Speaking of MAD: Some time ago here, I plugged the new book by Tom Richmond, who is the magazine's star caricaturist in any issue that doesn't have one of Mort Drucker's occasional appearances. Truth to tell, I hadn't spent a lot of time with The MAD Art of Caricature when I wrote that. Well, now I have and I'm more impressed than ever.
This is not just a book about how to draw pictures that exaggerate folks' likenesses. It's that but it's also one of the best "how to" lessons on cartooning in general with a particular emphasis on faces and expressions. There are cartoonists who do not really understand how they do what they do. They just do it…sometimes, astonishingly well. Then there are guys like Tom Richmond who may well operate on a lot of instinct but if you ask them "Why did you do that?," can give you a real answer.
Tom breaks down the process in a way I've never seen before — one that strikes me as eminently useful and practical. Art teachers often have a habit of explaining theory and structure in a way that is disconnected from the act of drawing. They can leave their students wondering, "Okay…I understand what you're trying to teach me. How does that relate in any way to me sitting down at a drawing table with a pencil?" I don't think anyone who works his or her way through Tom's book will be lost in that way. To the contrary, they're likely to understand their tasks and challenges well enough to do them better.
When I wrote a blurb for the back cover, I didn't understand what an important book I was helping to sell. Now, I do. Betcha that ten or twenty years from now, a lot of the new top professional cartoonists cite this as the book that helped them to master their craft. If you'd like to be one of them, you can order a copy here.