Tom's Mad Blog
January 28th, 2016 | Posted in Tales from the Theme Park
The Worst Return Ever When you work drawing caricatures at a theme park or in a retail setting you will occasionally get returns. Unavoidable. Ultimately the customer is the client, and it’s your job to do a piece of art that makes them happy so they pay for it. That is not such an easy task considering the art you are creating is meant to make fun of the very party you expect to pay for it. Returns happen, and since the theme park you work at is all about kissing their “guests” hindquarters far past the point of all rationality or fairness, you have… READ MORE
January 27th, 2016 | Posted in News
[youtube]https://youtu.be/1YZeHcAvl7w[/youtube] MN Original is a show on Twin Cities PBS that profiles Minnesota artists, actors, musicians and other creative types. I’m going to be one of the artists featured on the next episode, airing this Sunday on TCT 2 and 6:00 and 10:00 pm. They post the show online at some point after it airs, so I will post a link to that when it’s up. The video above is a teaser for the episode. I’m honored and flattered to have been asked to be a part of the show. READ MORE
January 26th, 2016 | Posted in Freelancing
Spot illustration for a health article on, you guessed it, skipping leg day. February issue. READ MORE
January 25th, 2016 | Posted in News
Picture courtesty of Celestia Ward Yesterday’s “Glenn-efit” event at the Downtown Crown Pub in Las Vegas was a big success, raising over $1500 to benefit our good friends Glenn and JoAnn Ferguson as they begin the long road to Glenn’s recovery and rehabilitation from his injuries. I drew alongside some terrific local Las Vegas caricaturists like Doug Citizen, Andrew Taylor, Robert Sundini, and I think a few others jumped in and did a couple of drawings as well. There was also a raffle with prizes ranging from donated spa products to massages to Penn and Teller tickets to signed books, prints and originals artwork. Also… READ MORE
January 24th, 2016 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I would think one of the hardest things about being a freelancer is determining how much to charge a client for your work. Do you have set prices? Do you bid on jobs like a general contractor? Would you charge different prices for the exact same illustration to for different clients? A: That is something many freelancers agonize over, especially when you are asked to give a quote for a job. If you get the job, you always wonder if you underbid and could have gotten more, and if you don’t get the job you wonder if you overbid and lost it to another… READ MORE
January 22nd, 2016 | Posted in General
Just a reminder, I’ll be joining a gaggle of Las Vegas area caricaturists this Sunday at the Downtown Crown Pub in Las Vegas from 1 to 4 pm to benefit the medical and rehab fund of Glenn Ferguson, our fellow caricaturist who was badly injured in a brutal attack on Jan 1st. We’ll all be drawing live caricatures for donations, and there will be a raffle with some great prizes including massage and spa packages, tickets to Penn and Teller, signed prints and books, and an original page of of my MAD art from the parody of “House of Cards”. There will also be belly… READ MORE
January 21st, 2016 | Posted in Illustration Throwback Thursday
This was supposed to be the cover of a book about internet gambling. I did the art in December of 2000, and as far as I know it was never used. I’m not sure the author ever found a publisher for the book at all. A lot of book deals go down like that. An author wants to make a “pitch” to various publishers either with the concept and outline or a finished manuscript, and feels like the need a visual to go along with the pitch. I never work on spec, so I expect to be paid for the art whether the book sees… READ MORE
January 20th, 2016 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Totally swamped right now so no time for a more elaborate sketch this week. This is a small, rough study for a job I’m working on right now. READ MORE
