Tom's Mad Blog
July 28th, 2015 | Posted in Tales from the Theme Park
There is a funny story at the end of the historical stuff, so if you don’t care about how airbrushed caricatures got started in theme parks, skip down to the last three paragraphs. The Origin of the Airbrushed Live Caricature There are many different techniques used to color live caricatures, from the old “chalk and glove” method to prisma color stix (essentially crayon), to pastels, to watercolors. Airbrush is one you see in a lot of theme parks and tourist centers all around the country. While I’m sure a few of them started doing it independently, the vast majority of them are offshoots of the… READ MORE
July 27th, 2015 | Posted in Monday MADness
From MAD #447, waaaaay back in November 2004, here’s a look at the rough sketches and final art from MAD‘s parody of “The Bernie Mac Show”, written by David Shayne… READ MORE
July 26th, 2015 | Posted in General
Q: Since you work digitally these days, what method do you use to send large files to your clients? A: Back in the mid to late 90’s when digital really took off, trying to get large images files to a client was a problem. There was no broadband internet or wifi, and Internet connections were very slow. Uploading a 30 mb file (roughly a full page magazine illustration in CMYK) would have taken forever, and other than email there was no real consumer options for large file transfers. I Fed Exed CDs with the images on them to clients back then… “Sneaker net” on a… READ MORE
July 23rd, 2015 | Posted in General
I have finally found some time to post the remainder of the Special Editions of my “Men of Steel” print for purchase online. If you are not familiar with the Special Editions, what I do is set aside one print for each of the caricatures in the print, and then number them “SE X/8” or however many there are. Each Special Edition comes with the original inked artwork for the correspondingly numbered character. So, for example, “Men of Steel SE 1/8” comes with the original of Superman #1, Kirk Alyn. The originals are approximately 9″ x 13″, on bristol board with ink pen and brush.… READ MORE
July 22nd, 2015 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
After I did the MAD parody of the first season of “True Detective”, I was looking forward to the new season. I know it would not have Matthew McConaughay and Woody Harrelson in it, but the first season was riveting so I had faith the second one would be just as good. The Lovely Anna and I watched the first episode and decided not to watch another one. It was so over-the-top depressing we could not help getting the feeling it was almost a parody of itself… “Let’s see how dark and despairing we can make all of the characters in the show”. You have… READ MORE
July 21st, 2015 | Posted in General
I’ve gotten a number of emails and comments saying that this Orphan Works thing is being taken way out of context, that it is fear mongering, that the fears about it are based on inaccuracies, and we should all just shut up. Granted, I did cut and paste the Illustrators Partnership response and call to arms without reading the current proposal, which is different than some of the past bills that have actually made it to Congress. I have since read the proposal. My take: both sides are spinning it a little too far, but the pro Orphan Works folks are doing it with their… READ MORE
July 20th, 2015 | Posted in Monday MADness
Some years back MAD started a new line of hardcover books entitled “MAD‘s Greatest Artists”, which now has volumes for Sergio Aragonés, Dave Berg and Mort Drucker… no doubt with more on the way. I was remiss in pointing out back in early May that the first of MAD‘s corresponding new “MAD‘s Greatest Writers” line of books is finally out and available for purchase. The first subject being the great Frank Jacobs. Frank is the most prolific MAD writer ever, with nearly 600 articles published in the magazine. He’s of course best known for his song parodies (“Sing to the Tune of…”), which makes the… READ MORE
July 19th, 2015 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Is there any movie/TV show you wanted to draw a spoof of, but never did? A: Sure, many of them. As for recent movies I’d have loved to do a spoof of “Captian Phillips (Captain F’s Up)”, “Dallas Buyer’s Club (Dullest Buyers Clubbed)”, “Birdman (Birdbrained)”, “Argo (ARRRRRGH-O)”, or “American Hustle (American’s… Hustled)”, among others. Possible spoof titles all mine… I missed me calling. For TV shows I’m still hoping I get to do “Sherlock”, “The Blacklist”, “Arrow” or “The Flash”, “Penny Dreadful” (“Really Dreadful”… see, MAD! I’ve already written the title for you!), “Doctor Who” and “Person of Interest”. Those are all just off… READ MORE
