[ANIM] Abby, Nabby, and the Sad Cat Dance! (Patreon)

UPDATE! If Bun, then there must also be reverse bun, yes?

Ever since she saw it on Abby's phone, Nabby was convinced Abby would be great at the #sadcatdance!
Abby? Not so much.
But when does that ever stop Nabby?

What do you think?

CHECK THE ATTACHMENTS FOR THE NUDE ALT AND GIF DANCE LOOPS!

So, let's talk about this one, cuz mmmf, I have stuff to say!

So, initially, I didn't care for this meme. And then I saw ZinniKitty's take, and man, did that do things for me! So I decided to have Nabby have it do things for you guys too!

The roughing out of the animatic wasn't too hard. It never really is, because it's only for me. If I get it (and I laugh/get horny/go D'aw), that's the important part. Looking good is a bonus, not a requirement. 

Where things got tricky is the bunny suit. 

As I get older, its not really enough for me, for the antithesis of "clothed" to be "nude." Even before we get into the misconception of "art-school live drawing = light burlesque," thanks to content-gate-destruction of the internet, bare breasts are kind of a dime a dozen these days. If there is an appeal to for bare skin, its largely curiosity at/for a character whose owners wouldn't normally allow those parts to be seen (Princess Peach, for example) rather than the quality of said body parts (contrary to the fanart, Peach is nowhere near rocking DDDs)

Nah, what I like more than "clothed-> nude" is "clothed->hinting at nudity-> nudity." The possibility that the clothing can be removed (and quite easily if the outfit is skimpy enough) is sexier than the clothing actually being remove. Y'know, the "the mystery" being more enticing than the actual answer to the mystery.

Hence the Bunny suit...
...which the Abby rig didn't have.

Wait, Abby Rig?

Well, as I've mentioned before, I've started making a animation character puppet rig for Abby, to both minimize the amount of animation cleanup I need to do, and allow for flourishes in secondary/overlapping action due to parts separation. One of the cool things about rigs like these is that, by changing out parts on a timeline, I can get the same animation in different states. That's why you guys have been getting "nude" alts on my animations; Rather than re-cleaning from scratch, I just substitute the offending parts, and boom: Nude Lewdimations without the extra work!

Well, except the extra work of making custom alternates of existing assets for the bunny suit. Which took long enough that this animation didn't go out on Friday like it should have. Also, in addition to making a bunny suit, I decided to consolidate Nabby as part of the Abby file since she is, by design, a pallet swap, so anything I do for Abby should realistically also be done for her.

And, from there, making the animation was a lot simpler than it otherwise would have been. It also allowed for certain flourishes in the normally-static parts of the meme.

This is part of why I scoff at the idea of illustration software like Krita, Procreate, and Clip Studio Paint having the same functionality as dedicated softwares like ToonBoom, Adobe Flashimate, and Rough Animator. Even after you get past how animation needs a different user interface from illlustration, there are just functionality things (asset libraries, line correction, color storage/replacement) at the professional level that just aren't replicable in those illustration softwares without major overhauls. And even if you did get them, the animation software is so beyond those functionalities as to be laughable. Clip Studio Paint touting camera and motion tweeens as a major advancement is like Microsoft paint touting getting layers as a major advancement. It is, for them, but its also something the dominant softwares have had for years. Why would anyone go back?

Now, while the rig will be replacing my old method of animating in ANIMATION, it won't be replacing my method (traditional drawing) anywhere else (Sauntercomics, sequences, etc). Practically speaking, the rigs are not, and will never be versatile enough to replicate my particular style, even if I move to ToonBoom Harmony (better rigging tools) or 3D. Secondly, for the amount of work it would take to replicate my drawing art style without complications major enough to affect art quality, it would be simpler to just draw the thing. 

Different tools for different purposes.

Still, once I get the YCH rig up and running, I'm looking forward to seeing what kinds of shenanigans we can get Abby up to (with Nabby's help of course)!

What do you guys think? 

What other memes should we suggest to Nabby that Abby get into?

PS: my best animated frame ever. Nothing. will ever top this.