Rick The Stick – a comic on the Interwebs

	Winchester was hurt, he needed help. I was’t leaving his side, no matter what! At least until that thing whizzed through my hair…

Good morning!!

Earlier this week I had an IM discussion with a friend (who’s blog “Heck Yeah, Man” is pretty funny – check it out) and he was asking me questions about RTS and we touched on a new feature I’ll be offering for donations in the very near future. That lead to some other things including my family and friends that don’t read the comic, Gilbert Gottfried as Rick the Stick and how poorly the comic is drawn. Basically only interesting stuff to me, but I thought it was worthy of a post here in case you wanted some insight into what I think about RTS’s future and were curious about what a blathering idiot I am with my friends (and the patience they have to put up with me).

There is also a brief look at one of the obstacles webcomics as a community has to overcome. I’ve highlighted it with “quotes”.

NOTE: A small amount of the exact verbiage has been edited to put it into proper context.

Heck Yeah Man: so is it just on a website?  or is it like in an email that goes out every day? how do you get it?
Me (RTS): Yes, it’ll be on the website, but there will be lots of extras. If you make a donation, you get the link. The idea is that people would be willing to donate $$ for some bonus comics and some of the other extras. A lot of cartoonists have a “Tip Jar” where people just donate money. Some give you something, some don’t.
HYM: “i can’t help but lol over donating, and paying”. but that’s just me, and im an asshole. i would pay for a tangible something though.
RTS: That’s the beauty and fucked up part of the internet. You get something digital and you expect it to be free. Put it on some paper and slap a cover on it and pay for it. Crazy.
HYM: and also, i’m the wrong dude to be asking. “you know i don’t give a shit about webcomics”. though i do genuinely like rts, and am pumped for killer plankton.
RTS: I know and thanks
HYM: “do you think alot of your readers have the same apathy as me?”
RTS: No – at least I don’t think so. But overall, most people don’t know anything about “webcomics”.
HYM: do you really think they’d donate?
RTS: As it is, I would gather I know about 3 hundred or so people who know or have heard I do a webcomic.
RTS: If 5 actively read it, I’d be surprised.
RTS: Although people tell me they like it.
RTS: But right now, my audience isn’t my friends.
HYM: that’s good – right?
RTS: Just like I play fantasy baseball and a lot of guys who really like baseball do, but of those same 300 people I know only a handful play fantasy baseball. It’s fine. My wife reads it on the weekends – not daily, my brothers never even look at it and my dad doesn’t go near the Internet. About 10 people from where you still and I used to work signed up. You and Trisha are the only two that read the strip. For which I’m grateful. But again, I hope I can still make a living at this even though no one I know cares. I do this for me. Just like you play guitar for you
HYM: i have the exact opposite problem. only people i know read my blog!
RTS: hahahaha
RTS: btw – two things… Got a pic of a reader who got a t-shirt. awesome pic that he dropped RTS into. Pretty funny.
RTS: Also, I wore my “Ooh Poo!” shirt yesterday. Lots of looks. That felt pretty good.
HYM: oh word, awesome.
HYM: hey where ARE THE NEW SHIRT DESIGNS FOR TODAY?? YOU SAID MONDAY!!
RTS: Dude – I worked until 4am on Sat just getting the strip done for this week. I’m working on them tomorrow night (edited: still not done). I need them done and selling by the end of the month.
RTS: I wish I never had to sleep. I want to do so much. Although sleep is pretty sweet sometimes.
HYM: i love sleeping!
RTS: The shirts will be pretty lol – I think. They’re for haters.
HYM: i can’t wait to not ever see the designs.
RTS: Did you know Linkin’ Park’s ‘One Step Closer’ was going to be RTS’s theme song. But won’t for two reasons.
RTS: First, Rick’s not as angry as I originally thought he would be
RTS: Second, I already have a sweet ass theme song – from Sawtooth (Heck Yeah Man’s music)
RTS: I need to get that back on the site.
HYM: lol @ you thinking that rts was gonna be angry!
RTS: He was originally. I wanted Gilbert Godfried to be the voice – BEFORE THE AFLAC COMMERCIALS!
RTS: I can totally see RTS being a cartoon in my head.
HYM: lol – a cartoon would be sweet. you ever do animation before?
RTS: No. And I won’t do it myself. I would have to hope and wait for someone to come to me – or if it becomes big enough I will put together a few scripts and shop it around.
RTS: But that’s probably 3 or 4 years down the road
HYM: the animating for a cartoon – a lot of busiwork, huh?
RTS: It requires a lot of patience. I have none. I barely can draw the strip. I’m telling you, in my head it’s finished before I even get to inking it. I want to move on. If I could just plug into my head, I would. The quality would be better!
RTS: Of the drawing that is. It never comes out as good as I see it in my head.
HYM: yeah that’s kind of a pain in the ass
RTS: It’s actually embarrassing. Especially when I look back at those first strips. I thought they were good at the time. It just goes to show me that I had my head so far up my own ass that it sucks. I can’t imagine how I’ll feel about the art in another year!!!
RTS: I could be suicidal!!!

Thanks for dropping by!
Ken

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