One day left in my final European workshop of 2019, here in beautiful Seengen, Switzerland! I’m working on some possible overseas workshop locations for 2020, and of course some in the U.S. The workshop in Amsterdam last weekend was great… I’ll post that class illustration as soon as I get it done (too many deadlines before leaving for Europe)! Above is the illustration for Switzerland. READ MORE
Well not really lost but not published in MAD either. While MAD did parodies of all three of “The Hobbit” films only two ended up in the magazine. The third was done as an original piece for a special “Loot Crate” edition of MAD. Written by Desmond Devlin, only Loot Crate subscribers (and collectors on eBay) got a copy of this 6 page spoof. It happened to feature one of the craziest two page spreads I ever did for MAD… the battle scene with the Five Armies: Here are the pencil sketches for this project: READ MORE
This is one of my favorite splash pages from a film parody in MAD, “The Dork Knight Reprises” written by Arnie Kogen from MAD #519, Feb 2013. I had fun with everything here… the composition, and caricatures, the sight gags… plus it’s Batman. READ MORE
Here’s a flashback from waaaaay back, one of my earliest movie parodies in MAD. This is the splash page from MAD‘s spoof of “The Royal Tennenbaums” from MAD #417, May 2002, written by Arnie Kogen. This one was from back in the day when MAD used to do parodies of films other than popcorn munching blockbusters. READ MORE
I’m still in Amsterdam having just taught a workshop last weekend and then traveling on to Switzerland for another this weekend, so this week is going to be a “MAD Flashback” week where I’ll post looks at some stuff I’ve done for the magazine and for other projects for the MAD guys and DC comics. For a few years MAD published these perfect-bound “bookazines” that revolved around different themes and contained reprint material. I did a few covers for these including this one for “MAD Spoof’s the 80’s”. Everything was done digitally on this except for the spot caricatures on the squares, which I did… READ MORE
Here’s a look at the splash page process for MAD‘s parody of the film “Sully”, written by Dick DeBartolo and appearing in MAD #543, Feb 2017. Pencils, inks and color: READ MORE
Q: You’ve mentioned that artists/caricaturists needed to use social media to increase their presence, “particularly Instagram.” I am wondering, why particularly Instagram? Do you have suggestions as to how to build up that presence and ‘stand out’? A: Instagram has become the platform that seems most effective for visual artists to build an audience and find tangible benefits past just getting “likes”, which last I checked doesn’t pay any bills. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, Instagram is basically 100% visual so it makes a lot more sense for visual artists and their content. I know several working artists who have developed their careers around promotion on… READ MORE
Summer Comic Cons are ramping up! This year I’ll be a special guest at Atlanta Comic Con, taking place July 12-14th at the Georgia World Congress Center. You’ll find me in the guest creators area, where I will be doing my usual thing. Wondering what comic cons I’ll be appear at this year? You can always check out my “Appearances” page for the conventions and dates I’ll be at. READ MORE
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