Tom's Mad Blog
December 29th, 2021 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
This week’s SotW is of the magical comedy duo Penn & Teller! The original sketch of this is available in my Studio Store! I’ve actually met Teller. He is a friend of fellow caricaturist and the editor of my “The Mad Art of Caricature” book Celestia Ward. I was at her wedding years ago in Las Vegas and Teller was also in attendance. I chatted with him briefly and yes, he does talk. A subscriber of my “Ink Stained Wretch” newsletter wrote me after I shared this in a recent edition to tell me he saw Penn & Teller in one of their first appearances… READ MORE
December 27th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
We’re taking a week off of revisiting the old with a brand new MAD piece from MAD #23, which dropped earlier this month. This is a rare piece of new work inside of the magazine, which is almost entirely reprint material these days. MAD #23 is a “Batman” themed issue, and since the cover featured the latest Batman from the upcoming “The Batman” film, MAD head honcho Suzy Hutchinson convinced the powers-that-be upstairs to spring for s new two pager so there was something inside that also featured Robert Pattinson‘s Bats. This is it, written by my CLAPTRAP cohort Desmond Devlin. Toon in next week… READ MORE
December 26th, 2021 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: What are your stances on the comic artist training grounds (CalArts, Kubert, SCAD et al) regarding their value overall for the students? Have you met grads of these institutions and discussed their experiences? I tend to find a lot of worth in spending the money to learn from artists you look up to but I’m curious overall about what industry professionals think about how well a place like Kubert does at helping their grads find work in comics/design/storyboarding/animation etc. A: I get asked about art college a lot, but not about the specific topic of if art schools help their graduates get work. If… READ MORE
December 22nd, 2021 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Just in time for Christmas, today’s SotW subject is Hollywood icon and “It’s a Wonderful Life” star Jimmy Stewart! This one made it through the “Ink Stained Wretch” subscriber’s gauntlet and the original is available in the Studio Store. Merry Christmas, all! READ MORE
December 20th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Rev those engines, race fans! It’s monday, and that means it’s time for another agonizingly slow lap around my work for MAD Magazine. This week we are shifting gears with what was my first all-digital piece for the magazine, “Rejected Characters from Cars”, written by Jacob Lambert and first appearing in MAD #467, July 2006. When I say “all digital” I just mean the finished art. I still did the pencil sketches with actual pencils on actual paper, but after scanning the roughs I did do any physical inking on bristol board like I usually do. I wbt right on top of the pencils with… READ MORE
December 17th, 2021 | Posted in General
C2E2 2021 is in the books. It is still a bit surreal to be at an actual comic con again, and this one was still a lot less busy than the pre-pandemic version. It was still a lot of fun and thanks to all the folks that stopped by to say hello. Basically all the commissions I did this year were caricatures of individuals, so I didn’t bother to take any pictures of anything. I purposefully did not take any online orders nor take any commissions at the show I’d have to do later, because I need to spend all my available studio time working… READ MORE
December 15th, 2021 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
After last week’s Joni Mitchell, I sort of had to draw corresponding young James Taylor! The original of this one is available in the Studio Store! READ MORE
December 13th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
It’s time for another off-key Monday edition of Tom’s MADness! This time we drop the mic with a return to the world of “reality” TV and another cringe-worthy performance with “You Can Write the Next American Idol Single”, written by my CLAPTRAP partner Desmond Devlin and appearing in MAD #466, June 2006. This was also my 50th appearance in the magazine. I have to admit I don’t like these kinds of reality competition shows, and have never watched more than a few episodes of any of them. It’s not that I think they are bad shows, I just find them uninteresting and boring. My wife… READ MORE
