Making a creative living

Mike Sciacca

The next time you peruse the shelves of your local bookseller, or

scour wall after wall of movies and games available for rent at your

neighborhood video store, you just might catch a glimpse of the creative

work of one Huntington Beach illustrator.

Mike Koelsch’s illustrations can be found just about anywhere, even on

the side of one Los Angeles area high rise. The Peterson Building donned

his advertising illustration for “Croc Week” for the Discovery Channel.

Koelsch landed the national ad campaign for “Croc Week,” which ran in

June, and his illustration also dressed the L-Train in Chicago.

The 33 year old Huntington Beach resident and a 1985 graduate of Fountain Valley High, has garnered much success as an illustrator.

“I’ve been doodling for as long as I can remember. I had a fun time

with my Pee Chee folders,” Koelsch said. “I always liked to paint and

draw, and I decided to seriously pursue this type of work in college.”

After a stint at Orange Coast College, Koelsch went on to attend the

prestigious Art Center/College of Design in Pasadena, graduating No. 1 in

his class. He found work prior to graduating.

Mentors such as Eddie Yip and Jim Hiemann, who he knew at the Art

Center, encouraged Koelsch to freelance, both noting his extreme talents.

Yip and Hiemann were right.

Koelsch, who won two American Board of Illustrators awards while a

student at the Art Center, received a silver medal a little more than a

year ago from the Society of Illustrators/New York City for a book cover

he composed.

Not bad for a young man whose early successes included ribbons won at

the Orange County Fair, as well as the design of two commemorative plates

for the fair.

“The majority of my work today is book covers,” Koelsch said. “I have

done some box covers for videos, game box covers and design, and [I] even

have been getting more into graphics and toy box design on the side, just

for fun. But basically, I work a lot with books.”

In pursuit of his freelance status, Koelsch, who also goes by the pen

name Glin Dibley, turned down early job offers from Disney and Hanna

Barbera.

He has worked with Haper/Collins, the famous New York publishing

company, on the covers of a series of “The Regular Guy” books by Sarah

Weeks, which are aimed at young adults. The fourth book in the series

featured a cover that was Koelsch’s concept, from start to finish.

“Usually, the main idea for a cover is something an art director will

give me,” Koelsch explained. “Then I can embellish on it and create from

there.”

He also has worked with his friend Doug Ten Napel on a series of

“funky and different” children’s books called “Doug and Mike’s Strange

Kid Chronicles.” But one coup for Koelsch came when DreamWorks signed him

to do the illustration of its classic edition of the “Prince of Egypt.”

Koelsch not only did the cover, he also has 40 illustrations featured

inside the book.

“That was a fun job,” said Koelsch, who is married and a father of

two. “Working with DreamWorks and their animators, and seeing the process

they go through, from story boards to the finished project, was amazing.

I was really excited to work on that project.”

Freelancing seems to agree with Koelsch, who has had little time to

rest. Currently, he is working with Bill Nye, The Science Guy on a couple

of children’s books, as well as a poster for the Aerosmith Ride (a

rock-’n’-roll-coaster ride) at Disney World.

Koelsch shares his Huntington Beach studio with a “creative hodge

podge” that includes fellow freelance illustrator and Art Design alum

James Bernardin, interior designer Elizabeth Hogue, sculptor Sandy

Collora and Dave Silva, who handles layout and graphics.

“Eventually, I would like to get a show at the Art Center on Main

Street,” said the self-professed “surfing nut.” “I’m really impressed

with the gallery they have Downtown.”