Tom's Mad Blog
April 14th, 2021 | Posted in General
My freelancing workload just went from Mach 2 to Warp 7, so I am taking the month of April off of doing a “Sketch o’the Week”. Instead on Wednesdays I’ll post one of the commission pieces I have done from my “Virtual Artist’s Alley”‘ event late last month. I got some very fun requests. This is one of the “Mock MAD Cover” commissions I did. You’d have to be familiar with the movie “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” to get it. Brush pen and Copic markers on 9×12 bristol. READ MORE
April 14th, 2021 | Posted in News
I’ve done a number of podcast interviews in the last year or two, but this one is definitely a favorite. From the Middle is a “comedy, entertainment, and culture podcast” hosted by Kory and Dillon Hubbell and Kendall Eilola. There are a lot of those types of podcasts, but Kory told me that they made an effort to ask questions of guests that are not your typical type of questions… and he was right. At no point to they ask what pen nib I use. We talk about family, the comics and illustration industry, making a living as a cartoonist in the 21st century, and… READ MORE
April 13th, 2021 | Posted in General
Every Tuesday we post an update on the CLAPTRAP Indiegogo “Indemand” store site. This week’s update is a 15 minute video of me inking on one of the panels from our parody of “The Shawshank Redemption”, while talking a bit about the process. Here it is: If you have not pre-ordered a copy of the book yet, you can do so here. READ MORE
April 13th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Hey everybody! I have some art in the latest issue of MAD Magazine!!! For realz! I just cancelled my application to replace the license plates on my car as these are current again for now: MAD #19 drops today and the above two pager contains some new art from me, written by Benjamin Le Clear. It’s still largely a reprint piece with the different Al Jaffee clairvoyant inventions, but new stuff is new stuff! BTW I hand lettered the title and the birthday wishes for Al in the bottom right, as art director Suzy Hutchinson wanted an old school look to go with Mr. Original… READ MORE
April 12th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
The next stop on our MADdeningly slow chronological slog through my MAD work is a look at my 21st piece in the magazine, “MAD Sizes Up the 2003 Oscars: Best Picture” from MAD #428, April 2003. The writing is credited to Greg Leitman, Barry Liebmann, David Shayne and Mike Snider. The Alfred “Oscar” statue is by Harry North, ESQ. MAD #428 had two other of these “”MAD Sizes Up the 2003 Oscars” features, all written by the same crew. “Best Actor” had art by Drew Friedman, and “Best Actress” had art by Rick Tulka. As it happens, we are finally reaching the point where I… READ MORE
April 11th, 2021 | Posted in Mailbag
Welp, it’s been a while since I’ve had an empty mailbag but here it is. After 659 answered mailbag questions over the last (nearly) 15 years, perhaps this feature has run its course. If I get any questions I’ll answer them, otherwise I will start posting classic “mailbag” questions on Sundays. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here! READ MORE
April 9th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
The Usual Idiots at MAD posted this sneak peek from MAD #19 on their Instagram yesterday, so I thought I’d share it here. It’s from a NEW piece of art I did for that issue… a two pager wishing Al Jaffee a happy birthday and tying in to their “MAD Predicts the Future” issue theme. The issue drops next week Tuesday, so I will share more of the art then. And yes, that’s also a nod to Johnny Carson‘s “Carnac the Magnificent”. READ MORE
April 8th, 2021 | Posted in Illustration Throwback Thursday
Back in the 80’s and 90’s I did a lot of airbrush work, including the occasional piece of clothing. I still have this Val Kilmer Batman I painted on the back of a motorcycle jacket around 1995 or so. READ MORE
