Hillcrest is a multi-media project that blends the elements of Music, Visual Illustration, and Animation.  Hillcrest was born when Jonathon was writing his newest solo album with producer Matt Smith.  The songs in their early stages lyrically lended themselves to being a greater interconnected story than just individual unrelated songs.  Through Matt Smith's creative genius it was decided Hillcrest needed to be made it into an illustrated story that would be released with the record. Seeking a unique artist to do the illustration they soon found Austin, TX based artist Chris Rogers. Known for his large scale murals on the sides of building's in Austin, Chris was able to give life to the characters of Hillcrest thru over a hundred unique hand drawn illustrations.  Looking for the best vehicle to showcase the illustrations and story it was decided Hillcrest would be turned into a Comic Book.

 

The story of Hillcrest itself is a coming of age tale of a boy named Peter set in small town America in the 1950's.  As Peter encounters life and tragedy he meets unique characters that are pivotal in his life learnings and growth.  The characters of Hillcrest are represented by the vocalists on the Hillcrest album.  These vocalists are Guy Forsyth, Malford Milligan, Roderick Sanford, Andrea Lindzey, Matt Smith, and Jonathon Zemek. 

​

Hillcrest was released September 21st, 2018 at Comic Con Austin, and is currently in development of a full stage production in 2019.