MAD Magazine Copying

I have ALWAYS LOVED the MAD Magazine style. I read MAD regularly in the 1980's, fascinated by the semi-realistic and amazingly accurate renderings of actors.

Around that time, I somehow came into the possession of a 1950's MAD paperback.

Wow.

I loved how everything was drawn. The folds in the clothes, the expressions, the hands. Incredible. A lot of it was Mort Drucker, by the way.

Once I saw Will Eisner's work, I made a somewhat presumptuous decision—I wanted to draw like that!

Considering how NO ONE (I've seen, at least) draws like those guys anymore, I thought, why not me?

My first step in realizing this goal was to purchase lots of Will Eisner's work, including his how-to books.

The second step was to get the old MAD work. Luckily, I found a fantastic collection of MAD work—October 1952-December 2005—all on one DVD.



The third step…start drawing!

I've printed out a few pages of the first issue and I copy it while riding to and from work on the bus. I'm slowly learning some cartoon tricks that these dudes back then used, stuff you just don't see anymore.



I hope to make what's old new again, making my small contribution to the improvement of the animation industry.