humor, mostly in the form of gross out jokes, but when you really get down to it, MAD contains pretty adult humor. There is no outright swearing in MAD, nor is there any… READ MORE
January 21st, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: You’ve got the caricature/cartoon aesthetic nailed, but do you ever feel the need (personally or financially) to break out of that style and do something severely different? Are there many artists out there that specialize in several aesthetic styles? Benefits/risks? A: An interesting question, needing two answers. First, thanks for the compliment but I disagree that I have the caricature/cartoon aesthetic “nailed”. I see plenty of room for growth within what I currently do. My figure drawing skills have lots of room for improvement, as does my composition, caricatures and overall drawing. It’s still challenging for me to do this kind of work. The… READ MORE
January 14th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: What do you think was your personal inspiration was that helped influence you to pursue this career? For example, Do you have any memories as a kid of being influenced and inspired by a particular source? Comics, shows, people? etc… A: That’s an easy one: Batman. I was fascinated by Batman from the age of 2. I managed to knock over our family TV set and blow out the tube at age 3 jumping around with a bath towel pinned around my neck watching reruns of the 60’s Batman TV show. I was Batman every year for Halloween until about age 10. I got… READ MORE
January 7th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: How do you structure your time? ( i.e. describe a typical day in life of Tom Richmond.) A: Since I work out of my home, and deadlines dictate a lot in terms of working hours, I have no set daily structure per se. Some days I do mostly paper work or get caught up on e-mailing, accounting or other boring crap. That’s if I don’t have any pressing jobs on the board. If I’ve got jobs to work on, then I try and ignore everything else and do them, but again, working at home makes that hard to do. But, here might be a… READ MORE
December 31st, 2006 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Some people seem to be easy targets for caricature (Ross Perot, George Bush, Elvis, Stallone). Is that case? And if it is, have you ever had trouble with an “easy” subject? If so, why? A: I tell the new caricature artists I work with that it is only an illusion that some faces are easier to draw than others. Faces all have the same elements… eyes, nose, mouth, etc. Those features are always unique from one person to another. They are sitting right there in front of the artist and should be easy to see and to draw. Why then, as you say, do… READ MORE
