Jonathan Koelsch (pronounced “Kelsh”), an award-winning illustrator, discovered his love of art and storytelling while reading his first comic book at 7 years old. Jonathan's clients include several advertising agencies, national corporations, and institutions, but his passion is sequential storytelling, including graphic novels, storyboarding and animation. He recently illustrated Luther, a graphic novel about the life of Martin Luther, (lutherstudy.org), and also animated sequences for Luther the Rock Opera in Wittenberg, Germany. He animated Even in Death, an award-winning short film. He storyboarded Hollywood films in Oklahoma, including Gosnell, and The Washita Valley and others. Jonathan worked directly with Hollywood actor and director William H. Macy, storyboarding the movie Rudderless, starring Billy Crudup, Anton Yelchin, Selena Gomez, Felicity Huffman, Lawrence Fishburne and Bill Macy himself. Jonathan also designs and illustrates movie titles and posters, including for many features including Lord Finn, Reel Dead, and Kyle Roberts’ award-winning short films Heroes of the Realm and The Bulleteers.
He has storyboarded many commercials for Target, Carl’s Jr., the OK State Regents, Cambria, and many others, and has designed many illustrated characters for entities like the OKC Thunder (NBA). Jonathan illustrated several published graphic novels, including Luther, !Hero® the Rock Opera graphic novel, and COTU®, the Auto-B-Good® comic book. Jonathan has illustrated children’s books, including Ditch Witch Jack for Ditch Witch Int., Sooner Born, Sooner Bred for the University of Oklahoma (OU), and recently finished Pistol Pete and Me for Oklahoma State University (OSU).
He focuses his extra time on his favorite charity, AutismOklahoma.org, where he teaches art, comic book, animating and illustration camps. He was instrumental in rebranding non-profit, and helping to see it become the largest autism charity in the state within 5 years.
See more about Jonathan, and his work, at jkArts.com and on Twitter @jkArts, @jkArtsy (Instagram)
@jkArts (Twitter)
@jkArtsy (Instagram)