Mock MAD Cover Competition Winner

A while ago I wrote this post about an informal competition I was helping judge on the National Caricaturist’s Network forum. In brief, the participating artists were to design and illustrate a MAD Magazine cover with the subject being Sylvester Stallone‘s new movie, Rocky Balboa.
The competition is over, and there were many good entries. Everybody worked hard on their pieces, and choosing a winner wasn;t easy. As part of the competition, artists had to adhere to strict deadlines for roughs, pencils, finished caricatures and final art. Prizes went to first, second and third places.

First place went to Minneapolis illustrator and caricaturist Zack Wallenfang for this piece:

Art by Zack Wallenfang, used with permission

I would have liked to have posted the other two artists who placed, but I did not receive any reply when I asked for permission to post their image (probably didn’t give them enough time), but they were also well deserved winners. It was exhausting but a lot of fun. Congrats to Zack and all the participants!