June Drawing Dump!
Plus, a sneak peek at the Rube-centric game show I'm working on, and an upcoming Barnes & Noble event
It’s been an interesting few weeks around here. I’m secretly working on a pitch for a Rube Goldberg themed game show, plus two different graphic novel pitches (Shhhh!), and had a number of fun jobs come in. Never a dull moment.
Mad #600
First off is the upcoming special issue of Mad, issue number 600! I’m joined in this one by a number of UGOI for all new material- Sergio Aragonés, Tom Richmond, Hermann Mejia, Peter Kuper, Teresa Burns Parkhurst, Gideon Kendall and more among them.
I’ll share my contributions after the issue drops, on 6/17.
For the diehard comic nerds out there…
My uncle was Marvel comics writer and editor Mark Gruenwald. In addition to being the longest writer on Captain America, Mark was pivotal in steering Marvel forward in the 80s and 90s, and it’s generally accepted that the current wave of MCU movies were a direct result of Mark’s work at expanding not just Marvels titles, but the medium itself.
A long overdue biography of Mark was released in March, written by Paul V. Allen and published by University Press of Mississippi. Mark’s widow, my aunt, fashion icon, force-to-be-reckoned-with and custodian of Mark’s legacy, Catherine Schuller, found the cover less than ideal for the subject (no offense to the original illustrator), contacted me to create a wraparound cover for the book.
Fun fact: Mark had his own super cool Captain America shield, which, after his tragic passing in 1996, changed hands a few times, is now the property of Superman Stephen Colbert. From what I’m told, it was presented to Colbert by Marvel Managing Editor and super nice guy Joe Quesada, and lived on as a prominent part of the set of The Colbert Report as well as The Late Show. Hopefully this is one of the pieces Stephen kept from The Late Show!
I have no idea if the publisher will offer this as an add-on to the book, but if you’re interested in Mark’s biography, click here…
Sports Caricatures!
I’ve always wanted to do one of those cool team roster caricatures that used to be a thing, ala Bruce Stark- you know, the big poster sized illustration of all the players on some big sports team. I’m the last one you’d imagine wanting to draw anything sports related, but I always thought those posters of [Insert history year] [Insert NBA/NFL/MLB team name] were just super cool.
So, as a thank you to my 6 year old’s Spring 2026 soccer coaches, I did my own version of one of those posters.
All the kids teams in this organization are named after… breakfast cereals. You guessed it, the team name was KABOOM. (I was hoping for Fruit Broot, but you take what you can get!)
This was 11x17-ish, pen & ink on board, with digital color. Here’s the scan of the actual drawing:
Commission Corner!
Here’s a caricature commission that came in that took way longer than usual. Why? Because it was requested that the original be poster sized. This was to be a 20”x24” watercolor. That’s a record for me, fo’ sho’.
Unfortunately, my scanner only does 11x17, so I couldn’t get a proper scan of this one- just a regular ol’ phone pic. That was a shame, because I really wanted to have a good record of this one. (I know I could have tiled it, but it was literally drying when I had to box it up and get it ready for delivery. This had an uncomfortably tight deadline is the excuse I’m sticking with.)
This is a dude who works for a company making suspensions (clearly my speciality!), and is on the Board of Directors for the Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago), and went to Notre Dame. And they wanted his family in there.
There should have been way more background gags in this, but the tight deadline and intimidating size of this thing held me back a bit. (Unrelated: No comment from me as to how hard it is to draw Notre Dame sans Hunchback.)
Did this one a little different than most- I drew it out digitally, then transferred the art to the board. Here’s the digital sketch:
Hey mister! Where’s the fire?
There’s a fire house in St. Paul I’ve done some work for over the past year. One was their annual Christmas card:
They were looking for a new image to represent their firehouse- after getting a rundown of the specifics of what they wanted in it, I sat and stared blankly at the drawing board for way too long. What emerged was this:
Fun!
Sneak Peek at what I’m working on…
2 (yeah, TWO) graphic novel pitches I’m working on with my friend, Bongo Comics and former Mad magazine Executive Editor Bill Morrison. I’m really anxious to share what this nonsense is all about.
My annual official art for the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben awards. (This one’s in the can, but I can’t share just yet.)
I’ve recently wrapped a slew of artwork for a potential new game show, all based around Rube Goldberg machines. Not to give too much away, but I designed a huge Rube machine that contestants will have to accurately interact with to win. It’s being shopped around to all the networks now, by, among others involved, one of the driving forces behind the show Impractical Jokers. This took up about two months of my time, and if there’s any movement, I’ll share everything here. This one seriously has to be seen to be believed.
If you’re anywhere near the Southeaster Wisconsin area this coming Saturday, I’ll be signing books and drawing free caricatures at the Racine Barnes & Noble from 1-4! Click here for more details….
That’s it for now… thanks for subscribing!
Questions & comments always welcome. Praise is even MORE welcome!
Fantastic work!! Really like the suspension dude and the insight behind it. Thanks for that!!
Man, you are crazy busy!! That's so good to see, but I hope you're getting rest!