Jim Kohl not only has a day job in payroll, but he also just became an exclusive artist for Bolero Snort Brewing. Previously Jim has done labels for Two Villains, Departed Soles, Cypress Brewing and more collaborations than he can remember. He’d also love to draw and color comics.
Jim, anyone who’s seen your label art can tell that you love comics. When did you get into comics and are comics to blame for a lifetime of choices eventually leading you to making art for beer cans?
I’ve been reading comics since I can remember. I became a collector during that early 90’s X-Men boom. Between the cartoon, Jim Lee and the X-Men game for Sega Genesis, I was completely hooked. Comics have definitely been to blame for my love of art and a non-stop push to get my work out there. I drew a daily comic strip for about 10 years coming out of college called Happy Hour. I did a spin off strip called The Brewery. Those comics were published in a few nightlife and beer magazines. It’s a long story, but that was how I connected with the owner of Bolero and ultimately what led me to doing beer labels for the past 6 years.
Six years later and you’re still doing beer labels, still having fun, and constantly striving to make each one better than the last. What is it about the work that keeps you not only coming back, but striving to do it well?
I think like most artists, I am never satisfied. I need to make sure the next thing is better than the last thing. One of the best parts is collaborating with the owner of Bolero, Bob Olson. We have so much fun building worlds and connecting the labels through the years. Hiding easter eggs and planning months out is just the best.
You also won the Craft Beer Marketing Awards for Best Brewery Rebrand. Can you talk a bit about what went into the rebranding of Bolero Snort? What was your thought process like for that?
This was a tough one. We had been using a cattle “brand” with BS on it as our logo. That was our logo for a few years. As we started building the physical brewery we knew we wanted something stronger. We had a few iterations, nothing stood out. We even considered dropping “snort” from the name and just moving with Bolero. We had a lot of ideas and nothing was sticking. We were about to work with a marketing firm when I had a dream about the new logo. I woke up and drew it. I sent it over to Bob and he loved it. We cleaned it up and now we have this incredible logo. That was the start, we then reworked the location of the bands on the cans and we’ve been really happy with visuals ever since. Winning the CBMA was just icing on the cake. It felt incredibly validating of the whole journey.
Can you dive into your artistic background a bit and give us some nuts and bolts on how you create labels?
I wish I had a more exciting answer. I’m largely self trained. I took a few art classes in high school and have just tried to learn from life and comics. I have since joined a few courses online to hone my basics and those have been wonderful. Having friends like you to run ideas off of has also been incredibly valuable. Most labels start with pencils on paper. I like to give myself a quick concept. From there I will draw directly into photoshop using a wacom tablet. I use a lot of layers and move and size pieces until they are in the best spots to avoid the UPC, government warning, band and type. There are a lot of space specific items on labels that need to be considered when designing, I keep a template as my top layer and use that to confirm my spacing. You also need to realize with the shape of the can, the art will wrap around. You’ll never see the entire image. So thinking in can sides is important.
Any tips for someone like your younger self who is mostly self-trained but working towards creating professional work? Be it, labels, comics, or coloring?
Put your work out there. Don’t be afraid to talk about it. When I am drawing I tend to be introverted. It’s hard to put yourself out there and then also talk about it. But you need to get past that. Find peers and ask for honest feedback. And then if you have the time and money, join some online courses, it’s a great way to push yourself to have deadlines.
Recently, you took Chris Sotomayer’s online coloring class. How was your experience and are you applying any of it to your label art?
I honestly can’t speak highly enough about Chris and the class. I loved it. I’m already planning on taking the advanced class. Chris is a master and watching him work was worth the price alone. But hearing him walkthrough color theory and applying it to layouts. It was just really incredible. I saw a difference overnight with my work. I wish I had more hours in the day, I’d love to flat colors for comics to really sharpen that foundation.
Your work generally has a good sense of humor, to what do you attribute this?
I’ve always loved humor. My family is really funny. I can’t remember a single holiday where we don’t tell the same hilarious stories and crack up. I try to make folks laugh as much as possible. I love imagining scenarios and mining ideas fully. When I was drawing the comic strip, you have a small amount of time to form a joke, so puns played a big role in finding that humor. Bolero is a LOT of puns. So it worked out pretty naturally.
The world could use a good dose of laughter lately, so any chance of you doing a new comic strip?
I’ll never say never. But I think for now, that chapter is closed. I’m really loving the label work and I truly want to get some comic book work published.
I ask everyone I interview…If you could only give one piece of advice, be it for lettering, making labels, or life, what would it be?
It’ll never be perfect, you just need to put it out there. I think there is a layer of fear in all of us that tells us something isn’t good enough, or we’re not good enough. But if you just keep putting it out there, eventually you’ll find your audience and you’ll find your voice.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HappyHourComic
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bolero.artwork/