Here at the Daily Dot, we have an unofficial tradition of sharing GIF images with each other every morning. Now we’re looping you into the circle. In the Morning GIF, we feature a popular—or just plain cool—GIF we found on Reddit, Canvas, or elsewhere on the Internet.
What makes a GIF animation popular is a complicated formula of timing, quality, and creativity. But chances are, if the GIF includes a Disney reference and the head of Sir Nigel Archibald Thornberry of The Wild Thornberrys, the animation is sure to succeed.
Last Saturday, Chicago-based artist Miryuu Chan spent her morning browsing Tumblr when she found a GIF animation of Belle from Beauty and the Beast singing on her father’s movable ladder.
“Holy $#*! that would be funny if Nigel popped up in this!” Chan told the Daily Dot.
After spending the next hour delicately Photoshopping the GIF, Chan struck comedic gold.
The altered animation features Belle climbing her father’s ladder, but when she turns to slide it down the bookcase, her face was replaced Nigel Thornberry’s iconic mug.
“Since the re-release of Beauty and the Beast in theaters, many GIFs for the film have appeared on Tumblr—and after seeing that particular scene, it was more or less an epiphany that inspired my groggy mind,” Chan said. “It didn’t help that there was a Nigel Thornberry meme that had gotten very popular recently, so I ran after the bandwagon and hopped in.”
And Chan hopped on the bandwagon at the right time. She posted the GIF on Tumblr, where it has collected more than 55,000 notes in less than two days. The animation also made it to the top of Reddit’s r/gifs section.
