Page 1053…
on March 23, 2010
at 12:00 am
Well…they almost did it. They almost kissed.
You guys predicted Alex would get in the way of something. And he did.
Still…it was nice getting Dan and Nicole to this point. I hope you like.
Also…we have a new vote incentive today.
Some old designs of Felicity. While we were still working on her final look.
Have a great day. And thanks for reading!
Scott
Almost…. There… !!!
Stay on target…!
We’re too close! STAY ON TARGET!
(Seriously, is this where ALL the nerds congregate? Next we will be quoting star trek)
Quoting Star Trek? That’s simply illogical.
…
“I touched it! I touched it! I could feel its heat! I could taste it in my mouth! Oil and cordite!”
How’s that quote for a change of pace?
Props to anyone who can place it.
KHAAAAAAAAAAAAN!
(Had to be said … )
And thus was the last word Alex said before Daniel killed him.
*chuckle* Is it just me or is nicole’s visible eye in the last frame looking a bit demonic there (red)? Probably a reflection, but could be an indication of her annoyance at the interruption
I think it’s just the light.
OMG! Nicole is possessed by Nicodemus!
Nicodemus: “Curses! It took me so long to find out how to enter this world through the body of another human…and I’m so close to incinerating the King of Dreamland from the inside out! That Alexander brat foils my plan again!”
bahaha this thread wins
Tempest I think its more than Dan who wants to kill him now. lol xD
Maybe they will still try who knows… Okay Scott knows xD
Well, Hope your weekend was well and your day today goes well Scott! And the family as well.
hehe I snuck on just to ketch this before i headed off for a nap. hehe well done i look forward to more.
Sincerely,
Sin
Good to see Alex and Nicole together. Typical, though, sooooooo close to kissing! I was hoping to see if the new lipstick shade you got for her was smudgeproof.
Don’t you mean Dan and Nicole?
Either way, I was validated today. It is nice to be proved right.
Weird, I keep mixing-up the names too….
Wait for it…
…
*squeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…x Infinity*
HOW DO THEIR GLASSES EVEN WORK BELOW THEIR EYEBALLS?!
I like some of those felicity shots better than the final. Same with Kiwi, overshot the best versions.
I think we had this discussion before…
yeah, some of those Felicity sketches were really cool. But, I think the younger, more cartoony look works better for this comic.
I particularly like the one in the middle! I’d love to see that one in the comic at some point, maybe as a background character or something? Felicity simply CAN’T be the only catgirl in Dreamland! Hmm… *posits a theory on that subject and wanders off stroking his chin thoughtfully*
You know, you make an interesting point. Lot’s of people have concluded that the “Guardians” are most likely dragons. But what if they’re actually cat-people?
80
rather:
(oops)
HERE HE COMES TO RUIN THEIR DAY!!!
That means Alexander is on his way… *sings to the Mighty Mouse theme*
waaah i’m so excited for them ^_____________^
all of the designs for felicity are great! Though I’m pretty happy with your final choice actually… the other ones look too mature. I think from how felicity acts, you need a bit of childishness =)
http://www.webcomicbucket.com/comicbox/banner.php pretty much sums up how I’m feeling at the almost kiss part.
…
Damnit, Scott!
When I saw them leaning in for a kiss, I almost thought that Scott changed what we all predicted yesterday and would actually give us some Dan/Nicole time.
But then Alex came and my first thoughts were something along the lines of: “DARN IT” and “I knew it!!”
DAMNIT ALEX! >.<! lol. yeah saw this coming but still!!! awh poor dan
stupid, stupid Alex!
Regarding the vote incentive, and proto-Felicity designs:
The lower-right (long hair, long ears) and upper-right (piratical head wrap) are quite cute.
I hope we might see them if we ever come across more of the feline species.
bwahahah, I knew it!
Now I have this image of Alex going: Dan! I need your he….*pause* Dan….what are you doing?
You’re right that he would ask, he wouldn’t know
On the plus side, Alex is going right back to Dreamland becaused Dan is going to knock him out.
Ok maybe not, but I expect there will be stern lecturing later.
Since the invention of the kiss, there have been five kisses that were rated the most passi -
*Loud sound of a needle scratching a vynil record”
“Pause”
AAAALLEEEEX ! ! !
Inconceivable!
ugh.. this was like the early X-files when you were glaring at the screen trying to will Mulder and Scully to kiss.
kind of gross really….Dan will thank him later.
Yuck. Is this a kissy book?
Thanks all.
Someday, you may not mind so much.
Can’t we just get to the good parts?
[Nah, just kiddin' - they're all good parts
]
You’re sick, I’ll humor you.
Actually, they didn’t have all the same lines. The staircase-circling sequence, for instance, was completely absent from Love Affair.
Oh. You got me, Tom!
It’s not inconceivable that Dan would leave out the details, exceptions and caveats while leaning in for a kiss, though …
You missed the point here. Dan is trying to impress her with how knowledgeable he is. He doesn’t have to be both knowledgeable AND correct with his trivia! I mean, whatever works, works!
Well, in the company of a gorgeous ,cute woman like Nicole, moving in for a kiss, I’d be hard pressed to remember my own name, let alone movie-trivia..
Frankly, I’ve never been thrilled with Felicity’s face. . . I thought she looks too much like a human wearing greasepaint — there’s no muzzle, no whiskers, no ruffled fur. (Could some of that be due to limitations in your rending software, I wonder?) Some of the prototype sketches look better to me, especially the profile in the upper-left.
The less human she looks, the less readers will identify and relate with her.
Remember what James Cameron said? When asked why Navi have breasts when they have their fiber-optic connections for nourishment, he replied: “Because humans are the ones who will see the film.”
Ah well… Nicole will have to wait for a more opportune time to possess Dan’s soul.
I guess this is payback for when Alex almost got to kiss Staj … or did he wake up on his own that time?
Ha! Perfect.
See, Scott? The fact that this moment was predictable did nothing whatsoever to lessen its impact.
And I like the vote incentive, though I have to respectfully disagree with Zobeid – I like the original sketches here, but I think the final version of Felicity is better. Especially the eyes; the eyes in the sketches are rather typical and Disneyish to me, but Felicity’s eyes in the comic are beautiful and unique to your style, IMHO.
(Everyone please VOTE!)
Agreed. Did it… Voted, I mean…
Thats just soooooooooo NOT fair. First he is denied being able to dream and enter Dreamland because of some stupid rule, now hes denied getting kissed. You suck. Id say Dan should find a baseball bat and help Alex go back to sleep.
I was hoping to see Dan punch Alex in the face before he could get his sentence out, and on Thursday, he’s back in Dreamland.
Poor Dan!!!
First, he was never able to enter Dreamland, thus has to live it vicariously through Alex
Next, he has to relinquish his crown to Alex so he can become King and save dreamland
Now, Alex interrupts his first Kiss
Hopefully Dan waits until after Nicodemus is defeated to Kill him!
A little frustration/tension is fine
I have faith that it’ll work out soon. 
I love it! One of your best in a long time. And by that I don’t mean the recent strips haven’t been good. They have been great but this one was perfect.
I hope when they do finally get around to kissing, their glasses get hooked together and it’s awkward and cute. My fiance and I both wear glasses and while that fortunately didn’t happen on our first kiss, it has happened plenty of times.
ALEX, YOU INCREDIBLE NINCOMPOOP!
Oh, well, I guess this IS an emergency…
One thing: the shadows don’t quite match each other. Like how Dan’s face is covering Nicolle’s, but his glasses cast shadows on his own face.
In retrospect, two things: he should’ve fallen asleep. It’s just how Alex wakes up on important moments, Dan falls asleep on important moments.
Well, actually, three things: great comic!
address your 1st concern: multiple light source maybe? I think they are still on the street/path thing and it might be lighted by a row of lamps… so it’s possible that one is right behind Nicole while one is right behind Dan…
Thank you.
Regarding the lights. There are several lamps around. So they’re being lit by maybe half a dozen lights in this scene.
Considering the circumstances in Dreamland,, hopefully Dan will be a little more forgiving. But I do wonder if this is a brief interlude or if Alex will go back to Dreamland the following night.
[Public Service Announcement]
If anyone here reads “Zap!” (by Pascalle Lepas and Chris Layfield), Calle has asked me to help spread the word that her hosting company suspended her account for using to much server resources, with no warning. She is quite displeased [paraphrased], and is working feverishly to get the old site back up temporarily (http://www.zapinspace.com) until she can get the new site (http://www.zapcomic.com) forklifted to a new hosting service.
(Scott, if you happen to know Calle, and have any suggestions for a hosting service, I’m sure she’d appreciate the suggestion.)
Before anyone asks, I don’t have any direct way to contact Calle myself; I only managed to make contact through a sort of back door, using the Disqus system “Zap” uses for comments.
[/Public Service Announcement]
Completely unrelated question for Scott.
How tempting is it to go back to Page 1 and apply everything you have learned and changed in character models, textures, etc. and start over from scratch? Not that the readers want you to do so. We wouldn’t see another issue for months!
Every fiber of my being wants to go back and redo Book One completely.
From script to art.
But my head tells me that it would be a waste of time. And I have so much further to go.
Not to mention that when you finish chapter 24, you’ll be so much further along in terms of style and technique than where you are right now.
Your description makes me imagine Donna standing over you with a ruler (Sister Mary Stigmata’s outfit optional) occasionally swatting your hand as it reaches for the mouse. “No! Bad Artist! You were thinking about fixing a lighting problem in Book 2, weren’t you? Bad, bad, bad! No biscuit!!!”
And from the happy owner of the first three books(and a cute-as-a-button Felicity vinyl): Do Not Change A thing. I find the evolution of the art just as interesting as the story itself ,and make it a habit to figure out and scrutinize the improvements that slowly creeped in the renders. I was actually flabbergasped when `i discovered a true velvety/short’n hairy skin-texture on Felis… Rendering nice skin has constantly eluded me. Bump-mapping came close, but I always messed up the material’s shine.
Well thanks guys.
As for Felicity. I’d still like to find a fur shader that works well.
After all these years…they’ve still not effectively created one that runs in Max easily.
true! but the “velvety-shader” works very well in the style of the art-work. Real fur-shader would look somewhat out of place I think. But if someone would program a hair shader that would emulate frizzy hair satisfactory(and NOT the sort that renders for 2 days straight and STILL looks like crinkly seagrass…) I’d be a really happy puppy. Faking with textures goes only so far.
I bet Dan is thinking his name with an extra “m” in it, or something of the like. I hope not ^^. I wished they kissed a little bit before they were interrupted.
See? I miss all the good incentives when I go off!
I missed two of the letters because I was on a workshop, and now I miss Camelot on retreat.
I’m not never goin’ nowhere ever again! I’m just gonna sit here and follow Dreamland Chronicles forever. SO THERE!
“Blast you, vile brother!” Are what Dan is thinking right now… along with “you’d better have a good reason to interrupt my kiss.”
Just once I would like to have this happen only for one of the people in volved to say, “Excuse me a minute,” then kiss the other until they felt like breaking, look back at the interrupter and say, “I’m sorry, what was that?”
Exactly — I was just going to suggest that.
Yeah, it would be hilarious if Dan would look his brother up and down, shooeing him away and going all “Rudolf Valentino” on Nicole
:rofl:
Yup..aaand there is the spoil-sport…. ALEX! It would be great if Nicole gave Alexander a piece of her mind, interrupting such an important ,sensitive, moment
By the way, the interaction and facial expressions are rendered bloody well. The shadows, the light, the subtlety of Nicole canting her head, the slightly parting of the lips..must be hell to get exactly right when rigging, but came out perfect!
/Queue
the little crab from the little mermaid song
kiss the girl!!!
Sha la la la la la!
Daniel: ffffff…FFFFFFFFFFUU***************************KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!
*kills his brother*
lol XD
Easy on the language, there, ND. Even with the masking stars, that’s kinda pushing the PG rating in here …
We graduated from G to PG? So we can use censored cursing now instead of no cursing? F*** Yeah!!!!
I just wanted to say that I love the eyes in these frames. Even if Nicole’s are a little red at the end there.
Damn it Alex! Oiy. Well, that was to be expected of course. :p
Dan’s thoughts: “Damn ****block!!!” Censored it myself for the kiddies. :p
Yet another inturrupted kiss. XD
I can’t see any of those sketches, due to date I guess..
The face I see from the link for Felicia I actually prefer to the final one
For those that want to view the concept art mentioned in the voting incentive note, it is all available on the Dreamland Chronicles facebook page.