Sam Macgregor

Last week, we met one of the two stars of Sunnyville.  Now it’s time to meet the other one.  

Samantha Macgregor, better known as Sam to her friends, is a teenage girl cat with butter cream fur living in the hamlet of Sunnyville.  She’s pretty much lived in this small town her whole life.  Apart from visiting her relatives in the nearby beachfront town of Solton and an occasional visit to Oak City, she’s never really wandered out of the reach of Sunnyville.  Sam is the third of five children and a very sweet girl at that.  She frequently helps her mom take care of her little brother Jason and her baby sister Anna.  Sam also is popular as a babysitter and has looked after many of the town’s children.

Sam plays the straight role to Rusty.  Essentially, she’s there to provide reaction to Rusty’s jokes and antics.  She’s ready to laugh at Rusty’s comments…and also ready to scold him when he says or does something inappropriate.  Essentially, the two make good friends because they fill each other’s needs.  Rusty knows that Sam accepts him and will help others accept him.  In turn, Sam sees Rusty as someone she can take care of.

Samantha probably changed a lot during the design phase of Sunnyville.  Early drafts of the story (when I first thought it up in 2005) actually had her as a rabbit!  She eventually changed over to a cat as I felt cats were easier to draw.  Another prototype for Sam had her wearing tiger stripe stretch pants instead of a jumper. In fact, this design was one I kept for a long time. Sam wore those pants in the Rusty and Sam #1 comic I did back in the spring of 2009.

The change though to a dress didn’t come until actually January of this year, when I started working on the first episode of Sunnyville. Due to the nature of the town’s residents having traditional wardrobes, Tom Hart (creator of Hutch Owen) recommended I stick with the theme and give Sam a dress.  This would become the final version of Sam Macgregor.

So now, you’ve met Rusty and you’ve met Sam.  What do you think, intrepid readers?

In next week’s post, I’ll share with you some more images of them and even demonstrate some of my inking tools! So stay tuned!