Meet the Artist – Jonathan Koelsch
When did you start drawing?
I started drawing at age four on walls, on paper around five.
What are your favorite things to draw?
I love drawing stories the most. Drawing humans and expressions, realistic or cartoony is most fun, but close second is conceptualizing and storytelling all genres of characters, beasties, vehicles, spacecraft, armor, tech and — okay just whatever appears in a comic book. And the occasional mermaid or unicorn for my daughter.
Who are some of your artistic inspirations?
Yikes, more than I can list! Formal illustration: Norman Rockwell, Drew Struzan, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Mark Fredrickson, Tim Jessell, Mike Wimmer, and Cameron Eagle. I learned how to draw mostly from comics, especially from studying Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Michael Golden, John Byrne, Jim Lee, & John Buscema. More recently it’s Bryan Hitch, Clay Mann, Stuart Immonen, Alex Ross & Esad Ribic. And OK’s own Jerry Bennett!
Any projects you’re working on or looking forward to working on?
Aw, all the coolest future work is still under NDA until I’m allowed to say! My art will be featured in a film with well-known actors soon, plus great fun doing storyboards for a LEGO Voltron ad and Dreamworks Trolls animations. While I love my daily gig illustrating, presently it’s most fun writing my own stories and finishing sample scripts and pitch requests from Marvel, Aspen, the BBC, Hasbro and others. More fun stuff ahead!
What’s a good way for fans to check out your work?
@jkArtsy on Instagram, @jkArts on Twitter, Facebook.com/jkArts. At jkArts.com, you can see my fan art and some of my published comic book work, including Luther, a graphic novel, available at lutherstudy.com.
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