The leap from static drawings to animation has never been so drastic.
Meet Twitter user @nasa_c.
He’s a guy who loves to draw, and especially loves to draw cute girls. His Twitter is full of gentle-looking pastel-colored maidens who tenderly nibble at sweets or look off into the far distance, touched with a gentle sense of melancholy, and sometimes they gambol together in groups, other times they pose adorably on their own. The key word here, though, is cute: @nasa_c loves drawing cute things, and it’s reflected in his work.
Or at least, it’s reflected in his 2-D work. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for his recent foray into Live2D animation; often viewed as an interim between 2-D and 3-D art, it allows you to articulate joints and animate expressions on characters, as well as use mouth flaps when they talk. It’s a popular medium for virtual YouTubers.
But as @nasa_c was new to the field, he made some egregious errors with dire consequences.
▼ “This is what happens when a newbie tries to do Live2D.”
At first the video looks disarmingly cute, just like his other work – a smiling girl looks out directly at the viewer. Then everything goes a bit…wonky.
▼ “Hello there.”
Before long the poor girl’s mouth has migrated away from her face, much like the hapless heroine in My Sister, My Writer.
▼ “…”
▼ “Am I cute, big brother…?”
Netizens became immediately attached to this hilariously upsetting creation. “When’s her virtual YouTuber debut?” asked one, while multiple others drew comparisons not only to My Sister, My Writer but the purposefully grotesque concoctions of animation group AC-bu.
▼ AC-bu are the guys to call when you want an ugly music video
Reactions spread from “this gave me PTSD” to “I wanna be her dedicated fan“, and soon the artist was drawing signed head-shots of his unfortunate new daughter.
[twitter https://twitter.com/c_nasa/status/1092673922007326720 align=center hide_thread=true]
Not into cute anime girls? Fear not. @nasa_c also tried his hand at crafting a sexy anime boy in Live2D.
It didn’t go very well.
▼ “What the hell is your face doing?”
As several of the commenters said, the terrifying distortions of these characters’ faces kind of makes them charming in their own right, and if @nasa_c wanted to launch a virtual YouTube channel starring them they’re sure to prove just as popular as the NicoNicoDouga stream of cursed dolls.
Source: Twitter/@nasa_c via My Game News Flash
Top image: Twitter/@nasa_c