News
March 6th, 2012 | Posted in News
Hard to believe, but my book The Mad Art of Caricature!- A Serious Guide to Drawing Funny Faces already needs to do a second printing. This is not going to be a second edition . . . there won’t be any new material added. It is merely a second run of the original book. That said, I do have an opportunity here to correct a few of the stray typos and errors that snuck past my copy editors and myself the first time around. Believe me, the fact that these errors are so few and far between is a testament to the hard work and… READ MORE
March 1st, 2012 | Posted in News
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViOmxr-TMzk[/youtube] I have a number of caricature and comic artist friends who swear that the iPad is a very functional tool for sketching, drawing and painting. I’ve seen some impressive results by several digital artists, but in my personal experience the iPad lacks two important features to make it a truly useful art tool: a stylus that uses a reasonably-precise point (as opposed to a marshmallow tip) and pressure sensitivity. Yes, you can apparently work around the lack of these features and create some good art, but you can work around the limitations of using a broken stick and dirt also… by why would you… READ MORE
February 27th, 2012 | Posted in News
Clicky to Embiggen Last week Chris Sparks posted a look at the dust jacket artwork for the upcoming Team Cul De Sac book. The artwork is done (of course) by the incomparable Richard Thompson. I’ve posted about the book before…it features artwork by 150 well-known cartoonists with their take on Petey, Alice and the Cul De Sac world. The full list of contributors can be found here, and it’s damned impressive. I am so happy to have been a small part of this project, which will raise money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for research for Parkinson’s disease. Chris was even kind enough to… READ MORE
February 23rd, 2012 | Posted in News
Clicky to Embiggen The official brochures and registration info for the National Cartoonists Society’s 2012 Reuben Awards should be landing in member’s mailboxes starting today, so I thought I’d post the artwork I did for this year’s brochure. This image depicts the 2012 guest speakers, special award winners and our nutty emcee. Here’s the list of unlucky models: Top: Tom Gammill (The Doozies, TV writer and producer, Reubens emcee). Second row from left: Steve McGarry (Badlands, Trivquiz, Biographic, Kid City, NCS Silver T-Square recipient), Mark Simon (animator, storyboard artist, entrepreneur), Alfred E. Neuman (idiot), John Lotshaw (Accidental Centaurs), Dave Kellett (Sheldon, Drive), Michael Jantze (The… READ MORE
February 21st, 2012 | Posted in News
Image courtesy and ©2011 Richard Thompson/Universal Uclick 2010 National Cartoonist Society “Cartoonist of the Year” Richard Thompson is taking a hiatus from his Universal Uclick syndicated comic strip Cul de Sac, and inviting six guest cartoonists to take over the reins of the popular daily during his absence. Richard is taking time off to receive treatment for Parkinson’s Disease. The six guest cartoonists will be Ken Fisher (Tom the Dancing Bug), Michael Jantze (The Norm), Corey Pandolph (Elderberries), Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine), Lincoln Pierce (Big Nate) and Mo Willems (award winning children’s book author/illustrator). Their guest stints began yesterday (Monday, Feb 20th) with Michael… READ MORE
February 20th, 2012 | Posted in News
Last week’s kerfuffle over the New York Times Sunday Review‘s new initiative restore an editorial cartoon to it’s features by soliciting submissions of finished cartoons on spec created quite a bit of negative response from professional cartoonists. Cartoonist, former National Cartoonist Society president and Cagle Cartoons syndicate owner Daryl Cagle was one of many who received the following response from the Times last week: As I’m sure you all know, we got a lot of reactions to our request for cartoons for a new feature in the Sunday Review — much of it negative. Your very good questions and criticisms of our process have forced… READ MORE
February 17th, 2012 | Posted in News
From the NCS Website: NCS membership nomination voting has been tabulated, and the nominees for the 2011 Reuben Award for “Cartoonist of the Year” are: Brian Crane Stephan Pastis Tom Richmond Brian Crane is the creator of Pickles, a daily comic strip syndicated by the Washington Post Writer’s Group. Soon after Pickles‘ debut in 1990, Brian “retired” as an art director for an advertising agency in Reno, Nevada, to devote his full attention to his comic strip. Although he often used cartoon figures in ads he designed, Pickles is his first syndicated comic strip.In 1995 and 2001, Pickles was nominated for Best Newspaper Comic Strip… READ MORE
February 14th, 2012 | Posted in News
The Comics Beat is reporting that legendary comic book artist John Severin passed away on Sunday, Feb 12th in his home in Denver, Colorado, surrounded by family. John had one of the longest and well-respected careers in comics we will probably ever see. He was one of the early artists for E.C. Comics, and one of the first artists for MAD, doing work for the first several issues under Harvey Kurtzman from 1952-1954. The above image is his first appearance in MAD #1. He did so much comic work over the years it’s almost impossible to list it all. He eventually became the main artist… READ MORE
