Dan White is the creator of the webcomic 'Geo Trackers'

Dan, tell us a bit about you.

Ok where to start? I'm Dan White, 22 from London, UK. I spent 3 years in NJ, USA getting a degree in Graphic Design. During those 3 years, I learned a lot that has helped me with my strip, like drawing, color theory and anatomy. (Even though I'm still not very good at it, lol) I came back to the UK about 2 years ago, and began looking for my dream job, Graphic Designer, unfortunately that hasn't come off yet, so I'll just stick with a job for now.

How did you find out about geocaching?

My uncle (Steve) got me into Geocaching late last year. He found it online and had a few days off work, and decided to take me with him. Our first adventure was up a very, very steep hill (I would say mountain, but I might be exaggerating), we made our way to the top and found our first cache. The other caches that day were less easy, up and down hill (mountains) all day. We both had a good time and since then we have been out quite a few times, not as much as we would like to, but we definitely have a lot of fun when we do.

One of the things I personally enjoy so much about geocaching is all of the opportunity it can afford people to be creative and to share that creativity with the community. How did you come to express yours through a webcomic?

While in the USA, I discovered webcomics and instantly loved them. I quickly become a regular reader of quite a few, PVP online, Sheldon, and of course Penny Arcade and a few others. Without really knowing what to do, I started my own called Larry & Gary and put it up on a free server. After a few weeks, I realized I needed to do some research and stopped Larry & Gary and began reading everything, watching all the videos and learning as much as I could about creating webcomics. When I came back to the UK, I still wanted to do a webcomic, I just didn't know what about. I didn't think I could carry Larry & Gary on for years like some of the pros have done. Then, while Geocaching on that steep hill, Steve said to me "You should do a strip about this!" 2 months later my first strip was up.

How well has your webcomic been received so far?

I posted on the Geocaching forum about it and to my surprise; a fair amount of people went and looked at the strip. We did have big problems with the free server because visitors were getting pop ups and the geocaching people complained about that. A few days later, Steve called me and said "I've got an early Christmas present for you...a new website!" This was great news, as it meant no more pop ups and no complaints. Since then the site has undergone a lot of changes, When we started I was only going to do one strip every two weeks, that quickly changed to one every week and a few weeks ago that changed again to two strips every week. I have also done a couple of story lines that have lasted a full week, most recently the Star Trek one.

I've really enjoyed the enthusiasm and humor you've shown in your strip. You've got some likeable characters and put them in situations many geocachers find themselves in.

How do you see your characters and your strip growing in the future? What are your dreams for them?

Well the 2 main characters are based on my uncle and me, so as long as we are having fun geocaching then there will be new strips. As for the future, I have big plans for the strip, such as expanding the site, a Geo Trackers cache in the real life geocaching world and possible a few new 'full time' characters too. My dream for the strip is for it someday to become as popular as some of the 'mainstream' webcomics out there, as for now, I am very happy with where it is for the short time it has been up, and would like to thank all the geocaching (and non-geocaching) people that have made that happen.    

Thanks Dan! We wish you a lot of success and a long future for "Geo Trackers'

Visit Geo Trackers at www.geotrackers.co.uk You can leave comments and tell Dan how much you like his strip. A little encouragement goes a long way!

By catsnfish

A couple of empty-nesters who caught the caching bug not realizing it was incurable. So if we’re found in the woods waltzing with Garmins, lifting lampskirts while tying our shoe or looking for “gum” underneath benches, be sure to stay away... it’s contagious and the only temporary relief can be found in finding bison’s, ammo’s, nano’s, or passing coins and spreading travel bugs!

Publisher's Note: Catsnfish write the periodic column The Adventures of Catsnfish. Subscribe (free) to The Online Geocacher to get an email alert when a new article is published.