Tom Richmond, current a lead illustrator for MAD magazine and part of the creative development team for the MAD TV show on the Cartoon Network, will be making a rare appearance at the Grand Rapids Comic-Con! Tom has been freelancing since the early 1990’s with an extensive client list including Sports Illustrated Kids, National Geographic World and other national publications. He’s done comics for DC and Marvel, animation for Warner Bros, Television and product illustration for comedian Jeff Dunham and many other clients. He is best known as one of the “Usual Gang of Idiots” at MAD Magazine, illustrating their trademark movie and TV parodies since 2000. Tom attended Art College in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he learned absolutely nothing about cartooning, caricature or humorous illustration. To pay for his college education, Tom got a summer job drawing caricatures at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois. Here Tom learned an important life lesson: it was possible to get paid to make fun of people. Tom eventually graduated from college and embarked on his career path. This led first to Atlanta, Georgia, where he managed a caricature operation for Fasen Arts at Six Flags Atlanta. In the 18 months he and his new wife spent in Atlanta, Tom started his own caricature concession operation at Underground Atlanta, a downtown retail attraction. He also started his freelance career in earnest, drawing comic books for “NOW Comics” and eventually doing some work for Marvel. In 1998 Tom discovered the “National Caricaturist Network”, an organization of professional caricaturists. Tom joined the NCN and attended his first convention in Las Vegas that winter. In the years since, he has been honored with several awards from the organization including the Golden Nosey for “Caricaturist of the Year” in 1998 and 1999. He also served as president of the NCN for two years. In 2000 Tom finally broke into MAD. Today he is pleased to be considered one of the “Usual Gang of Idiots”, at least until they can find somebody better who will work as cheap. Until then you can see his movie/TV parodies and feature article illustrations in almost every issue of MAD. Tom contributed on a regular basis to the Cartoon Networks “MAD” animated television show, doing character design work. In 2012, Tom received arguably cartoonings highest honor: The Reuben for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year. Previous winners include comic strip legends Milton Caniff, Al Capp, Charles Schulz, Bill Watterson, Garry Trudeau, Mort Drucker, Will Eisner, and Jack Davis. grcomiccon/tom-richmond/
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 01:16:55 +0000
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