Mailbag
November 7th, 2021 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I’m a fan of the caricature and realistic paintings of Sebastian Kruger. It’s always puzzled me, though, as to how he acquires the rights to use the source photographs he does. I’m assuming it’s easier to use a photo for caricature since there is so much distortion that there is often no way to say what photo was used. In your case, you often use film images that can be obviously linked to an original photo while not looking exactly like it. Still, there is no other source for the iconic “Here’s Johnny,” Nicholson photo than “The Shining” so it’s obvious that even the… READ MORE
October 31st, 2021 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I saw you make a snarky remark on Twitter about the “Inktober” online initiative and I’m wondering, why do you hate Inktober? It seems to me you should support something like that, being a cartoonist who works with traditional pen and ink a lot. A: You mean this tweet?: I have to admit I’ve been a bit of a smartass the last couple of years about Inktober, but I certainly do not hate it. I’ve made fun of it now and then mainly because I usually spend a hundred plus hours a month every month dipping pen nibs and brushes into ink doing inked art,… READ MORE
October 24th, 2021 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Why the switch to a newsletter from your blog? I’ve made your blog a daily stop for a long time, and while I’ve subscribed to your newsletter I’ll miss visiting here to see what you’ve posted today. There’s a kind of cool connection knowing you’ve posted THAT DAY, rather than reading a newsletter you probably put together over a few days. It’s more of a personal connection, if you understand that. Anyway I’ll miss the blog. A: I addressed that pretty thoroughly (I think) in my announcement on Friday. The short version is I’m not reaching a growing audience via the blog or socials… READ MORE
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
September 26th, 2021 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: What are your thoughts on The Walt Disney Company’s barrage of lawsuits on Friday? A: Here’s a link to another story about this issue. For those tl;dr folks here’s the brief version: Earlier this year the heirs/estates of several artists and writers who created Marvel characters like Spider-Man, Thor, etc. filed lawsuits against Disney (owners of Marvel) claiming copyrights to the characters should revert back to them after a 60 year time limit under the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. Disney recently filed countersuits saying the characters were created under a “work for hire” arrangement, and therefore the copyright claims are invalid. My thoughts?… READ MORE
September 19th, 2021 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: For most of its history MAD had a circulation of 8 issues a year. Then, when DC Comics took over, the number of issues went from 8 issues to a monthly magazine until issue #499. From #500 it was 4 issues for awhile and ultimately went up to 6 issues a year. Do you think the quality of MAD Magazine went down when it was a monthly issue? Do you think it should have remained at 8 issues a year. How was the general response to MAD being issued out 4 times a year.. and ultimately coming out 6 times a year? How many issues a… READ MORE
September 12th, 2021 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Do you ever create non-cartoon/caricature drawings such as portraits or landscapes? If so, how do you manage to shift gears so drastically? A: Very seldom these days. The art college I went to had no cartooning classes. Occasionally in one of my illustration classes I would be able to get away with doing a cartoon image for a certain project, but that was mostly frowned upon. I was trained in classic drawing and painting instead. This actually helped my cartooning (in my opinion) as it forced me to develop my drawing skills, and when I then turned back to cartooning I think my skills… READ MORE
September 5th, 2021 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: As you’ve been revisiting your old work, have you had any OH SH*T moments when you saw something you’d overlooked. I don’t mean things that you look back on and see how you might have done them better, but genuine oversights like “I forgot to give that guy feet”? A: I have been trying to think of any really “OMG I can’t believe that got by me” sort of things but nothing really egregious comes to mind. I notice a LOT of times where I missed coloring something, so someone’s hand is the green of what’s behind it or whatever, but I’ve can’t recall ever giving… READ MORE
