In celebration of art, music, creativity and silliness, Landlocked Music is looking for a winner for its coloring contest. The record store will award the winning artist two tickets to see Bonnie Prince Billy and Jonathan Richman in concert March 5 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.
To enter, artists must download the black and white coloring page from the Landlocked website, color it in and submit by either dropping it off at the store or posting a photo on Instagram or Facebook and tagging @landlockedmusic by Feb. 29.
The coloring pages are outlines of the faces of Billy and Richman, the musicians whose concert tickets are the prize for the contest.
Landlocked employee Abby Hart, who designed the portraits, said she enjoyed creating artwork she wouldn’t have necessarily thought to make on her own.
“Bonnie Prince Billy has a really distinct look, so it was really fun to make him a cartoon,” Hart said. “I always enjoy doing something different.”
Landlocked, located in downtown Bloomington, prioritizes connecting with the community and kept this in mind when planning the contest, Hart said.
“The whole point of it is to get people who are excited about the concert to be like ‘Oh cool, I’m involved in this event too,'” Hart said.
When Landlocked receives free tickets to give away, the owners typically decide on a winner by drawing a random name, co-owner Jason Nickey said. After receiving giveaway tickets for Bonnie Prince Billy and Jonathan Richman from the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, however, they wanted to do something special.
“We thought it would be a fun, silly thing to do,” Nickey said. “It’s exactly what you think: a coloring contest for grown-ups.”
Nickey said they’ve already received some entries, each one more ridiculous than the last. So far, contestants have transformed the portraits of Billy and Richman into everything from flowers to pirates to monsters, displaying the creativity and whimsy necessary for taking home the prize, Nickey said.
“I would say we’re looking for the most crazy and off-the-wall one,” Nickey said. “Realism is not what we’re going for.”
With the deadline only a few days away, Hart said applicants should submit their work soon. In her opinion, the best entries are the ones where an artist’s enthusiasm is evident in their creation.
“We try to think every time we do something, how can we get people to engage?” Hart said. “That was the whole idea behind the coloring contest. People love coloring contests.”
