Who was Cobb X. Shinn?

Conrad (Cobb) X.  Shinn (1887-1951) was a prolific illustrator of the early 20th Century, yet little is known of him. I can't even find a reference as to what the X in his name stood for.
Born in rural Indiana, his family moved to Indianapolis where he learned to draw at the YMCA, and he enrolled in the Art College  in 1907. It is about this time that he started producing the postcards. Though to modern eyes his work looks flat and two dimensional and not much more than average.  This "average" illustrator provided the images for perhaps as many as 150 series of postcards in his lifetime. From Hollywood stars, and illustrating poetry to Women's suffrage.
He also produced a book "Drawing the Easy way" and did the illustrations for several Children's book of the period.
But it is his Model T postcards that interest us, for it is probably what he is best known for. In 1914 the Ford Motor Company commissioned Cobb to produce a series of postcards as a way of advertising their revolutionary new automobile. The cards would be given away by the Ford dealers of the time. It is thought he produced some 50 different cards, of varying degrees of humour. To look at some of them, you would wonder how Ford executives thought these showed the car in a positive light, confusing the car with a louse or cockroach.

This card extols the cheap price of the Model T

This is one of those cards that you wonder how the Execs thought the message a good idea.
"Louse or cockroach" is a phrase that occurs on several cards.

The Model T could cover the most severe terrain. (though if the hill was
too steep and the fuel level low you'd have to go up hill in reverse)

The goat to the right is a motif that appears in several cards.

He served in France during the First World War, it is thought painting camouflage on military vehicles. Though that is not confirmed.

Upon his return from the war, he found the demand for postcards on the wane so he turned to producing clipart and illustrating children's books. 

Other than that, there's not much to tell about Conrad Shinn. Perhaps one day we'll find out more.