MAD writer extraordinaire Desmond Devlin and I were planning on waiting until next week to make a big announcement about our new project, but we figured we aren’t getting any younger…so why not today! I’ll be posting some sneak peeks of the teaser art and some hints today with the announcement coming a little later. Here’s sneak peek #1! Check back later for the big news! READ MORE
This past weekend I managed to get another workshop in amid the coronavirus pandemic, this one in Indianapolis. It was a small but fun group! In other workshop news, I have had to postpone my NYC workshop AGAIN because travelers from Minnesota are currently required to quarantine for 2 weeks after arriving there, which is obviously impossible. I will not reschedule that workshop until I am sure the new dates will be viable. I will not be scheduling any more workshops until I am sure they will not have to be postponed or cancelled due to the pandemic. This will be well into 2021 I… READ MORE
I am in Indianapolis this weekend teaching a caricature workshop. Yesterday I am in the middle of the opening presentation when one of my students gets up with his phone and plays us all a video from the live virtual National Cartoonists Society NCSFest, where I was awarded a “Silver Reuben” divisional award for “Magazine/Newspaper Illustration”. I got a nice round of applause from the class! It was a nice surprise. I had to do back to teaching the class, so I was not properly able to thank the NCS for this honor. There is nothing like being recognized by your peers. It made me… READ MORE
I’ve been a member of the National Cartoonists Society since 1999, and served as president for 4 years from 2011 to 2015. Every year the NCS has its Reuben Award Weekend, where members get together for a few days to hang out, listen to panels and speakers, talk shop, eat and drink a lot, and enjoy the company of some of the greatest cartoonists (and people) on Planet Earth. Like most other things in 2020, the annual Reuben Awards Weekend, that was to take place in Kansas City the first weekend in June, had to be cancelled. Here’s some art by me for the original… READ MORE
If you’ve ever wanted a peek behind the scenes of the life of a caricature artist (I mean, besides the enormously creepy Dan Clowes‘ “Caricature” comic story), this documentary by artists Tom Faraci and Joe Ciomek is your ticket. It’s a look at not just the artform but the different ways it’s applied and the different artists that do it. While it touches on animation and illustration and published work, it mostly focuses on live caricature, especially the midway type artists that hit the road doing fairs and carnivals. There is an entire subculture of caricaturists, and this film certainly examines that dynamic. The International… READ MORE
I’ve had so many people ask me to produce my two page Mort Drucker tribute from MAD #15 as a print that I am knuckling under to the pressure. You can order that print here. I also have signed copies of MAD #15, which the spread appears in, available. However, every single copy of that issue that I received as an unfortunately printer defect on the left page of my spread. It’s a top to bottom linear streak, sort of like a rubbed line about 2.25 inches from the center gutter. It’s not really obvious but it is noticeable, and I have no copies without… READ MORE
I’ve had a number of people drop out of the Chicago workshop, now scheduled for Sept 26-27th, and we are down to only 8 students. We have plenty of room in the classroom space for proper social distancing and COVID-19 protocols, so I am opening up a spot for one more student. This is the last workshop of 2020. I have no idea when I will start doing these again. If you have wanted to take one of my workshops, this may be your last chance for a long time. READ MORE
This past weekend I finally conducted my “Caricature Illustration Workshop” here in Minnesota. Originally scheduled for March 27-29 with 15 students, the pandemic caused me to reschedule to Aug 14-16th, and we ended up with only 6 people in the class. This was a different sort of workshop for me. We did a mock illustration project from start to finish, and I taught the class about narrative and problem solving, working within the limitations imposed by the job, composition, and the process from rough concept sketches through to final art. I also taught traditional dip pen/brush inking, and both my digital coloring and traditional watercolor… READ MORE
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