Tom's Mad Blog
May 24th, 2016 | Posted in General
I had to skip my appearance at Wizard World Minneapolis thanks to a last second job with an impossible deadline (that I still managed to meet), so I missed the fireworks there when artist Aldrin “Buzz” Aw confronted “fan art” artist Tim Lundmark (who goes by the name “The Random Artist”) who was selling prints that were obvious rip-off versions of other artist’s work. Nothing new there, you see that kind of thing so often at these shows. The difference here was that Buzz really went off in a profanity-laden way on Lundmark, and Lundmark ended up packing up and leaving. That was on his… READ MORE
May 23rd, 2016 | Posted in Monday MADness
Back in MAD #503 (May 2010) I did the art on a Desmond Devlin authored parody of the TV Show “The Big Bang Theory”… finished splash page above. As you can see, the splash was somewhat atypical of your usual MAD parody opening. Des had the article narrated by Albert Einstein, and the opening spread called for the traditional introductory caricatures of the cast to look like they’d been drawn on a blackboard by Einstein. I was not a fan of that idea because I knew that there was no way I’d be able to do make the caricatures look good by drawing them in… READ MORE
May 22nd, 2016 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Your caricature book is the go to for me and my drawings.. or at least my “attempts”. My question is that if I LOOK at a sketch of yours such as in your book, I can mimic the style and drawing, but drawing on my own without a reference ends up looking nothing like the drawings in your book at all.. any suggestions? I do practice drawing eyes, noses, mouths.. but it doesn’t all come together. A: Like I said in my book, no one can teach someone how to “see”… that is where the innate ability or talent comes into play. Someone can… READ MORE
May 20th, 2016 | Posted in Freelancing
Kinda busy right now so here’s a look at a recent Marlin Co. workplace poster illustration, one that should be running this month for their subscribers. The concept was to show a few big, football player type athletes in a camp setting eating not your typical snack/camp foods but healthy stuff. I wanted to show the coaches with trays of hot dogs and chips, but that idea got nixed. Not sure the concept is imparted well without the counter-argument. Pencil sketches below. READ MORE
May 19th, 2016 | Posted in News
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the National Cartoonists Society are getting together in Memphis this month to raise money for their wonderful work. I’ve already blogged about the events taking place next Thursday (60 cartoonists will be visiting the hospital and drawing for patients and their families in the afternoon and having a special dinner on Beale St. that night where they also will be drawing cartoons to be sold in the St. Jude gift shop, and an evening fundraiser with a smaller group of cartoonists with a show and live auction will take place). Another part of this endeavor is an online auction… READ MORE
May 18th, 2016 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Better late than never this week… here’s another Dracula sketch: Jack Palance, from the 1974 TV movie. As always, the original is available in the Studio Store. READ MORE
May 17th, 2016 | Posted in Freelancing
This full page illustration is in the latest issue of Risk Management magazine, a publication for the insurance industry. The artcile is about medical marijuana and worker’s compensation claims. Final above, rough sketch below. READ MORE
May 16th, 2016 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: How did you get into art and decide to make a career out of it? Who were your inspirations? A: I can quite honestly day that I’ve never wanted to be anything but an artist. My very earliest memories regarding what I loved to do and what I wanted to be when I “grew up” (still waiting for that to happen) are of me, stacks of paper and drawing implements. If I had to pick something that was a catalyst for that lifelong desire to be an artist, it would probably be Batman. I was born in 1966, and the Batman TV show was… READ MORE
