Tom's Mad Blog
June 21st, 2021 | Posted in General
I’ve been MIA for a while here on the blog, and for those frequent visitors and readers I apologize for that. A major job plus a big family wedding plus a family medical crisis plus a make up workshop took me away from the studio and any blogging for a while. The job is complete, the wedding over, the medical crisis is moving in a positive direction and the workshop was just this past weekend. I’ll be back in the studio later today and it will be (almost) business as usual. I’ve got to get back to work on CLAPTRAP and other stuff, but I’ll… READ MORE
June 13th, 2021 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Did Quentin Tarantino request a sketch of himself after you illustrated 2 covers for his film “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood”? Who are some well known celebrities who have commissioned you? A: No, Quentin didn’t ask me to draw him after I did those prop covers… I just did it for fun for my “Sketch o’the Week”. I haven’t had all that many celebrities commission me to do art for them. It’s much more frequent to have celebrities, particularly writers, producers, and directors, contact me about the art I did of their show or movie in MAD. However I have had a few… READ MORE
June 11th, 2021 | Posted in General
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June 9th, 2021 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
This week’s SotW is of actors Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton as Archie and Edith Bunker from the classic sitcom “All in the Family”! As always, the original is available in my Studio Store. READ MORE
June 8th, 2021 | Posted in General
Here are a last couple of mock MAD covers from my “Virtual Artist’s Alley” event back at the end of March. I may do another one of those during the San Diego “Comic-Con @ Home” event next month, but I might be too busy with CLAPTRAP to do another so soon. We’ll see. Thanks to everyone who purchased some of my garbage! READ MORE
June 7th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Hold onto your butts! It’s another edge-of-your-seat episode of our chronological wandering through my work for MAD Magazine! This week’s stop is a two pager poking fun at “American Idol”, written by Greg Leitman and appearing in MAD #440, April 2004. This piece features a couple of inside jokes and cameos. First, the names on the blackboard Pete Rose is putting the betting odds on are the names of my four kids as well as Max Korn and Brady, the daughter of a couple of good friends of ours, Keelan and Barbie Parham: Speaking of Keelan and Barbie, they make a cameo here as well:… READ MORE
June 6th, 2021 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I’ve read many of your posts in the past about accepting payments as a freelancer. From what I understand you only accept a “check in the mail”? I think you mentioned on your blog that it’s the “safest” way to get paid. But don’t you fall in the trap of receiving a bounced check? How does your “payment to making/ finishing artwork” process go? Is it – You agree to a price, they send a check, you start the work, only continue working on the project until you receive the check and if the check doesn’t turn out to be a rubber check, you… READ MORE
June 4th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Wednesday, June 2nd marked the third anniversary of the passing of Nick Meglin, longtime contributor/editor/backbone of MAD magazine. Nick died suddenly of a heart attack at 82 years old. I vividly remember the phone call I got telling me Nick was gone. I was in Toronto teaching a caricature workshop, and I was in total shocked disbelief. Only a few weeks earlier I had seen Nick and got to spend some time with him at the National Cartoonists Society Reuben awards in Philadelphia. It’s impossible to overstate how important Nick was to MAD. Publisher Bill Gaines called him the “heart” of the magazine, but he… READ MORE
