Happy and nice Christmas!!

New hoodies... Tell us you weren't holding your breaths ^_^

With a little bit late on schedule, our lovely new hoodies have finally landed in our on-line store. This year it took a little more on our account for various reasons which we won't bother to bore you with, but without a doubt it was worth it once again and we present them to you with oh so much pride.

As we have done so in other seasons, they are tailor-made, 100% cotton and printed on gigantic silk-screens. And of course, the hoods are once again the protagonists. All of them come with different printed details. For those of you who are new to our products, here's a little preview:
Even bigger news, we announce that this year WE'VE ALSO MADE A FEW DESIGNS EXCLUSIVE TO GIRLS. Which means they're all nicely fitted and stuff... Sizes S, M and L. You can see the exact sizes on our Size Chart. After all that you've written us asking for them, we hope that they're out of stock as soon as you've finished this article, or being prudent, at least by the time Christmas is over, because it has cost us an arm and a foot finding the right model. Or so we think... Pfff!!

The Characters we've prepared are:

BOY HOODIES

- Panda, the ferocious one: Brown Color [120 hoodies]
- BLACK ANGEL, the Hell guardian: Black Color [180 hoodies]
- Hikiko VS Pacman: Kakhi Color [120 hoodies]

GIRL HOODIES [First in the World!!]

- The Star Cleaner: Marine Color [50 hoodies]
- Hikiko loves Toad: Color Rojo [100 hoodies]
- Air Dudes: Grey Color [150 hoodies]

Tell us, what do you think of this year's batch? Do you like the sweaters for girls? Lying is a capital sin, but if it's to say something good about us, it's considered just a little white lie and you'll still go to Heaven =)

You can see all these photos in big format on our Flickr.

Panda, the ferocious one

Hikiko loves Toad

Lottery for Characters - Christmas 2009

After last year's success and knowing that things are currently a little bit difficult, this year we wanted to repeat the experience so we're going to organize our own Christmas Lottery. When? Well between 3rd of December and the 3rd of January all those of you who order online shall be entered into the draw.
What does it consist of? It's easy. We've issued a bunch of tickets, each with a series and a two-digit number. If this number matches with the last two mega ball numbers of the Niño Lottery, that will take place on the 6th of January in Spain, then you'll be the lucky winner. And what if you get all of the numbers in a series? Well, we begin a new serial number: 2, 3, 4... as many as are necessary. So, this means that if you place an order during this Christmas Holiday you'll have up to a 4% chance of being a winner.

And how can you get hold of a ticket? Easier still. Depending on the amount you spend in your orders on our website (www.tolkymonkys.com/en) this Christmas, we'll give you a specific number of shares:

- From 30€ to 50€: 1 coupon
- From 51€ to 90€: 2 coupons
- From 91€ and up: 4 coupons

What´s the prize? Well, if you're one of the lucky coupon owners, you'll have to contact us and we'll give you back the entire amount spent on your buy. So, it'll be completely FREE. Hell yeah!

We hope you like the idea!

We're featured in the newspaper Informados

Well it looks like the World has started to acquire good taste. They have written a small article about us for the paper “Informados”, from Murcia. A big shout out to all people from Murcia!

A few months ago we were contacted by a reporter from the newspaper, Jose Angel, and they sent us a little survey that we responded very pleased. To tell the truth, these things still excite us as much as they did in the beginning ;]

Download article in PDF. [Only in Spanish]

We've changed the label on our products

Like we usually do every year, we've made a few modifications on the card label that comes with all of our Products. Those of you who have bought anything will know what we're on about, but for those who haven't sinned yet, here's a photo:
On the front we have maintained the illustration of the Character and part of its story both in English and Spanish. As you can see, we've adapted the colour scheme to the season, light blue being the protagonist. As a novelty, we've added the edition the product belongs to and the number of pieces printed in said edition. We think this is an important aspect on our products, because when buying, we know that you look for something different that not many people have. And that's exactly what this little detail tries to highlight.

And on the back, we've printed a complete graphic composition on different cards. This way, to view the entire illustration, you'll have to get together labels from the different Characters. It's kind of like a puzzle, although it's likely that none of you will complete it =P It will look like this:

If you think of any ideas for our next label designs, write it in the comments below, because we've already started to think of them ;]

And we´ve also reprinted the most sought after boy t-shirts

Did you think think that we would forget about those of you who'd asked for a tee shirt that was out of stock? Of course not ;] New editions of our coolest Tolky Monkys Characters are now available. Read:

- Hikiko, the mime: Black and Red. 205 t-shirts.

- Hikiko Invaders: Black / Green y Black / Blue. 150 t-shirts.

- Casius: Black and Brown. 150 t-shirts.

- Muerte cooking worms: Black. 100 t-shirts.

- Muerte at the toilet: Black and Red Tile: 150 t-shirts.

- Panda, the ferocious one: Orange and Claret: 150 t-shirts.

- Panda stuffing himself: Dark Grey and Red Tile: 150 t-shirts.

Even though we've reprinted them, the number of pieces is still quite small. The one we've indicated for each design refers to the total amount between the different colours. And all the models we have vary from the S to the XXL. Yep, you read right, we have these models in XXL. You can take a look at our Size Guide to find out if the XXL is your one. That said, be sure to hurry because just as we've advised in our previous posts, there is a maximum of 2 pieces per design, in this size. After all, we're just trying this out to see the response.

So do tell us if we've done the right thing in reprinting them. If you'd like us to reprint any others, leave us a comment and we'll take note. Until soon!

CASIUS [Front]

CASIUS [Back]

Because taking care of t-shirts is possible

So yes, dear reader, making the tee shirts you buy last longer, is also in your hands. We put effort into the shirts so the printing is excellent and that the material is of good quality and has no defects, of course there's always the one that comes out a little strange, but, once you have bought a shirt, the amount of time it lasts will depend on the care you put into it. We though it would be a good idea to write something about this and give a few pointers that can help you out, weather its with our tee shirts or any others.

Firstly, when you buy a t-shirt, it's always a good idea to wash it the first time on its own, by hand, in cold water, inside out. Why? For two reasons: as they're cotton, regardless of what many people may say, it will shrink, even if it's only by a millimeter or so. This way, the shrinking business will be minimal. Also, for whatever reason, if the printing on the shirt hasn't been done correctly. This may happen once every thousand pieces, and god forbid it happen to you. If it does, however, contact us and we'll change it ;] In subsequent washings, it is imperative that you ALWAYS place it in the washing machine inside out. This will help protect the silk screen printing and lasts much longer.

And when ironing, for goodness sake, do it at the adequate temperature for cotton, and again, inside out. If you use the "Vaporetta de la mamma" over the print, it's likely that you'll not only ruin the picture, but you'll have a nice ink splotch on your iron. How nice!

And lastly, when hanging them out to fry, try placing them inside out, especially if it's in direct sunlight, because this ends up eating away the colours and cracking the stamped on design.

Oh, and of course, if one day you decide to go to the beach, get in the water, roll about in the sand and sun bate for 5 hours straight, all without taking off your shirt, don't expect it to last more than a day. Yes, man has managed to get to the Moon, but it seems like he's not so interested in making his clothes last ;]

If you'd like more tips, you can visit out special section on the web:

How to take care of tshirts

Launch of new t-shirts for men

We proudly present the new designs for our t-shirts for men. They're three new Characters that we've released. The first, Muerte, is a veteran with 6 different designs on the back. We've called this last one "vanity-fear". We hope you get the play on words when you see the design ;] It's centered in the middle with graphic details on the back. Additionally, we have 2 new characters: The astonishing neighbors of 33C, scientists who are passionate about discovering new things, and Bluby Birdo, the Character that we have used for the 5th Edition of Micro-stories.

Technically, we are still using large screens to stamp the designs on to the shirts, in order to take full advantage of them, and we're also maintaining the little label on the sleeve. The truth is, it gives it that touch of glamour... right?

And a newbie, we inform you that we've printed some shirts in size XXL. Just as we have done in other instances where we tried out new things, we've made no more than two per model / colour, so if you've decided that you like any of them, we urge you to order it quickly. If you'd like, you can take a look at our Size Guide to know exactly which size is yours.

MUERTE, vanity-fear [See tshirt in store]

The amazing NEIGHBORS FROM 33C [See tshirt in store]

BLUBY BIRDO [See tshirt in store]
See t-shirts in the online store
See big photos on our Flickr

And at last, winners of the Short Story Contest

[Drum roll]
[Drum roll]
[Cymbals]

Before knowing the winners and going on to the rest of the article, we would like to thank you all who participated for your efforts. First and most importantly, to the writers who have contributed 82 stories for the contest. There are people who don't always appreciate the hard work that goes into writing a good story in just a few words, and even more so when it's about one of our Characters =P, but we know that's it's not an easy task. Secondly, to Bubok for collaborating with us to give you this contest. And thirdly, to all our readers who dedicated their time to read and rate the stories. THANK YOU EVERYBOBY!!

So, without further ado, as we're sure you're all thinking we're being pestilential, we shall list aaaaaaaaaall of the winners. We have chosen 7 stories amidst the preselected 25, as well as the 3 voted most popular:

- Antonio Alarcón ::: Hikiko Ghost & Hikiko Goblins. Read Story.
- Andrés Fernández ::: Gustavo de los brazos largos. Read Story.
- Edgarin ::: Menudo, el pirata borracho. Read Story.
- Laura Nicte ::: La Muerte. Read Story.
- Miguel Ángel López Matamoros ::: Abram, el nuevo conde de los vampiros. Leer Relato.
- Ricardo Rey Pena ::: Carlitos Caos Begins. Read Story.
- Rubén Hurtado ::: Menudo, el pirata borracho. Read Story.

At first we had the in mind preparing this book with only 10 short stories, buuuut, at the request of Bubok, we're going to include 5 more that were not preselected that, in their opinion, deserve their place in the book. And we have to say that we agree:

- R.G. Cárdenas ::: Coconut Case. Read Story.
- Juan Carlos Carvajal ::: La Formula de Hikiko. Read Story.
- Margarita Nora ::: Invasores. Rumbo al planeta Uno. Read Story.
- Ana Iglesias Sánchez ::: Perrito malo. Read Story.
- Daniel Gallego Vico ::: Un día más. Read Story.

Congratulations to all those selected! And for those of you who weren't chosen, if you are asking yourselves why them and not me, we'll tell you that we took into account the basic things like if it was well written, even if not perfect, and that it proved to be entertaining, and also other things that in any other contest they wouldn't took into account, like the coherency of the original character story, and the variety in the book, so the same Character isn't features 10 times. Nevertheless, these types of decisions are very subjective and we're not always able to argue the case logically. We just know that the ones we have chosen we liked very much.

And just as a reminder, each winning writer will receive the following prizes:

Sólo a modo de recordatorio, cada escritor recibirá por cada relato ganador los siguientes premios:

- Publication of the story in the book alongside your name. Remember that it will be before the 1st December
- Tolky Monkys voucher with a value of 60€
- 1 copy of the book including your story, courtesy of Bubok.
- Promotion and publicity by Bubok and Tolky Monkys with the tools at your fingertips.

The book and certificate will be sent before the 10th December. Now it's just a matter of revising the stories on behalf of bubok and the readers, in case there's something that needs to be tweaked, illustrate them, do the book's layout and design the front cover, next to nothing!

We'll keep you informed of any news, See you soon!

Winners Micro-story Contest ::: 5th edition

Once again, thank you to all those who participated: this includes all of you who have given ideas, the Blogs that have collaborated with us, those who have written on your own personal blogs and of course those who have “tweeted” about it. We love reading your stories and see where you can go with just a simple presentation of an illustration. Some day we will do a book with all the micro-stories that you have offered in the different editions we've gone through. :]

In total we have recieved almost 100 proposals on 7 different blogs, 5 spanish and 2 foreign. You can see them all on the list of stories and winners that we've uploaded on our web. [only in spanish]

As for our winners, these are the decisions:

- Acuatica: Eolo, the wind catcher, written on Solo pienso en camiestas.
- Flánagan: For the name “Bluby Birdo”, written on Raza Becaria.

As well as the 2 winners previously mentioned, to every one we will send a surprise pack of 4 new articles of our new Characters that we will bring up next week, there are more prizes to give out that you can see in our list of stories and winners:

- 2 winners per Blogs will take home a surprise t-shirt each.
- Prizes to the best Blogs: we will give out to Viste Adecuadamente and to Raza Becaria a pack of surprise articles each for being the first and second blogs with the most ideas out of all those who participated.
- Twitter Prizes: a surprise tee shirt to Jlau628 and another to Sunsioneta.
- Secondary Blog Prizes: a surprise tee shirt to Mameluco, another to Prosopopeya divagante, and another to I told you so!!. By the way, you must read those blogs =P

We're having some difficulties in finding all the blogs that wrote about our contest, because they didn't linked to the article on this blog. There is still a tee shirt to hand out. If you wrote about it, please leave a comment.

We will be in contact with you all via e-mail sometime during this week, or if not during the next week, although you can take a look at all the winners in the aforementioned list of stories and winners.

And for all those who participated but did not win, don't worry because there are presents for all:

- Proposed ideas: 25% discount coupon. It will be published on the blog you participated with. Tomorrow we'll make 'em and we will send them to the each of the bloggers, so then can after publish it on their respective blog.
- Twitter: 25% discount coupon. All those who weren't winners, we will send you a personalized coupon by a Direct Message. Be on the look out!
- Secondary Blog prizes: 50% discount coupon. We will send the personalized coupon via your blogs to those who did not win.

If you are one of the previously mentioned and do not receive one in the next few days, please contact us because there's a slight chance that we either forget to include you or our messages have somehow ended up in the dreaded Spam folder. It's just that neither Google nor Microsoft nor Yahoo care about us ;]

Thank you to all and until the next contest!

Oh, but the television does us such good...

So yeah, this is another of those articles we write with a smile on our faces, the kind that makes your ego swell a little. But anyhow, we're human and we can't help feeling proud when, even though it's because life's coincidences, someone wears one of our t-shirts to film a series on the television. It's just that the TV still has that special something about it =P

This time, we've spotted Hikiko, the mime, on La Sexta: Que vida más triste. Episode “19” to be exact. Here's a fragment of the episode, although you don't actually get to the part with the tte shirt, but it's just in case you're not familiar with the show [only in Spanish]:

If you want to watch it in it's entirety, you just have to visit their web page and look it up. It's an episode from last Friday 23rd of October. We would give you a link directly, but there isn't one available =(

See video on La Sexta [only in Spanish]

And if you don't want to watch the whole thing, he's a photogram and that's that...
Yeah, yeah.. We know you can't really see the picture on it, but capturing the screen really doesn't give us that much anyway. See you soon!

Tolky Monkys little nudge...

Just like in our previous contest, to encourage you to write that story you have in mind and are too embarrassed because you think it may not be good enough, we're going to raffle out discount coupons to ALL the participants, without sortition, just for leaving an idea:

• If you have proposed an idea: 25% discount coupon.
• If you've publicized the contest through Twitter: 25% discount coupon.
• If you write a blog post announcing the contest with a link to our blog and our Tolky Monkys page: 50% discount coupon.

The coupons will be handed over when the winners are chosen and can't be accumulated. Only one coupon will be given out, even if you write several ideas, which will be valid only once. But, you will be able to use it in out all products without exception: boy t-shirts, girl t-shirts, hoodies, polo shirts and posters.

So now you know, stop waiting to have the perfect draft and propose something already, 'cause the important thing is to have fun and enjoy reading everybody's quirks. This isn't work. Here we won't say “you must do better than this Smith”. The story is probably a lot better than you imagine. It's like those times we had to go to an exam thinking we would flunk and then pass with an A+ =P

The blogs where you can participate in are:

- Cottonable [English]
- Oink el rellano [Spanish]
- Raza Becaria - Blog de La Sexta [Spanish]
- Si, lo se [Spanish]
- Solo pienso en camisetas [Spanish]
- T-shirts Around the Internet [English]
- Viste Adecuadamente [Spanish]

Remember you have until the 22nd of October. At 12 at night it'll close and we'll start to judge the stories.

View rules and prizes of the contest.
View an sample story for the Character.

Microstories Contest - 5th edition

As usual in these dates, new Characters births are taking place at Tolky Monkys, and we need your help to put them a name and create a story for one of them.

From October 12th till 22nd of the same month, you may propose your ideas in several blogs. This blue being of the image hasn´t got neither name or story, only a provisional one (you can find it out in our front page site). Each one of you may propose a name and a short story, no longer than 250 words per comment. Remember that it´s a M-I-C-R-O-S-T-O-R-Y. The number of comments per each person is not limited but the quantity of the total ideas to be received is limited up to 300 comments for the whole participants blogs, so you better be quick.

The blogs where you would be able to participate from today October 12th are:

- Cottonable [English]
- I love your t-shirt [English]
- Oink el rellano [Spanish]
- Raza Becaria - Blog de La Sexta [Spanish]
- Si, lo se [Spanish]
- Solo pienso en camisetas [Spanish]
- T-shirts Around the Internet [English]
- Viste Adecuadamente [Spanish]

On Thursday 22nd the contest will be closed and among all the received proposals we will choose:

• The best name
• The best story

For each winner, there will be a pack of 4 Tolky Monkys items to choose among the new collection to be released on October 2009. Besides, in each blog and store, we´ll choose among all the participants 2 people that will win a surprise t-shirt or polo shirt.

View rules and prizes of the contest.
View an sample story for the Character.

And if this wouldn´t be enough, in this edition you can also win prizes just for spreading the word about the contest. How? Very easy:

Do you write a blog? In that case you can talk about the Tolky Monkys´ Contest before October 19th. In the post you´ll have to make pingback to this post, link to their our web [www.tolkymonkys.com] and invite to participate any of the participant Blogs. 4 t-shirts will be drafted among all those bloggers.
Do you have a Twitter? You just have to ReTwitt this sentence before October 19th: “@Tolky_Monkys Microstories Contest. Propose short stories for a new Character and get t-shirts FOR FREE ::::: RT this and win t-shirts”. If you do this, you will enter in the draw of another 2 t-shirts.
Do you have both blog and Twitter? Even better. You´ll have double possibilities of getting a prize ;]

We hope you enjoy!!

More Resales in Tolky Monkys

The most naughty twins continue making noise in Tolky Monkys. They have choosed 8 Characters in boys t-shirts and 8 characters in girls t-shirts and till October 20th, they have put their price at 11€ each.

Writing more is making you lose your time while you could be buying =D

See you soon!

View t-shirts in sale

This Weekend, you can find us in the Nomada Market.

With this one it'll be fourteen editions of Nomada Market, a festival where the young designers and creators of Spain and abroad get together to offer you the best of their repertoire in the form of clothes, accessories, paintings, etc.

But this isn't just any edition. Why? Well because this time it'll be celebrated in an immense site, right in the centre of Madrid. The premises, almost 1000 square meters distributed in two floors, shall harbor the future project Escaparate Atocha 24, an innovative shopping centre, but for now, we'll be over 100 young designers of clothes and accessories, illustrators and artists who will be showing and selling original and exclusive goods, limited handmade products at affordable prices. The place will also have a chill out zone that will be stage to different gigs and activities for all ages. An entertaining event that will include concerts, DJs, fashion shows and performances throughout the entire weekend.

The event will open it's doors to the public next Friday the 2nd of October as of 11am and will stay open until Sunday 4th of October 8pm. The schedule and opening times will be:

- Friday 2nd October: 11 in the morning till 10 at night.
- Saturday 3rd October: 11 in the morning till 10 at night.
- Sunday 4th October: 11 in the morning till 8 at night.

The address, how could it be otherwise, is calle Atocha 24. To get there, you can take the tube, from Tirso de Molina Station, Antón Martín Station, or Sol Station. Or on any bus numbered 6, 26, 32, 50 and 65, that will leave you in Jacinto Benavente. Whatever is easiest. So, it won't be because there's no way to get there.

See address in Google Maps

The Resales are back! NOOOOOoooooo!!!

When they left last year, we thought the twins Sally and Sally, the Resales, wouldn't ever come back. Again, surprisingly enough, they have presented themselves again at our studio. How naïve we were to assume that by changing our location they wouldn't be able to find us.

In less than an hour they have turned us topsy-turvy. Abram, our vampire, has had his costumes that were tucked away in his wardrobe thrown out, and they've only left him with a Yogui Bear one. We'll see what he has to say about it tonight. And on top if that, they're determined to once again make us do a 50% discount on all the Characters that we have in our store, excepting of course the posters and wallets: boy t-shirts, girl t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts and polo shirts. They've created a special coupon just for you, the people who read us and visit us frequently, valid from Wednesday 24th till Thursday the 1st of October. Of course, you're gonna have to hurry because each coupon has limited use.

What do you have to do to get hold of one? The same as last year, they've sent the coupons to the Blogs that write about Tolky Monkys every once in a while. You simply have to take a look at these blogs, the ones that are in the sidebar, and it's very likely that there you will find a valid coupon. Bear in mind that these posts with the coupon info were written a few days ago, at the beginning of the week ;]

Oh, and we're gonna send a special coupon to our friends from the Newsletter. Aren't you subscribes yet? Awell, you're going to have to mosey on over to those blogs and take a look. Lots of luck on your search!

20 stories received and 9 remaining days to send in yours

As the majority of you who read this blog will probably know, on the 3rd of September we launched with Bubok, a platform of free books auto-publication, the first edition of the Tolky Monkys Short Story Contest. The goal is to publish a book at Christmas with short stories and illustrations of our Characters. Sweet, right?

18 days into the contest and 9 days to close, the time has come to make a first evaluation. For now, we have received 20 short stories of good quality, although we're very aware that “Spain is different” and that the server will be filling up in the last couple of days ;] How do we know this? It's easy, because up until now there have been more than 800 people who have read the rules and have been interested in our Characters for the contest. The truth is, we're really looking forward to choosing the winners, so we can start illustrating the book. It's going to be incredible!!

If you're still mulling over the idea of participating, stop mulling and go ahead. Better to think about a story idea instead of weather or not to participate ;] Like our grandparents always told us: “It's better late than never”. Publishing a book this Christmas with drawings of our Tolky Monkys Characters is definitely a good thing. Don´t wait more! ;]

Remember, you have until the night of September the 30th to present your story. You can upload it to Bubok or send it to info[at]tolkymonkys[dot]com. In this sense, and since we've been getting a lot of questions, we've created a little manual in which we explain the steps you should follow when uploading your story to Bubok so you can enter it in the contest:

Download the manual to publish the story [Only in Spanish]

And if you need to refresh your memory, visit contest section to better inform yourselves [Only in Spanish]:

See Contest Rules | See Characters availables for the Contest
Visit the Bubok blog | Know Bubok

T Day – Tonight we await you in the Twestival of Madrid

As we told you a few days ago, today will be celebrated the 2nd edition of the Twestival of Madrid, an event that aims to bring together Tweeps from Madrid and it's outskirts, so that they can have a chance to meet with people with whom they speak by means of 140 characters at a time only. Additionally, this event shall be used to help out an NGO to achieve some social work. In this case, the funds raised will be donated to the “Federation of Animal Welfare and Protection of the region of Madrid”

We remind you also that there will be a Tolky Monkys t-shirt raffle among all you attendees. Not bad, huh? And for all of those who helped publicize this little shin dig, wherever you may be from, we will jog your memory and remind you that if you post a RT of this phrase, you'll have a chance to win another 2 tees:

"This Thursday 10th of September you should go to @MadridTwestival ::: RT and win free t-shirts of @Tolky_Monkys http://bit.ly/W1fLR"

See y'all there!!

A few tips for writing Short Stories

As you already know, a couple of days ago we launched the first of our Short Story Contests with the help of Bubok. Since we are well aware that writing is a difficult task - especially the starting-off stage and facing that damn blank paper - and that some of you will have doubts about the key points, here we will copy some advice that our fellow bubokeers have posted on their blog.

1. Think of an idea and build the plot up around it. Outline the action:
> Beginning. Capture the readers' interest.
> Plot
> Ending. The finale is very important. It ought to be surprising.

2. Keep the plot well strung together.
3. Stay away from rhetoric and digression. Keep to the point!
4. Instead of explaining things in detail, play around with subtle suggestions.
5. Keep the narration interesting at all times.
6. Add an adjective only to the indispensable.
7. Stay away from periphrasing and circumlocution. (don't beat around the bush)
8. Choose adequate words. (There's nothing wrong with relying on an online dictionary http://www.rae.es/rae.html)
9. Avoid cacophonies and repetitions.
10. Find inspiration in the physical traits of the character that you have chosen, to work on their psychological characteristics and personality.
11. Don't explain, allow your character to do it.

We hope that these little literary tips help you achieve a better story for the Character that you like the most. You all know that you can write to us or leave a comment at any time ;]

See the Characters for the Contests
See the Complete Rules

Sintonizza. Music Festival in Santa Coloma de Gramanet

One of our stores, La Tienda, collaborates and manages Sintonizza festival, which is going to take place today Friday and tomorrow Saturday in Santa Coloma de Gramanet. If you visit Barcelona or you live nearby, you should go and listen good music: Lagartija Nick, Elastic Band, Extraperlo, Delorean... and enjoy all type of activities related with painting, photography and comic.

Here we leave the spot of the event. Without any doubt it is full of Characters:

If anyone goes, we hope you´ll let us know. See you soon!

Short Story Contest Tolky Monkys – Bubok ::: 1st Edition

Hello again! We hope you've all gained strength this summer and that the holidays have served to recharge your creative batteries to the max!

A few days ago we started off backing up the Twestival Madrid, so today we announce our decision to publish a book for Christmas with stories and illustrations of our Characters.

With this goal in mind, we're launching a short story contest with a hand from Bubok, a platform of free autopublication, where anyone can be their own Editor and make their dream of publishing a book come true, written with his own hand. Yes, you read correct, A-N-Y-O-N-E can do this. And why with these guys? Because they have a fantastic community of writers and because once written, illustrated and printed into a demo, the book can be put up for sale directly on the it's site. So the question really ought to be: With who, if not them?

All of you who wish to participate have from the 2nd till the 30th of September to dust off your quills and write a story about one of our Characters available for the contest. But bear in mind that not all of them are available for this one. We've selected 15 of them [See list of Characters for the Contest].

A few basic things you will need to take into account before rushing off to write, which are: The number of words should be between 650 and 800, not including the title. There is a maximum of 3 stories per writer and never using more than one Character per story, although you may invent secondary characters if you wish. And one very important thing: be consistent in the existing story of your chosen Characcter. Lastly, to send in the short story, you will have to register at Bubok and upload the story with the name "Concurso Relatos Cortos Tolky Monkys Bubok" [See complete Rules for the Contest].

Out of all the stories we receive, on the 14th of October we will upload the preselection from 25 stories to Facebook so that EVERYONE can vote for them. On the 21st of October the voting will be closed. The three most-voted stories will be included in our book as “The Public's Favourites” and we will chose between 7 and 12 stories to include in it also. In total, we are counting on 10 to 15 stories for this publication.

As prizes, per each winning story, the author will receive:

- Publication of their story alongside name and surname, or pseudonym.
- Tolky Monkys Gift Certificate of 60€, exchangeable for any product of our on-line store.
- A copy of the book, printed and mailed to your home by courtesy of Bubok.
- Promotion and publicity by Bubok and Tolky Monkys in all media at our disposal: Blog, Facebook, Shops, Press releases, etc.

If this has piqued your curiosity and you would like to enter, don't wait another minute to start writing because time has started to fly since the moment we published this post ;] And of course,before you do a thing visit the info section of the contest:

NOTE: This first edition is only for spanish speaking writers. Sorry... =(

See Rules of Contest | See Available Characters
Visit Bubok Blog | Discover Bubok

Win free t-shirts with Twestival Madrid and Tolky Monkys

In our never-failing eagerness to be where you're at, Tolky Mokys have decided to collaborate with the second edition of Twestival Madrid. First thing's first, respond to the question that is inevitably on all your minds: “What the hell is the Twestival Madrid?” Well, this event lies within another bigger festival called Twestival Local, which is just another of the many reasons to reunite youngsters like ourselves in one place, in the case “followers” and “followings” of Twitter, with the requirement that all money raised in this friendly reunion goes to a NGO. In Madrid's case, the money shall be donated to the “Federation of Animal Welfare of the Community of Madrid”. So, it's not just about meeting people, it has a very important social undertone.

And that's why we have decided to participate in it. Yes, it's a party, and yes, there will be live music and we'll drink, but we're also gonna help out, which is cool every now and then ;]

And how do we get involved? Well we've donated 4 t-shirts to hand out during the festival and give you guys another little reason to go, in case lending a hand and drinking is enough incentive =) To win one of these tees, the only thing you have to do is be there, that's right, be there. The entrance fee is a measly 1€ and the drinks are affordable, so money can't be an issue.

The festival is on Thrusday 10th of September in Madrid, and the premises is NeoLabels, who are working their skins off to organize it:

C/ Doctor Fourquet, 20
Metro-Tube: Lavapiés [L3] o Atocha [L1]
Benchmarks: Atocha Station

And to urge you just a tad more and to introduce Twestival Madrid, we're gonna give away another two t-shirts those of you who RT on your Twitter this exact phrase:

"Count me in for @MadridTwestival :: http://bit.ly/3sTa3e :: RT and win free t-shirts of @Tolky_Monkys http://bit.ly/W1fLR"

The prize winners for ReTwittering will be announced the same date as the Festival. If you're there, you can pick up your tee on the spot, and if not, not to worry, you can always come on over to our humble studio on Montera St. To pick it up.

Important: You will not have more participation entries for Retwittering more than once. Only one tweet will be accounted for, although we do appreciate lots of RT. And for goodness sake, take away the speech marks when you do ;]

So you all know what to do, go off and RT and we'll await you at the festival.

Buy Ticket in Amiando
See location on Google Maps

Illustration Contest Winners - 2nd Edition

Hello again metal friends. We were able to publish the winners of the Illustration Contest that we did along with the Art and Design magazine this June. The what? You know, the drawing contest... [You can check out the details in the previous post.] We're doing this because it's already been published and most of you have seen the results, but since some of you don't buy the magazone... We're sorry for the looooooooong wait, but paper takes its time =)

In this edition, more than 50 of you artists have ventured to present your version of our Characters and, together with the magazine's editorial office, we chose 10 winners to whom we shall give out 23 of our products: t-shirts and other gear to wear and decorate our liveliness.

BEST TECHNIQUE

- First Prize: Hip Hoso | Artist: Olivier Fritsch Gómez
- Second Prize: Unai VS ninja peanuts | Artist: Ruth2m
- Third Prize: Unai, Ariane and Morgan | Artist: Miguel Delicado

THE FUNNIEST

- First Prize: Stone Boy doesn´t want Slot as friend | Artist: Efele Tarodo
- Second Prize: Hepane needs tablets [Hepastillero] | Artist: Francesco Ferreti

RUNNERS UP

- First: Ariane, the half-eaten mermade. From Oscar Solas.
- Second: Otto, the self-destructive octopus. From Marc García.
- Third:Unai, the samurai monkey. From Alberto Padierna Quintana.
- Fourth: Lucia isn´t afraid of ghosts. From Irene Esteve Sorribes.
- Fifth: Ozzy, funkadelic oriental. From Josep Pérez Campins.

Besides these winners, we have decided to reward the rest of the participants with a 30% discount coupon for any purchases from our on-line store. We would like to somehow compensate the time you've dedicated to prepare your drawings. And don't worry because we still have everybody's contact info, so we'll be contacting you this week to give you your coupons. So, be on the inbox alert, we don't want our coupons to end up in the “Spam” folder.

We will display below some of the winners. In a few days we'll also post some others on our Flickr. We hope you like them! Thanks to everyone for participating!

FIRST PRIZE – BEST TECHNIQUE [Hip Hoso] - See Tolky Monky Character
Artist: Olivier Fritsch Gómez | Web: www.ofgms.com

SECOND PRIZE – BEST TECHNIQUE [UNAI against the ninja peanuts]
See Tolky Monkys Character
Artist: Ruth2m | Web: ruth2m.com

FIRST PRIZE - FUNNIEST [Stone Boy doesn´t want Slot as friend]
See Tolky Monkys Character
Artist: Miguel Delicado | Web: cosasveces.blogspot.com
P.S: If you have read this and you're one of the poeple who weren't notified on time, you may be thinking "Hey, I wouldn've like to participated!" or "How could I have found out on time?" and from now on we notify: First, this is the second edition, so it's very likely that next year we will be repeating it around the same dates, so you can write it in. And second, we usually organize contests here, so if you pass by here now and then or if you subscribe via RSS [the purple square to your right] you'll find out before anyone else :] See you soon!

BBK Live, another festival where Tolky Monkys strikes its flag

Last Wednesday, we loaded up our van with all our Characters and we left for Bilbao to participate in the BBK Live, the very first of our summer festivals. After a 4-hour long trip and a nice chorizo sandwich, we checked in the hotel at dawn. A luxurious, three star hotel that we procured at the last minute at a laughable price. Typical thing you brag about to your friends. We arrived, tossed our luggage onto the floor and went to bed.

On Thursday morning we were early to rise, and had a Cola Cao, coffee and a light snack of tortilla with ham and cheese. We know, it's a strange mix, but it really was to die for. When we finished, we grabbed the van and, luckily, arrived WITHOUT ANY WRONG DETOURS at the festival , which was being held at the top of some woods. If you're not careful there you could fall down one of the slopes. We collected our credentials and quickly got our tee-shirts, hoodies and polo shirts out of their boxes to organize them on the shelves, so we could leave a little earlier and get a decent meal. Actually, we took our time about it, and we didn't return to the festival until 6 in the afternoon. When we opened up our stand to the public, we still had tees to arrange and we hadn't even put the hoodies onto their hangers. It has been without doubt one of the most calm festivals in the history of Tolky Monkys. That's what happens when you ask the people in charge when you're supposed to open the stand and they reply: “The stand is yours, guys, do what you want with it” . Oh, big mistake... Said and done. The Tolky's work at their own pace ;] Depeche Mode and Basement Jaxx rocked the night out. We were able to enjoy a concert for the first time, because the main stage was right in front of the stands. We sat in our chairs, recently bought in Carrefour, and relished in the light of the fluorescents with our ham and cheese sandwiches.

On Friday, we stayed in Bilbao for lunch. OK... “tapas” isn't exactly lunch, but with so much beer we ended up having a LOT of tapas. And hey, the ones we ate were the bee's knees. There was a mushroom one, peppers, and great cheeses. Simple, but so tasty. That day we didn't manage to open the stand until 7 in the evening, but as soon as we did people practically swarmed the place and until 9 we didn't get a bit of tranquility. Thank goodness The Kaiser Chiefs were playing and the crowd rushed to the stage. They're great live, and without a doubt the lead singer is bonkers. We liked them better than Jane's Addiction, but oh well, to each his own Tolkys Monkys Character, right?

Saturday, the last day of the festival. Placebo were playing, and it was obvious: again with the pandemonium, until their moment arrived. We expected a huge fuss and lots of work, but in the end it was very much like the previous day. To be honest we're thankful for that, because all of this business is very tiring and this way we were able to pack up early and we didn't arrive too late at the hotel. It was a shame we couldn't have stayed for longer. The Vodafone dancefloor was opened every night, playing ideal music to be dancing the night away till dawn. It was the music from the concerts, but a little more boisterous. We liked that.

Conclusion: The festival was awesome! The recent economic crisis was noticeable, but at least we didn't miss it and we had a great time. We recommend it 100% for all those crazy festival-goers out there.

And not much more to say... Well, yeah, we could say more, but we don't wanna bore you =) Just encourage you.

And here the two polo shirts left

We quickly leave a few huge pics of Hikiko and Conejo Unioreja polo shirts. We hope you like them.

We take profit to say that we are very happy of the results achieved with the polo shirts in these two weeks, because it´s being spectacular, either in our on-line site or the brick stores. Now, we must fight to sell all we have on the shelves before July is finished. To BBK Live festival of the next week we're going to take a lot of them. Sure they become the best seller item. Or that's what we expect...

View all the polo shirts in the store
View big huge photos in our Flickr

HIKIKO, the mime

ONE-EARED RABBIT and its desintegrator robot

New polo-shirts, for good-looking guys

While other stores are on sales, in Tolky Monkys we stay calm and continue publishing new Characters and designs. Why not? As you know we've created our own world with a different rythm... ;]

We have got 4 designs on polo shirts 100% cotton, manufactured on a unique self-pattern and with double stitched collar, sleeves and lower hem. Mamma mia!! It fits like a glove and you look like a gentleman. Is important to underline that there are only 150 units of each design, distributed among S, M, L and XL sizes. If you like them, you'd better be quick, because is likely they are sold out very soon, especially S and XL sizes, that are very few. We know this looks like a commercial trick, but it's true that these sizes are sold very fast ;]

From all the designs, the Air Dudes are a reedition, another, Hikiko, is a classic t-shirt, Saurio is a new Character and One-eared Rabbit and his desintegrator robot is a development of an existant Character.

View all the polo shirts in the store
View big huge photos in our Flickr

Air Dudes
SAURIO, thre dragon thing [FRONT]
SAURIO, the dragon thing [BACK]

Tshirtday Contest - And the winner is...

After reading all the comments with your stories, we´ve decided that the winner of the t-shirt and the Tolky Monkys´ caricature is... Coty, for his multiple personalities of the Pulpillos Horde. Congratulations!! We´ll contact you very soon.

And for the rest, thanks a lot for participating. We know that everyone has a Tolky Monkys´Character inside. This is just another proof ;] Ah, and don´t worry because you´ll have more chances to get one of our Characters for free.

International T-shirt day competition

As you would know, Tolky Monkys creates and develops Characters. Although this is true, is also true the fact that nowadays most of our products in which we commercialize these Characters are t-shirts. Due to this, we´ve decided to join the celebration of the International T-shirt Day of the 21st June.
What are we going to do? We´re going to participate in the contest that Tee Junction is undertaking with other t-shirt brands. They have been celebrating small contests and today is our turn. To participate is really easy. You just have to read the stories of our Characters and leave a comment at this post writing down to which Tolky Monkys´ Character you look like and why. We are talking about personality, not physical appearance ;]

What can you win? The winner will get a t-shirt and a caricature with the Tolky Monkys´ style. So, if you participate, besides leaving a comment, you must send us a photo to tshirtday[at]tolkymonkys[dot]com.

On Monday 22nd we´ll publish the winner, so pay attention.

LET´S PARTICIPATE!!

Our polo shirts are hard-wearing

Here we leave a few pics of the last Freestyle Slalom competition carried out in Barcelona two weekends ago as part of the Extreme Battle Barcelona.

The two skaters of the photos are wearing a polo shirt of Unioreja, the one-eared rabbit. As you can see, it´s not only nice but also extremely comfortable ;]

For you girls, new Tolky Monkys´ Characters

Following the style of the previously released boys t-shirts, we´ve just published three new Characters for girls´ t-shirts. You can see that, once again, we´ve taken advantage of the whole t-shirt, edges included. We know that this seems to be something very easy to achieve, but it is not so. It´s very difficult to make the ink fall homogenuosly over the seams, so you must be really careful.

Besides these printing issues, it´s worthy to remark the little detail of the label with our logo sewed at the left sleeve, the fact that we´ve only printed 130 t-shirts and that we´ve finally manufactured XL size for girls. This was something requested by you, our customers, and at last we have managed to do it. Anyway, it´s important to remark that we´ve done a few units of this size, so if you want one, you should better be quick...

The new Characters are: INVADERS, rebellion in the farmyard, the Dreams of the son of Death and MORGAN, the alley cat.

As in previous occasions, we keep waiting for your comments. Hope you like them!!

View t-shirts at the Store
View huge pics at the Flickr

INVADERS, rebellion in the farmyard

The Drems of the son of DEATH

Cause wearing a Tolky Monkys´ t-shirt is having very much style

Thank’s to Ignacio, a friend of us who not so far ago ordered some nice card cases, we get to know that DT, a magazine for men with very much style, has written about us this this month. What does this means? Very easy, Tolky Monkys is the brand that wears the man either from today or tomorrow ;]

In the article, which is quite small, they talk not only about Tolky Monkys but also about Naranjas Chinas, Lola Camisetas and the omnipresent Threadless, buuuuuuuuuuuut, we’re really proud that they chose one of our t-shirts to illustrate the article. Great! Isn´t it?

And of course, we would like to thank the person from DT magazine who included us in his article.

Tolky Monkys Illustration Contest - 2nd edition

One more time, and this the second [view some of the winner illustrations of the past edition], we are organizing the Tolky Monkys Illustration Contest in association with the "Arte y Diseño" magazine. Maybe you know it and if not, with this name you don´t need any explanations. You can visit either their site or blog to know them better.

The contest will be publish on numbers 116 and 117. The first one is available from now on. As in the last year, to participate in this contest you need a lot of imagination and illustration skills. You´ll have to visit our site, search the Character which inspires you most and make a version either in an existent situation or a new one. The images must be sent before August 5th via mail or by postal mail to the magazine ayd[at]mcediciones[dot]com or Pg. Sant Gervasi 16-20 Barcelona. Once the deadline for the reception of the illustrations is reached, a jury formed by Tolky Monkys and Arte y Diseño will choose the prizewinners.

To participate you must live either in Europe or America. The illustrations [maximum 3 per person], can be done using any artistic design technic, but must be sent in digital format, have a 300dpi resolution, maximum size of 50cm * 70cm or viceversa and being in CMYK. All the illustrations sent might be used by Tolky Monkys to carry out exhibitions or any other type of events. However, they won´t be used to be printed on t-shirts or any kind of format for its commercialization. This is important, cause in any case we want to take profit of this contest. We just want to have fun with all of you ;]

And what is more important, the prizes. There will be different categories and in each one, there will be several winners. Besides, there will be several accesits that will be given following undetermined criterias, so don´t try to understand them.

1] BEST TECHNIC: A Tolky Monkys´ pack to choose by the winners among the items available at the site in the moment that we publish the results. 3 winners.

- 1st prize..: 6 items.
- 2nd prize: 4 items.
- 3rd prize: 2 items.

2] THE FUNNIEST: A Tolky Monkys´ pack to choose by the winners among the items available at the site in the moment that we publish the results. 2 winners.

- 1st prize..: 4 items.
- 2nd prize: 2 items.

3] ACCESITS: Give away of 5 surprise t-shirts among all the participants. 5 winners. One t-shirt per each.

Find out all the Tolky Monkys Characters
Visit the Tolky Monkys Store
Visit Arte y Diseño Blog
Download the news of the contest in the magazine [spanish]
View some of the winners of the 1st edition at the Flickr

New Characters knock at our door - Boys T-shirts II

And here you have the design for boys t-shirts of the third new Character: CASIUS, an infernal rock band. This illustration is printed with huge screens of 70cm * 100cm, either on the front or back. This last print is made nearly from the neck till the t-shirt bottoms edge, treading even on the seams.

View t-shirts at the store
View big huge pics at Flickr
Fave at Rumplo

CASIUS ::: [Front]

CASIUS ::: [Back]

New Characters knock at our door - Boys T-shirts I

At last, we can announce new Characters for boys t-shirts. We´re really proud, cause they suppose a great change in what we were doing till now, not only in the design, but also in the technical improvements we´ve achieved which allows us to use the t-shirt as a large canvas.

During the past year, we invest much time looking for new serigraphy workshops that could allow us more alternatives when designing for t-shirts, but all we found were companies focus in advertisement and, tecnically, they had plenty of restrictions that didn´t let us take profit of our illustrations after more than 3 years of experience. The search finished when we found a workshop in Galicia, in the North of Spain, in which we can use plenty of new technics. Is not only the million types of inks and finishes they have available, but also that we can now use GIANT SCREENS of 70cm * 100cm and print on the edges of the t-shirt, on seams and sleeves. With these new possibilities, we had the challenge of creating designs that, using most part of the t-shirt, wouldn´t be tedious. We didn´t want the t-shirt to be a great ink mass, something that has been very important for us since the beginning.

You can see the results by your own. In total, three new Character designs: CASIUS, a helly rock band, ROGER, a lab rabbit a little bit stupid, and the well-known EGGEATER Mucus & BLINK Mucus, the Characters in which all of you contributed with a piece of your imagination to give them a story in our last edition of the Microstories Contest.

View t-shirts at the Store
View big huge pics at our Flickr
Fave us at Rumplo

ROGER, a lab rabbit [Front]

ROGER, a lab rabbit [Back]
EGGEATER Mucus & BLIND Mucus

A little bit of mail marketing to Press

In our effort to get Tolky Monkys known by the whole world and swim in money like Gilito McPato, we have taken profit of the new card cases we designed to achieve some attention from press media.

As we think that sending only e-mails is useless, we decided to send a letter by traditional postal service informing of these new card cases. The letter talked about the different changes that had undertaken in the last 20 years in the public transport of Madrid and we compared it with the transport card and the case that comes with it when you register, that despite these, they haven´t suffered any change [Download letter in Spanish - PDF]. With this letter, we attached some card cases samples and we introduced each of them a card with the Character story simulating the classic transport card from Madrid. Finally, we packed all these stuff in an envelop and we put a sticker at the back to write the recipient. You can have a look below to a few pics we made.

After sending the letters, we had to make the most boring and exciting part at the same time. This previous phrase seems to have no sense, but we aren´t mistaken. When you call all the recipients to know if they had received the letters and found with 1001 excuses, you get bored, but it´s also exciting because sometimes, you find a dude that likes the idea and tells you they´ll write about it. At the moment, we have reached "Buenos dias Madrid", in Telemadrid, a spanish public channel, "Conexion Madrid Hoy", in Onda 6, and Duende Madrid, a great free distribution cultural magazine. Good results, isn´t it? Anyway, we´ll continue hassling cause we deserve much more. Or not... ;]

AN ENVELOP WITH STICKER, A LETTER AND FOUR CARD CASES SAMPLES.
INSIDE EACH CASE A CARD WITH THE STORY OF THE CHARACER.
THE ENVELOP WITH THE STICKER SIMULATING A TRANSPORT CARD.
AND HERE ALL THE CARD CASES, LETTERS AND ENVELOPS WE USED.