The Bikini Proposal: A Parody of the Stupid War in Iraq

Probably one of my most well known animation series, The Bikini Proposal, takes an absurd proposition for the US war in Iraq and runs with it.

Occasionally I've been accused of being sexist for this series but in response to that I would say you're missing the point. The simple fact is, statistically, fewer women in bikinis have been killed in a war zone than those wearing military uniform therefore, logically, a women in a bikini is better protected. It's not about getting women out of their clothes it's about increasing their safety in a war zone!

The entire five part series is shown below as a Revver Video rather than GoAnimate's usual embed format (simply to save space). If you would like to see each individual episode in its original format then I've provided the links below the video.

The Bikini Proposal: Episodes 1 - 5

Links to the Original Episodes on GoAnimate:

The Bikini Proposal was never intended to be a series which is why the first episode ends on a joke and doesn't really contain any unresolved plot issues.

GoAnimate's classic, bikini wearing, Kate character was entirely the inspiration from the start. I wanted to base an animation around her but didn't want to go the obvious dumb blonde, sex toy route that seemed to be her lot in life in so many other animations that featured her.

Although I never break her out of the dumb blonde role, she still is a US soldier and that has to count for something.

Almost as soon as I completed the first episode I had a thought of what if the media found out about this ridiculous idea of dressing US troops in Bikinis? I saw so much potential for humor that I began work on The Bikini Backlash almost straight away.

It helped greatly that the series was made in the lead up to the 2008 US Elections, giving a lot of opportunity to put differing view points across from both sides of Government. No one was safe from adding to the absurdity of the initial proposal with Barack declaring that 'I will ensure our male soldiers have the democratic right to wear bikinis too!'

Once I got into episodes three and four, where I started blowing up cats and suggesting dogs should be wearing bikinis, you kind of knew anything was possible in what is, essentially, a stupid war in reality.

By episode five it was becoming harder and harder to keep the ideas fresh. You can only do so much with GoAnimate's characters without going into some heavy duty customizations.

Whilst episode five, Mission Accomplished, is my favorite, mostly for the timely Wal-Mart/Wall Street joke, it didn't start out as being the final episode. Originally titled 'The Feral Resistance' it was going to feature the bikini stealing cats and their leader.

Unfortunately this required a fully developed custom character, that I started to create, but didn't have the right Flash animation software to make it compatible with GoAnimate's character file format. Hence the head on the Feral Resistance Cats is the only part of this character that made it into the episode.

Had I been able to create that character The Bikini Proposal may have gone on for an extra episode or two.

This series received a special mention as a finalist in GoAnimates initial launch competition in the judged category that had a prize of US$5000.00.

Trivia about The Bikini Proposal series:

Dick Cheney doesn't appear until episode five because of my poor knowledge of the US Government. I'd heard of Cheney but didn't know he was Vice President until I bothered to do some research for episode five. Had I known this before hand he would've been in the conference room right from episode one instead of George Bush Senior (who was only there, along with John McCain because they were the only two male republicans I recognized in GoAnimate's political character set after George Bush Junior).
Lindsay Lohan's Characature appears as the Newsdesk Reader.
The Bikini Proposal is the first time I used GoAnimate's Text to Speech (TTS) voices. Whilst they aren't particularly great I do feel they kind of grow on you. The speech balloons have been left in because TTS is a GoAnimate Beta Feature. I figured it was better to leave the text in just in case GoAnimate decided to discontinue the feature. Plus it helps to understand what the voice is saying in those moments when it's not quite clear.
There are a number of my custom props used through out the series, most noteably the Terrorist Cat head and the US Military Tent in episode five.
Political Analist Ron Downer's name is meant to sound like 'Run Downer' i.e. he's someone who cynically runs down or puts down political initiatives.
The conference room defence expert, Bob Eachway, wasn't named until later episodes and his name is reflective of the English gambling term of putting a Bob each way - as in trying to cover all bets.
On the scene reporter, Rosie Chatup, has a name that suggests she talks a lot.
Barack Obama, George Bush Junior and Ron Downer use the same TTS Voice (known as 'Dallas').
The final joke in episode five with Sarah Palin suggesting selling guns to Iraq is a reference to Donald Rumsfeld's visit to Iraq in the mid nineteen eighties when diplomatic relations between Iraq and the US were 'restored'. At this time Iraq began buying all kinds of supposedly 'non military' hardware from US companies, empowered by the Whitehouse to sell them.

Comments

Inochi2D - Free Open Source 2D VTuber Avatar Rigging and Puppeteering Software (Part 1)

Inochi2D Creator - Free Open Source VTuber Software. If you've been looking for a way to live perform as a 2D cartoon avatar on camera, whether it be for a live stream or for pre-recorded content like educational videos, then VTuber software is a low cost (or even no cost) option worth looking into. In my previous post, How to Become a VTuber - 2D and 3D Software for Creating and Controlling Your Avatar , I took a brief look at the relatively new but completely free and open source Inochi2D which I thought showed great potential for my own needs of creating a live performance character rig for my own TET Avatar that I use for all my promotional materials. While it is possible to live perform my character using Cartoon Animator itself, Reallusion's MotionLive2D capture system isn't great - with lip sync in particular. More importantly though, I can't exactly teach people how to use Cartoon Animator if I'm using Cartoon Animator to control my Avatar. What is Inochi2D

Dollars Mocap: Full Body Webcam Motion Capture (Including Hands and Fingers) For iClone and Cartoon Animator

Even though I should be further away from the camera Dollars Mocap MONO still does a good job of tracking my arms, hands and fingers. Ever since I wrote my series on becoming a VTuber , discovering it was possible to do full body motion capture, including hands and fingers, with just software and a webcam, I've been on the look out for any motion capture software that can bring that functionality to Cartoon Animator. Dollars Mocap is a low cost motion capture application with a free trial that I learned about through the YouTube Channel Digital Puppets and their test video . It can record full body, upper body, arms and hands, and facial mocap from a live video source or pre-recorded video. Investigating further, I discovered not only does Dollars Mocap have a free iClone7, iClone8 character profile file download (look for it at the bottom of the main program download page), so you can use the saved motions with iClone8, they've also got a demo video for how to convert your

Prome AI Sketch Render Tool - Your Tradigital Clean Up and Colorist Artist for Character and Background Design

Random character head, Biro sketches drawn by TET (left). Render by PromeAI (right) using Prome's Sketch Render tool set to 'Comon:Cartoon, Render Mode: Outline'. W hile I don't do New Year Resolutions, one of my plans for the year ahead is to do more of my own art. Specifically character design drawn in an actual, physical sketchbook. To that end, I have been spending the last half hour of most days drawing a page or two of random biro sketches in my sketchbook and posting the pages to my Instagram account (this link will take you to one of my posts). These sketches are mostly practicing my skills because I don't really draw regularly anymore. Here is a tip, if you do this kind of sketching, and push yourself to keep doing it, you will see many drawings that could be taken further, even if you don't have anything they're suited for just at the moment. Which is where my second favorite AI Image Tool (after Leonardo.ai ) PromeAI comes into play. PromeAI

Moho 14 Released - Still the Best 2D Animation Software for Indy Animators on a Budget

Moho 14 Released. Regular readers know I am a Reallusion, Cartoon Animator advocate through and through. Hands down I would recommend Cartoon Animator 5 first over Lost Marble's Moho 14 to anyone who is just starting in 2D animation, is a team of one, or just needs to animate as quickly as possible. However, feature for feature, Moho is, arguably, the best 2D animation software for the rest of us who can't justify a Toon Boom Harmony , or Adobe Creative Cloud subscription (and even with their applications Moho is very competitive on features). You can get started with Moho Debut for just USD$59.99 which is a cut down version of Moho Pro but it still has the most essential features needed for 2D animation. While Moho Pro is a whopping USD$399.99 (Cartoon Animator, which only has one version, is just USD$149.00) upgrades to new version numbers come down to a quarter of the price at USD$99.00. Even though Reallusion just released features like Motion Pilot Puppet Animation and

Wonder Unit Storyboarder - Free Storyboarding Software for People Who Can (or Can't) Draw

Wonder Unit Storyboarder. As an independent and solo animator I'm always tempted to try and skip storyboarding my animated shorts because they're usually only single scene sketch comedy type jokes. As a result I have many unfinished projects that kind of petered out due to having no clear finishing line. Storyboarding your productions, no matter how small, gives you a step by step guide of every shot that needs to be completed (no planning shots as you animate). It also allows you to create an animatic that gives you a rough preview of the finished production. In short, you shouldn't skip storyboards as they, generally, increase the chance of the project being completed. Disclaimer - I'm Not a Fan of Storyboarder Upfront, Wonder Unit's Storyboarder is not my preferred storyboarding software. However it's completely free, has a number of very compelling featu

Can't Draw Characters? Create Highly Detailed Characters from Simple Drawings and Prompts Free with Realtime Canvas by Leonardo.AI

Leonardo.ai's Realtime Canvas. Create highly detailed images from simple drawings. I f you've had an idea for a character but don't have the artistic skill to design it yourself, or the budget to hire someone to do the design work for you, then Leonardo.ai's Realtime Canvas may be your new creative partner. Sure you could use Leonardo.ai's regular text prompt to image generator but that can be very hit and miss, and may take many generations before you finally craft a complex prompt that's getting something close to what you had in mind. Realtime Canvas, on the other hand, lets you craft a simple text prompt and draw a rough image, both of which you can keep refining until you get a final, real time, updated image that looks close to (and probably better than) what you had in mind. Using Realtime Canvas Once you've signed up for a free account with Leonardo.ai (which will give you 150 free credits, renewed daily), click on Realtime Canvas, from the side

Start Your 2D Animation Side Hustle - Sell Your Cartoon Animator Characters, Props, Scenes, and Motion Files in the Reallusion 2D/3D Marketplace

Have you thought about starting a side hustle selling your original Cartoon Animator assets in the Reallusion 2D/3D Marketplace ? In this article, the first in a series on selling in the marketplace, I'll give you an overview of what's involved, why you should give it some thought, and whether you can earn enough to quit your day job (or at least have a worthwhile side hustle). If you're an artist with any kind of drawing skills, and you're creating your own original characters, props, scenes, and even motion files for your Cartoon Animator projects, then setting up your own store in the Reallusion Marketplace should be a no brainer. You're making content already, it doesn't cost you anything to set up, and Reallusion only takes a 30% commission from each item sold. (If you think that's a lot, I'll address that further down). Don't be put off if you think your art skills aren't up to professional standards. There are plenty of artists with naïve

Animation and Video Life

Search This Blog