Cote’s comic strip finds online audience
Contributed photo
SHAWN COTE is beginning to develop an online following for his comic strip, “Jillpoke Bohemia,” which he describes as an “alternative comic strip about a twentysomething country-punk duo making alternative music.” The Fort Fairfield native hopes to get the strip published and would like to include them in a series of graphic novels. Here, Cote illustrates his strip using Microsoft Paint in his home studio.
FORT FAIRFIELD — Fort Fairfield native Shawn Cote is hopeful that his online comic strip, “Jillpoke Bohemia,” will open some doors.
Cote began posting his first strips on Facebook last August and on GoComics.com about six months ago.
“I had been working on a novel with the working title ‘Jopoke.’ I managed to get through a first draft of that and then I got bogged down in the revision process,” the 44-year-old said. “I had always drawn, but I had gotten away from it over the years in order to concentrate on writing. My wife, Kim, had encouraged me to start drawing again so I started drawing a picture a day.
“I had attended the Arootsakoostik Music Festival last June and I met Travis Cyr, who introduced me to some of the other musicians,” said Cote. “I was sort of inspired to want to do something music related, but since I’m not a musician, I decided to combine the writing and the drawing and do a comic strip about musicians. That’s how Jillpoke Bohemia came about.”
Cote said the comic strip’s name is a combination of two words that he thought sounded good together.
“Jillpoke was a word that I had always heard growing up. I think it’s a colloquialism that’s sort of unique to this area. I researched the word online and one meaning is ‘an unproductive or uncooperative colleague’ which I took to be a ‘slacker,’” he said. “I like the idea of what ‘bohemia’ suggested … a community of unconventional people or artists who aren’t really part of the mainstream. I put the two words together and something clicked.”
Cote describes Jillpoke Bohemia as an “alternative comic strip about a twentysomething country-punk duo making alternative music.”
“There are two main characters — Kieran and Darby — and their stage name is Jillpoke Bohemia. The strip is set in Portland and deals a little with the music scene there. They work part-time jobs while they’re trying to get their music career off the ground,” he said. “Kieran brings more of a country-bluegrass element to the music and Darby is a little more punk. They found a way to combine their interests to come up with a unique sound that’s all their own.”
Having been drawing since before he started school, the illustrator has been receiving “mostly positive” feedback since posting his online strips.
“The comic strip has its own Facebook page and I have about 57 Likes so far,” said Cote. “I would like to get the strip published somewhere. I would also like to gather all the strips together and publish them as a series of graphic novels. I’ve been told it’s hard to break into syndicated comics, so we’ll see.”
Cote said Jillpoke Bohemia is “somewhat political.”
“It started out being about music and then it became more character driven. The characters sort of took over,” he said. “I’ve done quite a few political strips … especially during the election when there was a lot of grist for the mill. You have to be careful with political cartoons because you don’t want to alienate your audience, but I’ve taken shots at both sides.”
While appreciative of the exposure GoComics.com has afforded him, Cote said it’s been a challenge following the website’s “family-friendly format.”
“Darby is very outspoken and she doesn’t watch her tongue,” he said, “so I had to redo the strip in some ways to make it family-friendly. There’s also some adult themes, so it’s been difficult because I’ve felt restricted or constrained. If there’s something on GoComics.com that I changed, I usually put it in its original form on Facebook.”
A fan of such comic strips as “Bloom County,” “Calvin and Hobbes” and “The Boondocks,” Cote has learned to illustrate his strip using Microsoft Paint.
“As the strip evolved, I learned how to draw with a mouse,” he said. “That’s how I do the entire strip now.”
Though currently unemployed, Cote, who graduated from the University of Maine at Presque Isle in 1994 with a bachelor of arts degree in English, said he hopes to “find work either by writing or illustrating.”
“This helps fill the time until I can find some steady work,” he said. “Most of the jobs that I’ve done have been jobs that I didn’t really enjoy doing. I enjoy doing this, and I would really like to find work where I could make a living doing what I love.”
