These were concept sketches for the characters in Poison Ivy Gulch. There’s no sense in doing this until I had some kind of characters to inhabit this world I created.
I made it a point to study comic strips in newspapers and book collections to get ideas for what these characters might look like. This is what I came up with.
Hats of all kinds, namely the iconic cowboy hat with its wide brim, is a staple of Westerns. Here, I wanted to draw various ones.
Cacti are plants almost always associated with the desert and especially with Westerns. Most commonly, you’ll see the tall Saguaro cactus with its twin arms.
Technically this isn’t realistic. The iconic Saguaro cactus is native to parts of Arizona, Mexico and California. Yet, you may see it just about any desert, even those not in North America. However we have to understand that cartooning is NOT meant to be realistic. It’s intended to be a shorthand. The presence of cacti is meant to signal to readers that this is a desert.
There’s a belief out there that with any creative endeavor – be it a webcomic, a graphic novel, a television series, a band and so on – that you don’t need a massive audience of millions. You just need 1,000 true fans.
Brad Guigar over on Webcomics.com elaborated on this viewpoint in a recent article. Here’s a snippet:
Let’s assume a social-media following of 1,000 fans who are — overall — highly invested in a webcartoonist. When that webcartoonist makes a post, let’s say that 200 of them engage in that post in some manner. That’s a 20% response. Not bad at all! The algorithm picks up on this as evident of a post that even more of the followers might be interested in, and distributes the post to even more followers. If the engagement continues, the post continues to be distributed. If that engagement includes shares/retweets, the potential for engagement starts to expand. And of course, at some point, this wave of interest runs it course, engagement drops, and the post gets distributed to fewer and fewer people until it stops getting distributed entirely.
Now lets’ take that same post. But this time, let’s assume 10,000 followers. However, unlike the preceding example, these followers aren’t as emotionally invested in the webcartoonist they’re following. Those 1,000 true fans are still there, mind you, but they’re mixed into a larger group. Once the post is made, we’ll assume the same amount of engagement — 200 instances. However, 200 out of 10,000 is only 2%! The algorithm judges this post to be much less relevant than a 20% engagement and distributes it very little past the opening salvo. Even if it accounts for the bigger audience — even it if “grades on a curve” — that engagement is never going to rise much beyond two percent. As a result, that post dies an early death.
You can read the article in its entirety here but Mr. Guigar brings up a good point.
The original theory was put forth by Kevin Kelly of how you only need 1,000 true fans. This is one that is quite solid as Kelly makes the same points that Guigar did; a smaller fanbase would be more dedicated that millions of fans plus you could have more of a direct relationship with them in that you sell your work directly to them (this is the logic behind crowdfunding sites like Kicsktarter and Indiegogo).
That is something I aim to do with Poison Ivy Gulch and ultimately my other comics. I want to cultivate fans who are more dedicated to my work as opposed to having mass appeal.
From Songs of the Cowboy by Jack Thorp, 1908:
A cowboys life is a weary dreary life
Some people think it free from all care
Its rounding up cattle from morning to night
On the lone prairie so drear
When the spring work comes in then our troubles begin
The weather being fierce and cold
We get almost froze with the water on our clothes
And the cattle we can scarcely hold.
Just about four o’clock the cook will holler out
“Roll our boys its almost day”
Through his broken slumbers the puncher he will ask
Has the short summer night passed away.
“Saddle up,” “Saddle Up,” the boss will holler out
When we’re camped by the Pecos stream
Where the wolves and the owls with their terrifying howls
Disturb us in our midnight dreams.
Once I loved to roam but now I stay at home
All you punchers take my advice
Sell your bridle and your saddle quit your roaming and travels
And tie on to a cross eyed wife.
