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Two Little Maidens

the two little maidens 1

We've been wanting to do this for weeks. This mini-short concludes on Thursday ... it's the pilot and setup for the Maidens fiction series we'll be doing alongside Girl with the Skeleton Hand and the others.

I want to talk about the process a little bit here. The Two Little Maidens, as children, are done in the visual spirit of the Encyclopedia Brown and Nate the Great children's book series. Yuko spent half a day doing the research - she pulled up old covers and tracked down a font that looked a lot like the Encyclopedia Brown cover font (it's very similar to Clarendon, for the type-inclined). Then she did the letters by hand using a grid, which was painstaking but absolutely worth it - the type is gorgeous, especially the italics. Girl, you crazy. Tapping those books from our childhood was a natural fit.

Also: Yuko has a design over at Threadless that's up for voting:

It's called Coffee Loves Coffee! If you have a moment and wouldn't mind voting, that would be awesome!

Lastly, we just got in new ZooLOLogy, PaleontoLOLgy and Mawzantine Crest tees - once we do inventory they'll be up for grabs over in the store! We'll let you know when they're up. :)

Hope you guys like the new comic! See you Thursday!

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Comments

Oh my, update full of awesome :] Looking forward to the rest of the story, it definitely looks amazing visually. (the font, y/y?) And the threadless design is pure cutesy. *voting*

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Awesome as usual. I want to visit the farm too!

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Right off the bat its amazing. Gotta say the Elixir of Truth was the best panel. Once again you guys pull off awesome swimmingly.

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Ooooooh, exciting! Cool-looking new fiction ^^ If I were a kid again, I would totally read those books.

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You know, that's so funny, because I looked at the strip and thought that the lettering looked like the font on the old Encyclopedia Brown books.

Lo and behold...

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That sounds utterly retarded and I apologize profusely.

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I'm sorry, but I don't forgive you. *hmph*

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Well, I forgive him.

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day= MADE.

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LOVE THIS SO FAR. I adore the coloring, and I love the design of these kids. And the name! AHHH. so precious.

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What do you mean by pilot? Are you pitching it to someone?

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O-oh, ah, no it's not. The first two comics are just a prologue to a longer story about the brothers as adults.

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This is looking amazing already! AMAAAZING!

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Aw, thanks so much! :D I'm really really pleased with how it looks. :D

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LOL for some reason that reminded me of the old "Ida Know" strips in 'Family Circus'...

I never read Encyclopedia Brown. Maybe I should!

Also: Eeeee new stuff! =D I like the Maiden kids already.

Also also: Coffee <3's Coffee is adorable.

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Very enjoyable. Boy detectives are always fun, like Gaiman's dead boy detectives. Or the Venture Brothers, from that show on adult swim...what was it called? Robot chicken?

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One thing I hate about the internet, cannot tell if someone is being sarcastic...

But yeah, Venture Brothers are from Venture Bros.

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Shouldn't it be spelled "Elixir" and not "Elixer"?

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Y-yeah, that one was entirely my fault. Ananth got it right on the script, I'm just a dumbass. I'm going to get on it, but it's going to be a really difficult fix if I want to make it look good. =___=

I'm working on page 2 right now and mustering up the courage to do the fix. It'll be corrected before the next page is up.

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Corrected, thanks for the heads up!

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I'm so sorry for making you feel bad T_T
Totally wasn't my intention D:
Curiosity got the better of me -_-

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I love your short stories! Can't wait to see this one!

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It looks like it is going to be great!
Fantastic job!!

And I love the Coffee <3's Coffee. ( even if I don't like coffee myself) You'll let us know when its up for sale? I wish I could vote again... :D

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Hey cool, ripping off Kate Beaton's mystery solving teens now. Killer.

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Like it was never done before then either...

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Oh come on you must be kidding me.

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I LOVE THIS, IT IS GREAT. I'm so glad to hear there's going to be more. :D

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Beautiful. Cute. Damn Near Perfection.

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Oh man I love the boys and I look forward to seeing them again, they're just so adorable.

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I love being surprised with color. Looking forward to reading this! I thanked you guys by joining threadless and voting. ;)

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loooove nate the great :)

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i love the colour scheme!

and having read so many mystery books as a kid (even Agatha Christie and Stephen King when i was too young really :D ) I NEVER came across Encyclopedia Brown D:
I feel cheated! Maybe I'll have to investigate this further....

anyone got any other recommendation for good books/manga/series?
I've reread my library of books so far this summer and I need something new!
:)

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Hi guys, I was just wondering if your contact email still works because I've emailed like last february and I've waited (and still waiting) for a reply.xD I know you guys are busy so maybe if you have time you might wanna get me back on it. I'll wait.*nods

Cheers! :]

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I'm very sorry! It's been tough for us to catch up on e-mails, but I'm slowly catching up (very slowly).

I can take a look - what name was the e-mail under?

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It's under the subject ^^;. I'm so sorry bout this. I understand your situation.

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I thought a maiden was an unmarried girl, but those appear to be two little boys? Was there a specific reason maiden was used? Just didn't know if I missed something.

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I believe it's their last name. Cute punning.

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Maiden is also a surname, albeit uncommon. :D

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Coffee loves coffee is sort of freaking me out. I remember thinking the same thing when I saw the design the first time.

... I think I must own the shirt.

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The little kids are SO cute! Haha, they sort of remind me of Ed and Al (from Fullmetal Alchemist)!

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D-daddy Maiden's not so great at the comforting front, is he? Sob. XD

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As usual you guys made something amazing here. I read pretty much every Encyclopedia Brown book when I was a kid, so seeing an homage to that from someone who, you know, actually remembered those books was pretty awesome. I think the elixir of truth is my favorite.

Honestly as much as your slice-o-life comics make me laugh, I love the storybook style you have when you do these fictional asides. I'm excited to read more!

I hope to see you guys around, I've got to figure out which Con I'm doing after Ota.

-Kings

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