You're Gonna Be in Pictures - Cartoon Animation Cell TF
It was a calm summer morning as the young dragoness Icewind woke up. She had just landed a new job and today was going to be her first day. As she got out of bed to get ready she could hardly contain her excitement. This was a dream job of hers, working for a major animation studio! Sure it was just as an intern, but she had to start somewhere. She set about getting a shower and making herself presentable before getting dressed in her nicest purple dress, she then grabbed her backpack and began to make her car. After grabbing a quick bite of food, she soon arrived at the animation studio.
As she headed inside she was blown away by all the various memorabilia scattered around the main lobby. Concept arts, official arts, famous animation cells, statues, you name it it was there. Icewind turned her head side to side, trying to see everything as she slowly approached the reception desk.
“Hello ma’am. How may I assist you today,"a female voice said. Icewind jumped and looked down at the desk to see a chubby elephant girl in a blue business suit running the desk.
“OH! Yes, my name is Icewind Swiftwings. I’m here for my first day as an intern,” She said as she fumbled in her backpack trying to find her acceptance letter.
“Oh yes. I have your name right here. The Supervisor is waiting for you. Take the elevator to the second basement, and it’s the first door on the left,” The receptionist said pointing to the elevator.
“Oh! Well I’ll be on my way then. Thank you so much,” Icewind said, bowing her head in thanks. She then walked over to the elevator and pressed the button before waiting for it to arrive. Once it had she stepped in and started to make her way down to the second basement. After a minute, the doors opened to reveal a long hallway. It looked like a normal office hallway, boring beige walls with simple pine doors. There were also a few pieces of art and animation cells lining the walls here too, but not as frequent.
Icewind stepped out of the elevator and walked down the hallway a bit before she got to the door she was directed to. She took a deep breath and reached out to knock gently. After a second a voice from the other side called for her to come in. As she walked into the room, she saw an older Female cat in an anime t-shirt and sweats sitting behind a desk. As Icewind walked in she stood up from her chair and held out her hand to shake.
“Ah, welcome! Icewind was it? My name is Cherry,” She said in a cheerful voice.
“Oh. Nice to meet you Cherry. I’m here for the internship,” Icewind said, shaking her hand.
“Yes! Good to have you here. We’ve been a little low on staff since we started this new Daisy the Cow project and we’ve been hiring new interns like CRAZY to get it finished,” She said laughing as she shook Icewind’s hand firmly and laughed.
“Oh! Well I guess I applied at a good time,” Icewind said laughing as well.
“Indeed. Now! Let’s not dilly dally, let's get you started on your first project,” Cherry said, putting her hand on Icewind’s back and starting to lead her out of the room.
Icewind blushed as she was so quickly led back out of the room and down the hallway. Cherry walked with her to another room. As Cherry opened the door, Icewind saw another small desk with only a drawing table and a lamp on it, a file cabinet, and a small desk chair. Cherry patted Icewind on the back and motioned inside.
“Well here is your work space,” Cherry said smiling.
“Oh wow. My own office on the first day? But I’m just an intern,” Icewind said blushing.
“Well we like to treat our interns like family. Now go ahead and get to work. I’ll be back in a few hours to check on how you're doing,” Cherry said, stepping out and closing the door.
“Oh but I don’t really…” Icewind started to say as the door clicked shut. She sighed and looked around the bare room, stopping at the desk. She then walked over to the desk and sat down. “Well at least it’s not a tiny cubicle and a giant room.”
After a few seconds, Icewind began to notice a faint ticking sound coming from somewhere. She looked around, trying to figure out where it was coming from. Then suddenly, there was a loud click as a trap door opened in front of the chair. Before Icewind could react, the chair seat folded down, sending her down the hole and into a dark chute. She yelped and yelled out in shock as she slid down the cold metal. After a few seconds she came out and landed on a thick mattress. She grunted out as some of the wind was knocked out of her. She coughed and gasped a few times as she tried to recover.
“What…in the world...is going...on,” She said between breaths. She didn’t have long to figure out as the mattress was tipped up and she fell forward onto a hard rubber conveyor belt. She then felt as the belt moved forward. As it did she finally recovered enough to look around the dimly lit area. She saw many things around her, the belt under her, bits of machinery for various things she had no idea what they did. She also saw several tanks, each one labeled with TI and color after it. She looked at them, trying to figure out what they were, but didn’t have time as she soon came in front of a small chamber.
The chamber doors suddenly opened and she was pulled inside. Before she could react, a pole with a clamp came down and grabbed her around the neck. With a click and shut and began to pull her up. She gagged and choked a bit as it got her to her feet, it then stopped and held her there. Icewind struggled in place as she pulled at the clamp on her neck. She then watched as several more poles came down around her, each one holding a nozzle attached to a hose. Icewind looked at them in confusion as they dripped some kind of liquid. In the dim light, she could make out the one was black, white, red, and yellow. Then before she could react they began shooting out globs of the same liquid. The air filled with loud SPLORTS and SPLATS as she was continuously pelted. She Yelped and tried to shield herself from it as the poles slowly spun around her and coated every inch of her. They then rose back up, leaving her coughing and trying to wipe it all off.
Soon several arms came down from the ceiling and up from the floor. Each one had a cartoonish looking gloved hand on the end of them. They then began to rub over, grab at, and squish parts of her body. She yelped and struggled as the arms and hands slowly worked over her body, molding and shaping it into something new. She felt as her arms were pulled and straightened out into long thin black cylinders. Her hands were molded into White cartoon gloves with three fingers. Her torso was grabbed and molded, her chest being pushed down and lowered down to just a slight bump, enough to let you know she was female. Her clothes were pulled and reshaped, turning into a red knee length flower print dress. Her long dragon tail was folded and pressed down, getting rolled into a shorter tail with a white tuft at the end. Her legs got the same treatment as her arms, getting pulled and spread out into thin black cylinders. Her feet were then molded into bulky yellow high heel shoes. Icewind looked past the goopy liquid around her eyes and saw the changes to her body, making her blush. From the shoulders down she now resembled the famous cartoon character Daisy the Cow.
Icewind didn’t have long to react as the hands moved up to her head and began to work. She yelped and closed her eyes as the clamp tightened and pulled up her neck, making it slightly longer. The hands then mushed and molded her face. Her muzzle was pulled out in the sides and pushed in on the nose before her nostrils were widened, giving her a cartoon cow muzzle. She then felt as the hand fiddled around inside of her mouth, flattening out and molding her shape dragon teeth to look flat and cartoony. She coughed and tried to spit them out but with no luck. The hands then pushed and pulled on her horns, retwisting them into short dull pointed cow horns. They then pulled on her ears, pulling them out into long floppy cow ears. Her hair was next, getting molded into a blonde curly bob. The hands then held her head in place and forced open her eyes, molding them into white circles with black pacman centers.Once that was done the hands went back into the floor and ceiling, leaving the newly molded Icewind looking over herself. She now looked like a fully 3d version of the famous 1950’s cartoon Daisy the cow.
Once she was changed, the clamp let go of the new cow’s neck. She reached up and rubbed sore neck. She then felt the belt move as another door to the chamber opened. She looked over herself and blushed, seeing what she now looked like. She soon came up to another chamber and was pulled inside faster than she could react with her new rubber hose body. As she came to a stop, lights turned on with a loud thunk and hum. Icewind yelped as she was blinded for a moment. As her vision started to come back, she heard a pump kick up from above her. She looked up just in time to see a large nuzzle open and a clear liquid begin to pour out. She yelped and closed her eyes, shielding herself as she was coated in another sticky liquid. It only lasted a minute as she was completely coated in the stuff. She sniffed the air, smelling a familiar smell. It was resin.
Before she could react more arms came down and began to grab her arms and legs. She tried to struggle but felt the resin beginning to restrict her movements. She quickly realized it was some kind of heat activated quick dry resin. The arms however had no problem pulling and moving her around into position. It bent her to a ¾ view with her left arm bent down, hand on her hip, and her right arm held up and hand folded up and pointing. They then positioned her face into an open mouth smile with happy eyes. Icewind groaned and struggled as best she could, fighting against the quickly hardening resin. Once she was positioned, air blades came down and blew off any excess resin, leaving her with a smooth thin layer, strong enough to hold her in place. She groaned softly as she tried to move or even look around, but to no luck.
Once she was dry, the opposite chamber door opened and she was moved forward again. She soon came to the end of the line where she saw out of the corner of her eye something crazy, as if this all wasn't crazy enough. It was a set of giant rollers with two sheets of 12 foot by 16 foot clear film already loaded in. She then felt a clamp pick her up and move her over to the rollers. It moved back and forth for a few moments, positioning her just right, before lowering her down. As soon as her feet touched the film the rollers started up, pressing the film and her together. She began to freak out as she thought this was it for her. Luckily now being a cartoon, her body was able to be squashed, squished, and otherwise flattened as much as she needed, not that it would after this. She groaned as she felt the intense pressure as one of her dimensions was slowly removed from her. The two halves of the film flapped up and hit her in the face. She yelped as the rollers soon got up to her head, and seconds later flattened it down and merged it with the film. Icewind’s vision was blurred and warped as her head and eyes were squished down. The large piece then cleared the rollers and slid down a chute to another large conveyor.
Icewind’s groans and whines were now practically inaudible as she moved down the line to the last station. She stopped in front of a large cartoonish looking ray gun pointing down at the conveyor. She looked at it in wait as it slowly lit up and began to hum ominously. Once it was ready, a beam shot out of the tip and hit the large piece of film and flattened toon. Icewind shuddered as she felt herself and her flat prison begin to get smaller and tighter. She instantly realized that she was shrinking down, slowly getting smaller and smaller. Before long the whole thing had gotten down to 12 by 16 inches big, propper size for an old animation cell. A stencil then came over and a number was painted onto the corner, Frame 4762 of 11764.
Once she was finished the cell was moved down the line and picked up. She was then quickly slid into a manila envelope and closed. She was then placed into a pneumatic cylinder and sent up to the actual animation department. With a loud THUNK she arrived at her destination.
“Hey Frank! That new cell we were missing just arrived,” She heard a voice say as the cylinder was pulled out and handled. The world was brightened again as she was pulled out of the envelope. She then saw a fat male lion moving her over to a large animation camera. Her world got a little brighter as the background she had to go on was lit from below. She saw above her the large camera used. She then heard a click as it exposed the film and took her picture, she was then pulled off the frame and handed to the other person.
“Here, file this away with all the other cells, we may need to come back to them later for reshoots,” The lion said. The other lion then took her and carried her over to a large file where all the other cells were. She then felt as she slid into a large stack, being semi blinded as her vision got blocked. The lion then carried them all over to a large file box and placed them inside before putting on a lid.
Icewind wiggled imperceptibly in her flat prison alongside all the other “interns” that were recently hired. She had no idea what would happen to her now. It seemed like this was permanent, with the resin and all. Would she ever get out of this? Get back to her old dragon self? Or would she be left down in a storage warehouse with all the other film cells, waiting to be used again or sold off at auction as a one of a kind collectible? Only time would tell, For now, she could only sit and wait. Just a simple animation cell of a famous character.
