Tinwerks is a Chicago-based company that does ground-up design and manufacture of metal boxes. Chances are that if your special edition DVD boxed set, candy, gum, food, toys, or cigars came in an uber-cool tin, these guys did it.

Now that I think about it, this is actually the fourth card design I sent them in 2009. The first one was this . . .

(click image for detail)

. . . but they weren’t feeling it, for some reason. So I sent them this . . .

(click image for detail)

. . . which they said was still a bit too corporate. They were looking for something that jumped off the page, something that would show they were a breed apart. Discussion still revolved around robots and snowmen and this and that . . . and then I came up with a giant snowman attacking Tokyo.

Instant love. Do it.

But before getting too far into this version, I sent the Big Bosses the following:

(click image for detail)

The idea being that the runners would be redrawn as a fleeing mob, include some 1950s jets flying around and a pair of insets with shocked citizens and scientist in the bottom corners. Go for a total movie poster look.

And they loved it! They said it was the best Iron Maiden Christmas card they’d ever seen, which I took as a high compliment. But the image was not quite, er, corporate enough — didn’t send the right message or something. So, back to the drawing tablet.

Some more ideas, more back-and-forth and I sent them this one:

It’s got the same basic elements as the final product but the chest design on this guy was a bit much. The final robot design has a nice Power Rangers feel to it that the big-wigs really dug. Actually, they went nuts over it. So much so that there was talk of having “Tinny” (as this guy’s now known throughout the company) at trade shows and printed on t-shirts, but it either never happened or I never got a shirt — which is a drag, because I would be wearing it with pride.

click here for full size image

More fine examples of my holiday handiwork coming soon.

click to download (638kb)

In just under the wire! Print, color and have a Happy Father’s Day. I know I will. Peace.

(special thanks to Bruce Lee , a.k.a., Loston Wallace, over at the PencilJack forum for the Kirby Krackle tutorial. YOU GO NOW. DO IT.)

Why didn’t anybody tell me it’s National Artisan Gelato Month?

Guess I’d have to be on one of the privacy-abusing social networking sites to get that kind of up-to-date info. Well, it’s a small price to pay for keeping my business mine and not fodder for trolls, sell-outs, busybodies, and data miners pimping my status to the advertising industry.

I may be behind the curve on this one, but I’ve still got twelve solid days left to enjoy the sweet, yummy goodness of artisan gelato. I like gelato. Not better than ice cream. Equally, I’d have to say.

If you had a scoop of gelato in one hand and a scoop if ice cream in another and asked me which one I wanted, I’d tell you, “Neither — because they’re all melty and gross and running down your arm. It’s a dessert, not a fetish. So get me a fresh one in a cone; I don’t care what.”

I bet jalapeno gelato is good. I’d like some of that.

Anyway, Here’s a list of artisan gelato joints in Chicago area — including Palazzolo’s and Caffe Gelato (make sure your speakers are off when you hit this site) — and a link to recent Chicago Tribune articles on artisan gelato and places to get it.

All of this artisan gelato action begs the question: how, exactly, did May become National Artisan Gelato Month? Seems like any chucklehead with half an agenda can get his own National Something Month. Take a look at the ones for May:

Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month
Mental Health Month
Allergy/Asthma Awareness Month
National Good Car Keeping Month
National Strawberry Month
National Chocolate Custard Month
Foot Health Month
National Physical Fitness and Sports Month
National High Blood Pressure Month
National Hamburger Month
Arthritis Month
Better Sleep Month
Correct Posture Month
National Salad Month
Older Americans Month
National Barbecue Month
National Bike Month
National Mine Month
National Egg Month
National Artisan Gelato Month
National Asparagus Month
National Macaroon Day
National Salad Month
National Salsa Month
National Share A Story month

National Chocolate Custard Month? Seriously? Why not a National High Fructose Corn Syrup Month? And how about whipping National Egg Month into a nice Bearnaise to drizzle over National Asparagus Month? Where’s National Steak & Crab Legs Month?

Not that I have the time for it, but now I’m pissed-off enough to start investigating how we got all these ridiculous National Months — I’m looking right at you, “Hug a Texas Chef Month.”

More on this as I find it. Meanwhile, here, for your viewing pleasure and possible outrage, is an expanded list of National Months by month. If you’re lucky, maybe your birthday falls during a really good one. My birthday’s in January, host to a bunch of sucky National Months such as:

Prune Breakfast Month
Fat Free Living Month
Dried Plum Breakfast Month (I’m flummoxed as to how this differs from Prune Breakfast Month. Any help here?)
National Fiber Focus Month
National Mail Order Gardening Month
National Eye Health Care

January is also National Egg Month. How did eggs get two National Months? Either the egg lobby is more powerful than we thought, or our elected public servants aren’t paying attention to the bills they vote on.

Nah. Couldn’t be that.

Here’s the Mother’s Day activity sheet for the Hilton Chicago/Indian Lakes in beautiful Bloomingdale, IL. It was a big hit with the kids, and the grown-ups, too — so much so that they ran out of copies to hand out. Note to self: bigger print run for next year.

The hotel’s nicer restaurant, Shiraz On The Water, will be doing a big menu change in a couple of weeks, for which they will be getting all new kids’ menus, too. More on that when it happens.

The hotel also has a Father’s Day brunch coming up on whatever Sunday Father’s day is. And guess who’s doing the activity sheet for that?

I’ll try to have it up before the holiday this time, so the kids at home can print it and color it for their own dads.

(click here for full image)

Somebody help me out here. This guy, deg, AKA, “Douglas Graves”, has been doing 3D modeling for, I don’t know, a couple of weeks, maybe. He somehow got my email address and keeps sending me these updates of his work. It’s pretty and all, but it’s not like I can help him out. “Damn it, Jim, I’m a writer not a production designer!” Right?

So, check out his site then pass the goods around to decision makers and other industry hot shots who can pay Douglas. The idea is to keep him so busy he has no time to flood my mailbox with this stuff.

YOU HIRE DEG NOW!

Here’s something you don’t see every day: a blog entry that is password protected but the writer gives away the password.

?!???!

The reason is that the other post has some language and ideas that don’t exactly pass the “all ages” litmus test. It’s nothing too bad, just kind of shocking and a little more in-your-face than kids need to be reading. Adults, sure. Actually, it’s just the stuff adults should read and think about.

So, to make you responsible for your decision to read the article, it is accessible only by typing or pasting the following into the box:

Uasked4it

This way, whoever reads it has done so actively. This way nobody can claim, “It was on my screen and I couldn’t look away in time to not have my feelings hurt.”

Enjoy!

bjw

(p.s. — Since the next post down is password protected, there doesn’t seem to be a way for readers to add comments. If you’ve got something to say about the article, add the comments to this post. Yeah, it’s confusing, but if you’re reading this blog, you’re smart enough to figure it out. Right! bjw)

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

For The Win covers, UK (left) and US (right)

If I’m reading the press info correctly, BoingBoing editor and author Cory Doctorow will be kicking-off his latest tour at our very own Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville, IL. He’ll be there on Wednesday, May 12th starting at 7PM. (Address below).

My review copy of his new book, For The Win came in the mail yesterday. It’s a long one, something like 480 pages. Since, I’m the kind guy who has to move his lips when he reads, it’s going to take me more than a week to finish. Still, I’ll post a review when I’m done. Meanwhile, here is the synopsis from Cory’s own site, craphound.com: FOR THE WIN [is] a young adult novel about macroeconomics, video games and the labor movement.

How Doctorow will weave all this together is sure to be interesting. The Acknowledgments page is interesting in itself and gives some clues to what else is happening in the book.

Here’s a good scan of a bad print-out detailing Cory’s tour dates.

If you’re within driving distance to Anderson’s or any of these other fine establishments, make the trip and tell ‘em Brad sent you!

Wasn’t there a version of that in one of the Grand Theft Autos?

This morning he gave me the go-ahead to reactivate comments.

So: Gentlemen, Start Your Blather!