1) Please describe your journey to becoming an artist.

Art has always been my passion. In fact, I knew in kindergarten that I was gifted and blessed as an artist after drawing a picture of cat that won first place in a citywide contest of youth. I later honed my skills in college and through my employment as a graphics director at various newspapers throughout the country, including The Baltimore Sun, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Currently, I work as the Director of Art and Special Publications at The American Physical Society (APS Physics) in College Park, Md.

Early in the summer of 2010 I received a call from some gentlemen out in LA who represented world-famous comedian/ventriloquist Jeff Dunham to inquire about my doing some work for him. I was told Jeff was a big fan of MAD Magazine and my work, and wanted to explore the possibility of using some of my artwork for various projects. In the ensuing year and a half, I’ve done quite a bit of work for him, including detailed illustrations of his various characters, some more simplified line-art type work of same, a few things for merchandising/products and some conceptual work on some possible new characters. It has been a lot of fun working with Jeff and his group.

Here’s a primer on Achmed the Dead Terrorist (foul language alert):

And here’s AJ, Achmed Jr.

From MAD Magazine cartoonist and The Mad Art of Caricature author Tom Richmond:

About 200 professional caricaturists, ranging from party artists to illustrators to sculptors to animators, descend on the unsuspecting host resort for 5 days. They spend their time drawing thousands of caricatures in every imaginable style, attending workshops, listening to guest speakers, getting creatively super-charged and in general having a total blast. Then they all vote for the “best of” various categories and hand out awards in a gala banquet dinner. It is unparalleled immersion in the art of caricature.

For more than seven decades, Mr. Norkin depicted and described the performing arts in America through his sketches and artworks. During his long career, he created more than 4,000 published drawings of theater, dance, opera, jazz, pop, circus and classical music. He was also a writer, lecturer and noted raconteur. His first sale was a 1940 drawing of Alfred Hitchcock directing “Mr. and Mrs. North” that ran in the New York Herald Tribune – it netted him the princely sum of $15.00.

MAD Magazine cartoonist Tom Richmond is self publishing a new book entitled, “The Mad Art of Caricature!.” The book is 170+ pages and contains hundreds of illustrations, step-by-step techniques, tips, and in-depth theories on the art caricature. Book ships in September, but he’s taking pre-orders now with options of signed copies, copies with original art or both. Visit his website for details and pricing or do what I did and just go buy a copy.

Now Molly is distancing herself from the cause she unintentionally created. On her website Molly pulled the original cartoon and posted the following message:

I make cartoons about current, cultural events. I made a cartoon of a fictional ‘poster’ entitled “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!” with a nonexistent group’s name – Citizens Against Citizens Against Humor – drawn on the cartoon. It was in specific response to the recent censoring of a South Park episode, a desire to bring home the importance of the first amendment. I did not intend for my cartoon to go viral. I did not intend to be the focus of any ‘group’. This particular cartoon has struck a gigantic nerve, something I was totally unprepared for.

Personally I can feel afraid of Muslims because I really have no idea if in their hearts they hate non-Muslims. There are so many interpretations of the religion that I hear told – sometimes it is a very extreme translation (that’s the scary part, the radicals that believe that Westerners should die), then at other times it sounds more peaceful.

I hope for the sake of this country that moderate Muslims will speak out with everyone else against any violent members of that or any other religion. That way I would know that there is a difference. Maybe this cartoon I made, this fictional poster of “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!” had such a wildfire effect because it is finally time for Muslims and non-Muslims to understand one another more.

According to Comics Riff, a Facebook page has been created to spread the word about the date. As of this writing it has over 2,400 “attendees.” A similar “Ban Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” now has over 1,600.