Tom's Mad Blog
June 26th, 2015 | Posted in News
This has been in the works for a while but is just getting announced today: A week long “Cruise with Cartoonists” in the Caribbean January 17th-24th, 2016, all funds raised will go to benefit the National Cartoonists Society Foundation! If you’ve ever seen me post about the National Cartoonist’s Society Reuben Awards Weekend here and think “It would be a lot of fun to go to one of those events and get a chance to meet some big-name cartoonists”, now’s your chance to do it… but for a whole week, not just a weekend. On one of the largest and most luxurious cruise ships in… READ MORE
June 25th, 2015 | Posted in News
The blog turns nine years old tomorrow, the first post having appeared on June 26th, 2006. Here’s my annual list of the website stats: Over 7 million page views Best day ever: 22,199 views 3,296 total posts 433 Sunday Mailbag questions answered 439 Sketches o’the Week posted Nice way to celebrate this year with a total makeover of the website. Thanks for visiting, reading, and supporting the blog! READ MORE
June 24th, 2015 | Posted in Classic Rock Sketch Series
I was (and still am) a big Led Zeppelin fan. Robert Plant has an incredibly unique voice that ran the gamut from Led Zep’s ballads to raging rock to their pseudo-forays into other musical genres like country, pop, and rock-a-billy. I did get to see he and Jimmy Page in concert together once. They did not disappoint. This sketch is available for purchase in the Studio Store! READ MORE
June 23rd, 2015 | Posted in News
I just signed a deal with a Korean publisher to have my book translated into Korean and sold worldwide in that language. Interesting that Korean would be the first foreign language edition of The Mad Art of Caricature, as opposed to Spanish or Mandarin, which you would think has a much larger potential selling market. I had a Spanish publisher inquire about rights once but the deal went nowhere. No other foreign language publishers have shown any interest. The above image is just a mock-up I did for this post… the actual Korean cover will no doubt be different (and accurate in the translation… that’s… READ MORE
June 22nd, 2015 | Posted in Monday MADness
In honor of the latest Pixar movie’s release, here’s a look at the story behind “Toyota Story”, which started out as a single image for the MAD website during the Toyota “unexplained acceleration” lawsuit and investigation, and ended up being used as part of a parody in MAD #504 back in 2010. The initial job was described to me as a fake poster for a “Toy Story” spin-off film, done in a typical Pixar look, with the gag being the toys behind the wheel of a runaway Toyota and several of them being run over and squashed. Naturally the effectiveness of the parody would rely… READ MORE
June 21st, 2015 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Is there someone who evaluates your caricatures? Currently with your experience, did you have bad reviews and did you have to redo caricatures? A: I’m assuming you are referring to live caricature work. Caricature is, to some extent, subjective. A likeness is a likeness but, unlike portraiture, caricature includes the exaggeration of what the artist perceives as the things that make the subject unique. That can be different for different artists. One artist may perceive a subject’s face as having a strong jaw, where another may see it differently. It’s the same for your audience. What you as a caricaturist see and exaggerate might… READ MORE
June 19th, 2015 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Here’s a sneak peek at the art from MAD‘s parody of “Ray Donovan” in MAD #534, written by Arnie Kogen… on sale now!! (clicky any to embiggen): Whaddya mean you want to read the dialogue in the word boxes? What does this look like… a furshlugginer library?!? Go out and buy a copy of MAD #534, clod! READ MORE
June 18th, 2015 | Posted in Illustration Throwback Thursday
Here’s an old caricature of Bill Cosby, updated for 2015. READ MORE
