Tom's Mad Blog
March 25th, 2016 | Posted in General
I’m way too busy for an indepth review of this movie (and since I don’t want to include any spoilers anyway) here’s just a brief few thoughts: It does not deserve the hate it’s getting– No, it’s not your enjoyable but cartoonish Marvel movie full of cutsie one liners and popcorn plots, but there is plenty to like about it. These movies dare to examine the way the world would actually react to having super-powered beings among us. It is too heavy handed but not as slit-your-wrists depressing as the haters seem to think. I loved Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jeremy Irons, Amy Adams, Lawrence… READ MORE
March 24th, 2016 | Posted in General
So right after I finished the art for the MAD 80’s special above, I found myself with this big pile of black and white, inked caricatures of 80’s celebrities/icons that were used on the squares of the Rubik’s Cube. I said to myself, “Self, what am I going to do with these little pieces of MAD cover art?” SELL THEM, of course. They are all pretty small, the images themselves being about 4×5 inches, done in dip pen/brush and ink on smooth bristol. They are also oddly cropped in some instances, since I did two on a page and sometimes they were too close together… READ MORE
March 23rd, 2016 | Posted in Classic Rock Sketch Series
From my “Classic Rock Star” series of sketches, it’s another of the “Million Dollar Quartet”…a young Johnny Cash! As always, the original of this sketch is available in the Studio Store! READ MORE
March 22nd, 2016 | Posted in General
I just got back from the C2E2 comic-con in Chicago. Lots of fun, and very busy. It’s a great show that is much more comic-centric than the Wizard World shows. As usual at these sorts of event, there were many exhibitors in Artist’s Alley on the main floor with gigantic walls of “prints” of copyrighted characters the artists do not have the right to draw or sell. I use the term “print” loosely as the majority of them are inkjet prints from their home computer or copies run off on heavier paper at Staples, not professionally produced art prints or limited in number. I’ve written… READ MORE
March 21st, 2016 | Posted in Monday MADness
This is another cover I did for one of MAD‘s “bookazine” releases, this one entitled “MAD Spoofs the ’80s”. The book is just got released, and is on the rack in fine, not-so-fine, and downright sketchy stores everywhere. If you are interested (and even if you aren’t) Alfred and the Rubik’s Cube are painted digitally, while I did the caricatures in pen and ink. I’m glad I did the cover because I have no work whatsoever in the book itself. I spent the first half of the eighties in high school, the second half of them in college, and the entire decade doing no work… READ MORE
March 20th, 2016 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: What kind of music or background ambiance do you use while working in your studio? Do you prefer silence or do you like to rock out depending on the project? A: I don’t select my listening preferences based on the project so much as what part of the process I am at. I listen to music, either from my digital library or the radio, when I am doing concept work like layouts, comps, pencils, etc. Those stages of a job require a lot of thinking and experimenting, and everything is just background noise for me when doing that sort of work. If you want… READ MORE
March 18th, 2016 | Posted in News
Come and visit me at booth o13 at the C2E2 show here in Chicago anytime this weekend and say “Alfred E. Neuman for President!” and you will get this comic-con exclusive mini-print for FREE! It’s a 6″ x 9″ reproduction of the variant cover I did for Batman/Superman #10 in April, 2014, featuring Alfred as the Joker and a very confused Batman and Superman. I’ll even sign it for you… ordinarily that would reduce the value of the print, but as the value is ZERO that is impossible! READ MORE
March 17th, 2016 | Posted in General
How to do St. Patrick’s Day Right, Bachelor Version (from Penthouse job, 2009): 9:20 AM- Sprinkle sawdust on apartment floor in preparation for return, smuggle bottle of Jameson to work 10:05 AM- Spend day filling out NCAA March Madness Bracket while hating the fluorescent ceiling lights and working on that Jameson 6:35 PM- First bar, someone tries to put one of those stupid plastic green bowler hats on you. Punch them in the face. 11:50 PM- Third bar where 17 year-olds are drinking Bud Light out of plastic yard glasses. Punch at least one person wearing a Larry Bird jersey. 1:55 AM- Karaoke! “In your… READ MORE
