Page 1566…
Hi all!
Sorry for the shortened week this week. With the loss of our site for a bit…the holiday…and the impending Con this weekend…4 pages was all I could do.
As I’ve mentioned before… I’ll be at Baltimore Comic Con this weekend!
Come and find me at the KIDS LOVE COMICS section (Booth 2403)
And don’t forget… we’re ALMOST at our second Push Goal!
Please help us reach this so we can have some fun “SHIPPING” your favorite characters!
We’re so close! Please help us spread the word.
Hope to see you in Baltimore!
Dan, you so deserved that. 🙂
Ah my gods dude… That is the dream isn’t?
It seems that Daniel needs to look where he’s going! 😉 He can’t imagine AND walk at the same time! Hopefully the box won’t burst open.
I’m wondering if it was the thought of the costume, or the beer, or both that resulted in that head/tree collision…
After everyone’s comments yesterday, this was totally perfect. I lol’d.
Best.
Don’t you hats.when that happens. You are just walking along, deep in thought, than reality kicks in. Literally.
Dan may not have seen the tree coming, but Excalibur apparently did. Here’s hoping it doesn’t avoid enemies, too.
Oh wow. I lol’d at this one. XD Priceless. Dat fantasy bubble
Smooth.
The true king of Dreamland, everybody! XD
First Dreamland Chronicles “thinks bubble” ever, right Scott?
Hate breaking this to you Dan, but you’re not Merlin. Getting inside trees just doesn’t seem to be your thing.
As for TopWebComics,
#6: 2,316
#7: 1,810 <= us
#8: 1,775
Too far from #6. Too close to #8. Vote, fellow Readers!
Hmm… How did Dan’s mind translate “Noelle sells turkey shanks” “Noelle as St. Pauli Girl”? 🙂
Yes it was. And it felt strange…
Question. Should I have gone “sexier” with her outfit?
If a boy is going to fantasize, he is going to go to extremes. the image you portrayed is probably closer to her “real” appearance, but probably not what Dan would be imagining.
I’d say yes. She looks more like a elementary school lunch lady than a ren faire bar maid. I’m guessing you have not been to a decent faire that requires vendors to be dressed in fairly period clothing. Take a look here: http://www.renfair.com/socal/photosvideos/photogallery.asp
In a word – yes. Ren fairs are famous for women displaying cleavage in medieval outfits. I think the St.Pauli girl’s outfit is a good guideline, even considering the younger target audience for your comic. 🙂
AHAHAHAHAHHA!
Indeed- it did seem to magically avoid being held across Dan’s chest at the moment of impact.
Seriously, though…
I find it interesting how the sword-box suddenly goes from being held across his torso (and thus between himself and anything he runs into), to being just in his left hand as he slams into the tree… Even if he did hit it so the box wasn’t in the way, his right arm would also be on the same side as the box, but said right arm is clearly not visible in the last frame.
Here’s hoping it is just magic sword moving on its own.
Well, you can’t actually see where his right arm is in that last frame. For all we know it might well be crushed between his body and the tree as you suggest. Look how low his hand is in the previous frame. If his arm is in relatively the same position in the last frame, adjusted for the collision, it would be hidden by the box.
Yeah, that outfit Nichole is wearing in Dan’s thought bubble doesn’t really scream “Ren Faire” to me. She looks more like a Pilgrim who decided that colors aren’t such a bad thing after all. You can cut back on the exposed cleavage a bit if you’re worried about keeping it kid friendly, but something more like that ad is definitely what Dan should be picturing.
Depends on what you’d want your kids to see. Remember, you have this for them.
She actually looks like a blacksmith or even a dariy farmer carrying two pitchers of milk. The blouse could be one of those round cut necklines with flowy sleeves. Similar to: http://www.tally-weijl.com/collection/products/show-subcategory/articles/subcategory/blouses/article/13224.html,
but not so frumpy. Of course, I’m no Ren fair expert having only been to one in my life and lived in Germany for 6 mo.
I’d say it’s perfect the way it is: this is a naive nerd, in love with the girl, having a completely innocent image come in his mind of a younger Nicole working there… He’s never seen her wear anything provocative, so that may not even come to mind, for him…
I think the image in the strip does need changing–it took me some time to figure out what was going on, and just doesn’t say “ren fair”
I also laughed and remembered that insurance form line about, “I was parked when a tree came out of nowhere to hit my car,” or something like that.
No, no! It’s perfect, sweet, and hilarious the way it is. 🙂
Yes. Her outfit doesn’t really look like anything I’ve ever seen at a Ren Fest.
That’s the first thing I thought when I read it – “That’s a Ren Faire costume?” I would totally change that.
That would be a resounding yes. Honestly, Nicole looks at present, hotter than Daniel’s visualization. Although the St. Pauli girl is about 2 centuries older than standard ren wench blouses, showing Nicole a little more ‘buxom’ would’ve made the tree-slam payoff that much more sweeter.
XD This is now my official favorite part of the comic!
YES! I didn’t actually quite understand what Dan was fantasizing about…even took me a bit to understand I was looking at steins. The pic you posted here is perfect. It’s fine for kids…even with the beer. Definitely a more buxom pic of Nicole would make more sense to me, and would be adorable. 🙂
Yes. I appreciate how scrupulously family-friendly the comic is, but a décolletage ren-faire outfit is about as mild as the kissing that’s gone on. As it is, I think the joke is weakened by the tameness of the image; she’s actually wearing more in his mind than she is walking beside him.
Besides, it’d be way cuter.
I interpreted it as a comedic device. That’s the classic pose for someone running into something pole-shaped like a tree — arms out in front, whatever is in hands flying out forward…to me it works.
Considering the amount of skin Nastajia shows all the time, I see no reason to not show Nicole in a more flattering dress. I don’t think she needs to look more buxom, but probably something more feminine and renaissancey would make the joke make sense. – It took me a while to get it, because the outfit in the thought bubble just looks like a lunch lady or something.
Stupid tree! always jumping out at the worst times.. i swear that i cant daydream about my girl and walk at the same time.
I’d go with sexier. We are talking about the imagination of a male teenager, after all. If you think it will help you can substitute turkey shanks for beer steins. That would actually be kind of funny, too….
As one of your more conservative readers, I would still say you could go “sexier” with Nicole’s outfit. No college-aged boy is going to be imagining his girlfriend in a dress with a high heck and collar. I’m pretty sure I trust your judgement to still keep it family friendly. You’ve done a great job so far.
My thoughts exactly. Between Nastajia and the mermaids, anyone deeply offended by skimpy tops stopped reading a long time ago.
😉
Yes, overdressed to the Max. Also clear that she is holding white plastic tumblers of something. Milk, maybe. Certainly they are not Beer Steins. Dan obviously must drink beer straight from the bottle.
Maybe the strangeness would be a bit smoothened if it also had this purple rim, like the speech bubbles. As it is at the moment, it looks a bit out of place.
Also the “bubbly things” (the rounded things that stick out of the though bubble) could be round instead of unformed ovals. More like like single circles bound together to form a thought bubble (I hope I’m making sense here – more like this: http://www.clker.com/clipart-cartoon-thought-bubble.html). So, the thought bubbles would be more in the style of the circles and ovals that make up the speech bubbles and look less out of place.
Feh. It made me giggle anyway…
Definitely. If nothing else, it gives you an excuse to research dirndls!
I third this. But very much applaud Scott’s conservative approach.
Had a blast meeting you at Baltimore, Scott! Hope to run into you again when we have more time to chat.
Same here! Thanks for coming by! Hope the con was good for you!
Hi all!
Had a great time in Baltimore…but am VERY tired from all the travel.
I will work hard at getting back to my regular schedule tomorrow.
Please be patient with me.
Scott
I agree that Nicole could be in a more fun, frolicsome, sexy yet not vulgar Ren faire costume. What she’s wearing in Daniel’s “fantasy” makes her look like an assembly line worker (not that there’s anything wrong with being an assembly line worker, mind you…).
Think St. Pauli Girl with a more modest neckline (since she was a young girl).
Take your time and a well deserved break. ^^
Cutting yourself some slack is important else you burn out like a will’o’wisp. whoosh, and nuffin left to do summat with.
stay safe
Since nobody’s said it…
“Watch out for that tree!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4hXdsVUnp4
It completely slipped my mind… doh!
Just a thought, Scott.
Since you’ve put your first thought bubble into TDC, you could have a little fun if you want to follow up on suggestions and redo Nicole in a more Ren-Fair style outfit. Try doing one of your water colors of Nicole and paste that in. If nothing else, it would show what a powerful imagination Daniel has. 😉
In its current state, she looks like a Starbucks barista.
I dunno, I’m kinda partial to ren faires.
Hi all! The page is rendering nicely. Should have Wednesday’s page up at normal time.
Thanks again for being so patient.
I’m going to go with Team Yes here. I didn’t see that dress as something a lady would wear to a Ren Faire at all. The girl on the beer label you posted actually probably has just about the right amount of “sexiness” without going overboard, in my humble opinion.
If I may offer a thought, if you want the dress to be a little more kid-friendly, you could design her with a bodice that goes over her chest (not under), such as in this image I’ve linked: http://www.renaissancedress.com/newmerchcl.jpg That’s how I wear my bodice when I go to Faires. I’m much more comfortable in conservative dress.
Forgot to add a caveat: I know the shirt (aka chemise) is fairly low-cut in the picture I linked. I just picked that photo to show the bodice specifically. Sorry for the double post!
I’m going with team “yes.” But not too low. It is a family-friendly comic. However, cleavage about the same as Nastajia’s seems appropriate, no?
My goodness, you have the most amazing moments in this webcomic. It’s why I’m a loyal follower.