No “Sketch o’the Week” today, or maybe for a while. Between work on CLAPTRAP, a freelance job that is a lot of work with a tight deadline, and all the artwork I still need to do for my “Virtual Artist’s Alley” event, I am swamped. Here’s one of the “Mock MAD Cover” commissions I did recently for a customer. Tombow brush pens and Copic markers on 9 x 12 bristol. READ MORE
I was saddened to hear of the passing of MAD‘s “Poet Laureate”, longtime writer Frank Jacobs yesterday. He was 91. Frank is best known for his song parodies in MAD AKA “Sing to the Tune of…”, which became not just a trademark element of MAD’s repertoire of recurring features, but the focus of its most famous legal battle. Berlin v. E.C. Publications, Inc., 329 F.2d 541 (2d Cir. 1964), became a landmark case of copyright law. Irving Berlin (and a bunch of music publishers) sued MAD over the song parodies that were part of a paperback book entitled More Trash from Mad No. 4, claiming copyright infringement of the original… READ MORE
We continue our inane and pointless wandering through my appearances in MAD Magazine with my 20th contribution, a return to the world of sports with “MAD‘S Proposed Rule Changes for the Upcoming NASCAR Season”, written by my CLAPTRAP cohort Desmond Devlin and appearing in MAD #427, March 2003. This piece was unique in that I was told to draw a caricature of someone in it that was part of an advertising/promotional campaign. Back in 2002 DC/Warner Bros/MAD started a promotional campaign with the South Beach Beverage Co. aka “SoBe”. SoBe was producing a new chocolate flavored energy drink called “Love Bus Brew”, and for some… READ MORE
Q: Has anyone ever drawn Alfred E Neuman from an angle that was NOT “straight on”? I know he has been drawn from the back of his head (but that angle is also sort of “straight on”). Just wondering if you know of any instance of an artist have tried him at an angle? A: Yes, Alfred has on occasion been drawn in a 3/4 view or even in profile, but VERY seldom, and not much after 1960 or so. When I first started with MAD, I was told that any depictions I might do of Alfred should be based solidly on the Mingo original. Artists are… READ MORE
I started with MAD in mid-late 2000, and only two years later the magazine celebrated its 50th birthday. I took it upon myself to have embroidered polo shirts made for the MAD staff. This picture is of the prototype embroidery design that was sent to me for approval back in 2002, and it’s tacked up on the corkboard wall of my studio. This was set on the “pocket” area (aka the left chest area) of some very fancy Bill Blass polo shirts. I had about 15 made I think. Sadly the shirt project was a bit of a disaster. The embroidery turned out nice but… READ MORE
Five years ago I pulled this epic April Fool’s Day prank on a vacant lot about a mile up the street from our house. The lot had contained a BP gas station/auto repair business that had closed up about a year before, and the building had been razed the previous fall. It sat on the corner of a very busy road about 100 yards from the on/off ramps of a main metro highway, so it was a high traffic area. There was a lot of speculation as to what was going to be built on the lot, but so far no signage or any official… READ MORE
Well, actually it’s David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust persona, complete with screwed-up eyes and screwed-down hairdo, like some cat from Japan. He played guitar. READ MORE
It was announced last week that toy company Funko is making an Alfred E. Neuman version of their popular “Pop” toy figures. This is being greeting mostly with disdain from MAD fans because the figure is not “Alfred-like” enough. The face is total symmetrical, the eyes are on the same horizontal, etc. It’s missing many of the trademark elements of Alfred E Neuman. This is to be expected, however. The entire line of Funko Pop figures do exactly what they do with this Alfred doll. They totally homogenize the look of whoever or whatever character they are supposed to be into the same Pop figure… READ MORE
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