Tom's Mad Blog
April 15th, 2016 | Posted in News
… jealous? Well you should be. Lucky guy that I am, a few days ago I received an advanced copy of the hardcover of Eddie Pittman‘s Red’s Planet graphic novel. I guess that blurb I wrote for the back paid off! Red’s Planet is set to be released next week, and while I do not recommend very many books or comics work as a rule I am heartily recommending this one. No spoilers here, but Eddie has created something really wonderful with Red’s Planet. The story is fun, funny and heartwarming. The characters instantly grab you (s0metime literally). The artwork is extraordinary. The entire package… READ MORE
April 14th, 2016 | Posted in Illustration Throwback Thursday
With the New York primary coming up Tuesday, here’s a look back at my 1999 parody of 1998’s “Godzilla” for Cracked magazine, complete with a recognizable cameo at the end: Incidentally the original title of that parody was “God-Awful”, which makes more sense with the intro copy. However I actually only did the first 4 pages as a sample to show MAD, and they were not impressed. When I then showed it to Cracked they wanted to print it, so I had to finish it up. I came up with the Hillary Clinton joke and changed the title to “God-Hilla”. READ MORE
April 13th, 2016 | Posted in Classic Rock Sketch Series
Here’s the last of the “Million Dollar Quartet”, Carl Perkins! As always, the original of this sketch is for sale in the Studio Store! READ MORE
April 12th, 2016 | Posted in MAD Magazine
From MAD #84, Photo: Lester Krauss The Usual Gang of Idiots lost a beloved member on Saturday with the news that former MAD production manager and art director Leonard “The Beard” Brenner passed away. The above image is one of many photo gags and fake ads in which Lenny appeared, so MAD readers were familiar with his bearded visage even if they were unaware of the contributions he made behind the scenes. Lenny was with MAD from 1958 until he retired in 1995, and during that time there were very few pages of the magazine that he did not work on in some capacity. Layouts,… READ MORE
April 11th, 2016 | Posted in MAD Magazine
I was asked by some readers to share the process of creating the cover art for MAD #539, so although there is really not that much to it, here you go: I was thrilled to get a call from MAD art director Sam Viviano asking me if I was willing to do the cover art for the next issue. Actually it was more like him asking if I could possibly fit it into my schedule, since he was well aware I was in the middle of doing the art on MAD‘s parody of “The Force Awakes”, which was nine pages and the longest parody in… READ MORE
April 10th, 2016 | Posted in General
Q: Congrats on doing your first cover for MAD, but my initial reaction to seeing your post was “this was his FIRST cover???” Why did it take so long for you to get a cover? A: MAD has always tended to use different illustrators for the covers than they do interiors. Norman Mingo, Richard Williams, Kelly Freas, and a host of others, most recently Mark Fredrickson, have done basically nothing but cover art… but a lot of it. Mort Drucker and Jack Rickard are the only two regulars from the interior of the magazine that have done 30 or more covers, and their styles were… READ MORE
April 8th, 2016 | Posted in News
This two page splash of MAD’s “House of Cards” parody is up for auction… Just a reminder: the online auction to raise money for Glenn Ferguson, the caricature artist who was brutally attacked on New Year’s Day by a disgruntled former co-worker and severely injured, ends Sunday at 10 pm Eastern time. This auction is being organized by the International Society of Caricature Artists, an organization I was once president of. Glenn is doing well in his recovery but has a very long road ahead of him. He’s been home for a couple of months and is doing all his therapy and rehab on an… READ MORE
April 7th, 2016 | Posted in Illustration Throwback Thursday
I used to do fairly regular work for National Geographic Kids magazine (later National Geographic World), mainly spot illustrations but occasionally half or full pages as well. They were an interesting client to work for because they were real sticklers for historical and scientific accuracy when it came to the artwork. I would be given very specific references for things like the type of clothes or accessories someone from a certain place or time would be wearing. I’m not sure when I stopped getting calls from them but I have not done anything for National Geographic World for a few years now. This 2004 piece… READ MORE
