Abbymations (Early Access): Game-Over - AbbyTanked! (Patreon)

Abby has been abducted!
By Aliens? By scientists?
Who knows! Either way, its...

GAME OVER!

"Insert Coins" + "Press start" to continue?

Gif Versions:

Pt. 1 Loop:

Pt. 2 Loop:

Full Loop:

The Rant:

So, on Monday, I took the initiative to get today's public Abbymation done early, with the hope being that I could get today's Patreon animation/next week's public buffer done by the end of the week. This would allow me to bring back "Early Access" for animations (like every other weekday's content), and possibly re-add them to "WiP-Wednesdays." Said gamble paid off (albeit at the cost of my regular bedtime and morning schedule the following day), and here we are!

Admittedly, I've always wanted to shove Abby in some machinery at some point.  While Abby's pointed ears and primitive clothing suggest a more fantastical setting, I don't believe that should limit what happens to her and what can be done with her (though, admittedly, there are limits; that's why "modern" and "chinchilla" variants exist), and on a long enough timescale, those kinds of restrictions always end up being broken anyway.  I'm saying, "Yes, Abby can be abducted by Aliens/Time-travelers at some point."

There's something perversely thrilling about being dehumanized enough to be restrained in observation, and force-interacted (via gases, fluids or other methods) against your will, knowing what's going to happen to you and being unable to do anything about it (in Fiction; definitely not IRL). And Game-Over animations are the perfect place to showcase that tension.

As for the actual process, a lot of this was capitalization on techniques I already use to achieve ends I've never actually tried before. For example, I don't do a lot of effects animation, especially fluid pouring into/filling up a container (imagine having to draw every single frame of it filling up evenly, while maintain a hard edge for the container sides), so filling the tank was a bit of a conundrum. Instead, I just animated sloshing water (using flag/wave animation as a internal reference), set it to a motion tween (so I wouldn't have to worry about timing each individual frame), and then setting that inside a layer mask (so the water wouldn't overlap the tank). It's not perfect (Abby doesn't properly interact with the water filling up on top of her) but it works.  It was a similar process for the bubbles.

Eventually, you get to a point in skill where you can finagle solutions without any reference or instruction. Its not ideal (I would have preferred to have a reference library of both animation and IRL videos to check), but when you're on a deadline, you make do and hope no one notices! You'd be surprised how much of modern media production consists of work like this; creating new tools when pre-existing ones fail, or hiding your cheats for peeps dedicated enough to look for them to find them.

As for the background....
Gnnnngh... I'm not a fan. Ever since migrating to color, I've been more cognizant of having backgrounds to inform the context of the piece I'm working on, and I'm coming to abhor negative space (areas of a work where there is simply nothing) more and more. I don't need it to be overloaded with detail, but I do need something. I would have tried for a minimalist background similar to this:

But there just wasn't time to do it justices, even with a few minimalist lines. Plus, I would have started trying to animate the beeping lights, which would have pushed back my bedtime even further. Sometimes you need to pull the trigger and cut and run. You'll get more work done, and you'll live healthier. Plus, I think, it works on its own. It sells the mystery of what's happened to Abby well enough anyway.

I'm also thinking about adding attachments to these posts. I think you guys deserve it. I had reservations about such due to the nature of Patreon Pirate sites and their ability to repost art without credit (as well as the existence of the dropbox archive for $7+ patrons), but I don't think I'm at point where I'm even on their radar to steal from, and by the time I get there, it won't be too big a chunk of my potential income (most pirates wouldn't have payed anyway). Plus, I have a very unique style and niche, which makes taking credit for my work very difficult, so it might be fine. What do you guys think?

Speaking of, what do you guys think in general? Let me know in the comments, and thank you for your continued Patronage!