Tom's Mad Blog

2020 NCS Reuben Awards Art

March 3rd, 2020 | Posted in General

After a couple of years off I was asked to do the artwork for the National Cartoonists Society’s annual Reuben Awards Weekend again this year. The event will be in Kansas City (the one in Missouri… you know, where the Superbowl Champion Chiefs are located). The speaker lineup is ridiculous and several people are getting big awards for their contributions to the world of cartooning. Counter clockwise from the bottom left: Georgia Dunn (Breaking Cat News), Jim Davis (some another cat comic), Mark Tatulli (Lio, Heart of the City, Desmond Puckett, etc), Maria Scrivan (Half Full, Nat Enough), Terri Libenson (The Pajama Diaries, Emmie books),… READ MORE

Come See Me at Emerald City Comic Con!

March 3rd, 2020 | Posted in News

C2E2 2020 is a wrap and Emerald City Comic Con is next weekend already! You’ll find The Lovely Anna and I at table JJ-8 in Artist’s Alley. TWO Comic Cons within TWO WEEKS??? #IMGETTINGTOOOLDFORTHIS READ MORE

Sudden Openings in my MN Illustration Workshop!

March 2nd, 2020 | Posted in General

I had two people abruptly back out of my Caricature Illustration workshop taking place in Eagan, MN at the end of this month, so I suddenly have two open spots! This is a NEW kind of workshop… Caricature Illustration! My other workshops focus on teaching the art of caricature and only sample some of my illustration techniques. This workshop will be focused on the process of creating a caricature-based illustration from concept/roughs all the way to color final art. I’ll provides instruction on each phase, including: Concept, “narrative”, composition and rough sketches Final pencils and prep for inking Traditional inking with dip pen and brush… READ MORE

Monday MADness- Orange is the New Black!

March 2nd, 2020 | Posted in MAD Magazine

This was one of my favorite TV parodies I ever did for MAD… Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black” from MAD #530 Dec, 2014, written by Desmond Devlin. The parody opened with a single page “splash” with three of the main characters (see below), but then opened up into the two page spread you see above. This show was loaded with great characters and great faces. READ MORE

Sunday Mailbag- Retirement?

March 1st, 2020 | Posted in Mailbag

Q: What’s your personal plan for retirement? Do you plan on drawing till you can no longer pick up a pencil or maybe just slow it down in stages and semi retire? Not that retirement is anytime soon. I always enjoy your posts so of course I hope you never retire. A: As far as working goes I’ll keep on freelancing/doing art as long as I am physically capable of it and as long as there are clients out there wanting to hire me. I’m not digging ditches, so while I have control of my mind and my hand I would not want to stop… READ MORE

Official Unofficial Announcement at C2E2!

February 29th, 2020 | Posted in News

I did an interview on the Chuck Load of Comics podcast yesterday at C2E2 where we discuss the status of MAD Magazine, I draw an awkward caricature of host Ryan and I make an official unofficial announcement about a little project MAD writer Desmond Devlin and I have cooking! READ MORE

C2E2 2020!!

February 28th, 2020 | Posted in General

…is in full swing! Stop in and say hello! READ MORE

Art for Dummies

February 27th, 2020 | Posted in General

I’ve done quite a bit of artwork for superstar ventriloquist Jeff Dunham over the years. A lot of it has been for merchandise like T-shirts, etc. but I have occasionally done concept work on possible new characters for his act. This is one of two “Hot Rod” illustrations I did for him, both with a big nod to Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and the “Rat Fink” vibe. A few years ago I was drawing at my theme park operation at Valleyfair here in Minnesota when I couple sat down wearing Jeff Dunham tour T-Shirts. I had happened to have done the art for both shirts.… READ MORE

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