I never hesitate to get my hands on free crafty gear, and this past week I had a chance to do it twice. Once from the talented Stuart Kolakovic, and then from the offices of lifetime hero, David Suzuki.

Lad of the Rings
Stuart had apparently had a rough time getting his line of plastic rings to turn out the way he wanted them – and offered to send some of the duds free of charge to anyone who wanted a few.
I did. I wrote; and a few days later- there they were in the daily mail. Not bad really. They are a bit rough around the edges, and not exactly round, but the motifs on them are quite nice.

The printed envelope they came in, along with a card and a pin were extra surprises!

So cool. I won’t wear them, though, might send them to my sister in Canada though – the young one, that is… unless the older one starts kicking and screaming.

Suzuki’s Afro
In an effort to get Canadians to vote for the environment this election, The David Suzuki foundation was giving away these cool badges to the first 100 people to ask for them, and sign up for a newsletter from their new blog: voteenvironment2008.ca. I couldn’t pass up a little piece of memorablia (gotta love that afro)- so I did right away, even though I thought I’d had missed the boat.

Lo and behold- there they were today – right there in a recycled paper envelope, with a newsletter, two more badges than I had counted on, and a little note saying “vote for the environment!”

Turns out I can’t vote – having been away from Canada for more than 5 years… who knew?

So I’ll tell any Canadian listening to do it instead:

Vote for the Environment!
And while you’re at it, why not give a party BESIDES the Conservatives and the Liberals have a go at running the country?

I’ll be showing my support for you environmentally friendly canucks over here in Scandinavia, by wearing these pins wherever I go.

Stuart Kolakovic
vote environment 2008

Mads worked with me at Savannah, many years ago, and was a force to reckon with back then. He was the first to jump ship, and try his hand a freelancing on his own, and subsequently rocketted onto the advertising scene with a bang. I don’t think he’s ever looked back.

Mads has a style you can’t miss. If you see something in Copenhagen that looks fresh and tweeks your interest – he’s probably drawn it.

Case in point is his work for Hansens Ice Cream (tasty stuff!). The boys and I have popped into their ice cream shop, near Nørreport Station, many a weekend – and I just love being surrounded by Mads shapes and colours. It’s retro Danish in such a tastelful and playful way.

I grabbed a few postcards – just to show you, and to put on our fridge.

Mads Berg

“Berg” – is Danish for Mountain, you see.

Luc (great name) has been the most inspiring illustrator-blogger I’ve ever run across, and even though he’s taken to Twittering rather than blogging lately, I still check up on what he’s up to regularly. He seems to be everywhere – so it’s not hard. If anything new pops up on the web – he’s probably been there a while already.

Why “Mr.Clean”? He looks the part, and his style is crispy clean. Naughty sometimes – but clean;)

Luc Latulippe

John Martz (editor of DRAWN!, and fellow Canuck) has been a steady inspiration for me to at least try and draw more. I draw a lot, but Mr. Martz draws a whole lot more. And by “more”, I mean many more free-standing-gold-nugget-pieces-of-wonder.

I wish I could just spend my time drawing drawings. I seem to always draw stuff that moves.

Martz has blogged about his latest job: the Five Runs Makeover, and I have to say it is a pretty sight, indeed! Makes me want to learn Ruby on Rails, just so I can keep visiting it!

But I won’t. I’ll just keep enjoying everything Mr.Martz throws out there:)

Check out his books, prints, comics, drawings and hand lettering! Wow!

robotjohhny.com
DRAWN!

Mother Earth! Originally uploaded by frank-c

Here’s a pretty little ditty from Frank Chimero, a very cool illustrator who also calls himself a “tinkerer”!

Frank Chimero is a designer, illustrator and tinkerer from Missouri, USA. Inspired by the mid-century aesthetic, Frank tries to recapture the sense of optimism, playfulness, heart and charm that’s characteristic of the period. He can usually be found surrounded by many tiny slips of paper with fragments of ideas scrawled on them.