Introducing a New Collar Cases Illustrator Guy!

by | Oct 17, 2022 | Collar Cases, My Books, Power Pup | 0 comments

If you’re on my newsletter list or saw this video blog, you already know that Team Collar Cases is excited to annouce a new series: Power Pup!

For those that missed the announcements, I’ll recap:

Power Pup is a new superhero-themed line of books taking place in the Collar Cases universe. Old friends like Alex Digger and Mittens Meow will feature prominently. We’ll also meet new friends . . . including a superhero!

Jerry Bennett is the official Illustrator Guy for the Power Pup books. He’ll put his own spin on Mittens and Alex, plus bring to life new characters like Calvin Quinn, Tommy Trigger Finger, Vinnie the Fish–and of course, Power Pup himself!

Jerry is no stranger to superhero illustration. With experience working for major brands such as Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Dreamworks, and Disney, and also numerous titles with indie creators, Jerry is a true pro. 

To help you get to know Jerry better, we invited him to write a “hello” letter!

Hi, Jerry! Welcome to Team Collar Cases. Tell us about yourself!

Hi everyone! I’m a graphic novelist, comic book artist, full time freelance illustrator, and art director who works from home with my wife and FOUR cats.
(Five, if you count the outside one we kind of adopted.)

I was born, raised, and currently reside in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma!

When I was in third grade (1977), Star Wars IV released in theaters. I immediately started tracing Star Wars comics. This quickly led to drawing the ships and characters from memory. Then, designing new ships and aliens that I felt belonged in that galaxy.
These days, I’m mainly focused on comics and graphic novels. I’m currently drawing for Glamorella’s Daughter. This graphic novel series is about a genius girl on the Autism spectrum, whose mother is the defender of earth. They are complete opposites and must reconcile with one another in order to save the world.
I’m also writing a graphic novel that will take a sci-fi spin on the prodigal son story, which I’m having such fun with.
I love drawing comics, but I also love drawing Star Wars (still, lol) and picture books. (I drew a picture book for Catherine Southerland, the Pink Ranger!) I’m stoked about bringing Amanda’s characters to life, too!
I love working at home. I’ll take my IPad Pro–definitely my favorite creating tool–and hang out in the back yard, drawing and enjoying the weather.
That said, I also love hanging out with other comic artist friends at a coffee shop and creating together, too.
When I bring a new character to life, I like to read through the story. I’m trying to get a feel for the story’s emotion–is it humorous? serious?–and try to develop images in my head of the characters.
I need to see how they move and respond in their scenes. Facial expressions are especially important, as they will convey emotion for the story.
Then, I’ll try to spend some time sketching the characters out. I draw them from different perspectives to understand how they look three dimensionally. This helps me compose the best scenes. I kind of play the role of cinematographer of a movie, in a way.
If I could tell aspiring artists one thing, it would be this:
WORK HARD. PRACTICE.
It’s kind of that simple. You don’t need cool gadgets or quality tools to actually create. But if you want to do this for a living, you MUST show that you can tell a story.
This means understanding storytelling, pacing, and how to draw scenes from many different angles/perspectives to capture the best scenes. This guides the audience to have the best reading experience possible!

Power Pup #1 Release Date

Jerry’s first book with us, Power Pup #1: Power Pup vs. Tommy Trigger Finger, will be released Winter 2022-23. We’ll announce a specific date soon.

(You can also monitor our production progress on this page.)

Jerry Online

Check out Jerry’s website to see more of his art. You can also find him on Instagram.

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