Let’s Save Michigan

I was selected as 1 of 60 finalists (out of 300+) in the Detroit Institute of Art and Let’s Save Michigan’s poster contest. This means I’m now using all means I can think of to get people to vote. If you like this poster, please vote on it by following this link:

http://letssavemichigan.com/poster-contest/entry/jonathan-wilcox/

You may vote once a day until March 15 and all it takes is an email address. Thanks!

Off the Map

Erin and I traveled to the Kirkland Arts Center last night to attend the opening of Off the Map, their new exhibition. The show was put together by first-time curator and soon-to-be-graduate student of the UW Museology program, Jill Hardy. She did a really great job putting this thing together. The show touches on themes such as maps, how we view our world, how we make connections and how we form relationships. The pieces were all really wonderful and it made me wish that the show were bigger.

Pieces above (clockwise from top right): Above Rainier by Scott Bailey, Skagit by Claude Zervas, Las Vegas Suburbs (in Jell-O) by Liz Hickok, and Pakistan and the Indus River by Matthew Picton. Of course there were other great pieces, too. The Scott Bailey piece above seemed to interest everyone. The painting (on the right) was being videotaped and project down onto a 3D model of Rainier in the next room.

Anyway, if you’re ever in Kirkland for some reason, poke your head in and check out Off the Map. It runs until March 10. For more information, see the Kirkland Arts Center website.

My Favorite Salad

My favorite salad is the Nicoise Salad. It is loaded with all sorts of things. Some find this combination of ingredients to be detestable. I am on the other end of that spectrum. The depiction above is just one combination of possible ingredients (and happens to be the way Erin and I always make it). Apparently the choice of ingredients is a hot topic among people who debate salads. My friend Bruno (who writes his own food blog) ordered one of these at Masa in Los Angeles once and they basically serve it in a bucket, which seemed like a good idea.

Some Old Junk

Going through various old project folders today, I found some things that I still like but that I felt might not fit in my current portfolio. So I’ve chosen to put them here so that they’re still represented.

The first piece is a logo for my cousins’ farm, The Kitchen Garden. They wanted something that showed off the bright color and variety of their produce (which is pretty awesome and delicious, by the way). Here’s the final logo:

In the process of getting there, I did some sketches that were way too detailed for a logo, but I still kind of like the drawings:

In 2008 while I was in the midst of doing the Manifest poster for Columbia, they also asked me to make some little characters for their newly launched social site, The Loop.

I visited Columbia recently and laughed when I saw a shirt with these characters on it inside of a claw game.

And I’ll end this post with the old BLERDS postcard design. I still enjoy this and the BLERDS logo.

Plans Change (Slightly)

I’ve come upon dark times. No job prospects, a dwindling bank account and a good bit of crippling self-doubt. I guess that’s the name of the game! However, it can all just be blamed on me not trying hard enough. As I lay in bed last night at 3AM freaking out, I realized that I’m just barking up the wrong tree, at least at the moment. I have this vision of doing amazingly complex and interesting illustrations in the editorial or publishing vein, but I think I’ve set my sights too high. So I’m going to just calm down and simplify.

I’ve retooled the site slightly and changed and added a few pieces in the main portfolio. I’ve re-added some slightly older pieces that show examples of posters, books and other items that I think are easy for a potential customer to see how they might be able to actually use illustration. For right now I’m going to try and court some local businesses and see if I can’t get any work doing flyers, web graphics, posters, or other types of promo work. My editorial goal is still there but I’m realizing that I can’t just jump right up to it, I have to work my way up. Live and learn.

P.S. I accidentally deleted my site earlier while trying to upgrade wordpress. I had no local backup. Luckily I have amazing friends that know what they’re doing!