Tom's Mad Blog
October 17th, 2021 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: You have been drawing Alfred E Neuman for decades. His frontal face is 100% fixed more or less. Every time you need to make a new drawing, how do you draw his face? Do you draw it base on memory, use a reference or just copy/paste his face from past drawings? A: When I first started with MAD I was told not to try and put my own spin on Alfred by exaggerating him, or to draw him in a three-quarter or profile view. Alfred was to be drawn at either the straight on angle or the “back of the head” angle. I was… READ MORE
October 15th, 2021 | Posted in News
Streaming live starting at 11:00 am EDT in conjunction with the Lakes International Comic Arts Festival! Be sure to “toon” in at 2 pm EDT for the “Battle of the Toons”, where advocates for various comics characters fight for their character to be voted as the greatest comics character of all time. Rumor has it there will be an appearance by the Dark Knight of Gotham City himself! READ MORE
October 14th, 2021 | Posted in General
A couple of the commissions I did at NYCC had to come home with me and be shipped out because my queue got rather long and some attendees couldn’t come back the next day to pick up. This is one, done on a comic book sketch cover in brush pen and copic markers. The nice thing about having to ship it is I got to scan it instead of taking a lousy picture with my cellphone in the bad light of the Javits Center. Many thanks again to all who stopped by my NYCC booth, both in person and virtually! READ MORE
October 13th, 2021 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Another wednesday and no time for a real sketch o’the week. I did this ink and wash piece recently as a commission for a fellow cartoonist. “Do something with MAD and Monty Python” was the request. READ MORE
October 12th, 2021 | Posted in News
This Friday and Saturday the National Cartoonists Society will conduct its annual Reuben Awards as well as NCSFest virtually via a live stream from its website. This will be the 75th anniversary of the NCS, and they have a great slate of presentations and speakers as well as the awards and some other fun stuff. See the trailer above for a peek at what to expect, and toon in Friday for all the fun. If you can’t make it, don’t worry… everything will be available to watch later. READ MORE
October 11th, 2021 | Posted in General
Headed back to the land of 10,000 lakes today after a fun but exhausting New York Comic Con. It was a bit surreal to be back in a convention situation with the crowds and congestion after nearly two years since the last one we did. Many thanks to all who stopped by the booth, and to those who stopped by my “virtual” booth! I only do a few of these conventions a year, but it was good to be back. READ MORE
October 9th, 2021 | Posted in General
Unlike most years where a lot of the commissions I do at a comic con are of celebrities people request, this year almost all have been caricatures of the people asking for the commission, so I can’t really share them here. The few exceptions have mostly been ones I do in people’s sketchbooks. The one above was done in a sketchbook where each artist who draws in it is asked to do their interpretation of Sergio’s “Groo the Wanderer”. Brush pens and copic marker. Here’s another done in a sketchbook. Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. The virtual version of my booth is open here on the… READ MORE
October 8th, 2021 | Posted in General
It’s Day Two of my simultaneous NYCC live and virtual Artist’s Alley booth! Yesterday was so crazy at New York Comic Con I barely remembered to snap any pictures of all the commissions I did. Mock MAD Covers are the most popular item this year, but I did a few other things like this black and white piece done in someone’s sketch book. Bruch pen and Copic markers. I’m not often asked to draw Bing Crosby or Bob Hope. My virtual version of my booth is open here on the website through Sunday at 5pm EDT. There you can order any of the types of… READ MORE
