On Nov. 14, visual artist Jonathan Case presented his work and participated in a book signing at the Heller Center. Case told the audience about his journey as an artist and promoted his graphic novel, “Little Monarchs,” released in 2022.
The Heller Center hosted Case as a part of their ongoing Visiting Author Series. The event was a collaboration between the Heller Center, the UCCS English department and the Pikes Peak Local Library District.
Case has illustrated for companies like DC, Disney and BOOM. He is the president of the Silverton Arts Association, where he helps to teach an after-school arts program for kids.
“I want to learn through making things, and I want to have experiences that I can share with people like you,” Case said.
Case spilt his childhood between a remote part of Oregon and frequent moves. Case said that the isolation of both experiences led him to discover his love for drawing and stories.
In college, Case pursued a degree in performing arts. After college, he contracted an infection that left him bedridden for months.
“I thought, ah, what can I do from here? I can’t act, I can’t work with other artists, but what can I do? And I rediscovered my love drawing as a means to tell stories,” Case said.
Using old movies as inspiration, Case developed his art style. “Not only the aesthetics, but the language, the dialogue. I guess because I grew up in such close proximity to parents who were of the 1950s and 1960s, I couldn’t help but be out of step and out of time that way,” Case said.
Case said that movies and performing arts helped him to learn more about the language of visual storytelling. Case’s first book, “Dear Creature,” was originally written as a play. “I took that seed of the play, and I started writing, I started drawing,” Case said.
From there, Case began to pursue a career in comics. Case moved back to Oregon and began connecting with other illustrators at conventions. He became an assistant to other cartoonists, working to develop his own skills and break into the field.
Case began showing “Dear Creature” to publishers and was eventually published by Tor Books. After Tor Books failed to promote the book, Case reclaimed the rights and republished his debut through Dark Horse Books.
“Pretty soon, I was doing multiple books at the same time. Whether I was writing one or drawing somebody else’s,” Case said.
In between books, Case does storyboards for TV shows, commercials and video games like Fortnite. He also designs labels and murals. “It’s nice to have the variety of work, because it keeps my body guessing,” Case said, “It’s like exercise.”
Inspired by Monarch butterfly migration, Case wrote “Little Monarchs,” as a way to connect with his children. “It was first a book for the kids I didn’t have, and then it became a book for the kids I did have, and then it became a book for the kid that I lost,” Case said.
After the passing of his two-year-old son, Otis, Case used the book to process his grief. “I ended up writing my son into the book as a character,” he said.
In an interview with Publishers Weekly in 2022, Case said, “in the book, he has lost his family. In reality, his family had lost him. And with the book, I got to continue on with him a little longer. I could incorporate the way he spoke, the little phrases, the little half-formed words he liked to say. It became a monument to him.”
The book follows Evie and Flora as they navigate a post-apocalyptic world slowly being reclaimed by nature. The characters follow Monarch butterfly migration across the United States in search of a cure to help what’s left of humanity.
Scenes in the book are based off of real locations, as well as Case’s own lived experiences.
Case is currently working on a graphic novel about boyhood, dreams and growing up. “I am going back to the well of childhood,” he said.
Learn more about “Little Monarchs” or purchase a copy here.
Jonathan Case. Photo from Statesman Journal.