So this is the first installment in a series I’ve wanted to start for a long time now called Thanksdays! I wanna talk about the work that goes into making my videos and introduce you to the people who make them possible. Because even though my video descriptions are super detailed y’all never read them so… Eat a dick.
This first episode is going to be about animators because it’s something I’m most frequently and incorrectly praised for. Growing up I always wanted to be an animator but eventually realised I just didn’t have the drive or patience to do it. By the time I was 18 I’d quit animating to focus on writing and directing. So, please allow me to introduce you to the animators, past and present, of TomSka!
The first animator I have to mention is James Cunningham who, at the age of just 13, animated the first ever ‘asdfmovie’ back in 2008. James approached me through MySpace when I had around 1000 subscribers and he had 3000 and offered to animate something for my channel for fun. This was back before I made any money off YouTube so months later when I got my first YouTube paycheque I gave him a whole £30 out of the kindness of my heart! … Nicely done, 18 year old me (I did eventually pay James appropriately… 6 years later).
Next I absolutely have to talk about Joshua Palmer who animated some of the coolest videos on my channel including ‘War’, ‘Mr Cat’ and the ‘I Like Trains’ music video along with ‘Stabbed’ and ‘Chaos Relay’. Josh is completely self-taught and one of the most talented animators I’ve ever worked with. Just watching him animate is mesmerising because of how fast and flawlessly he powers through the most complicated sequences.
Zach Hadel is an animator I found on Newgrounds back in 2010 and he animated a couple videos for my channel including ‘Snowballs’ and ‘Rock Bottom’ whilst also becoming super popular with stuff like his series ‘Hellbenders’. Thank you, Zach!
On Newgrounds I also found Edgar Nielsen and he animated ‘Drunk Science’! I loved his style so much I tried to tie him down to animate ‘Crash Zoom’ but after a couple attempts at the first episode it became clear neither of us were ready for that sort of commitment.
However! ‘Crash Zoom’ is now being animated by the one and only Ben ‘Wonchop’ Smallman. I first met Ben back in 2004 when were were both members of The Lock Legion: a very… unique animation community. On top of Crash Zoom Ben has also animated ‘asdfmovie4‘, 6, 7, 8, the ‘Do The Flop’ and ‘Mine Turtle’ music videos, and the ‘deleted scenes’ along with the scrap’d ‘Magical Dream Bed’. Here’s to another 10 years, buddy!
Speaking of asdfmovie animators a lot is owed to Jamie ‘RageNineteen’ Spicer-Lewis who animated both ‘asdfmovie3‘ and 5. I met Jamie because he suggested a joke for asdfmovie3 but I instead ended up asking him to animate the whole damn thing. Jamie also animated two videos which only got released in Scrap’d Week: ‘Freshman Llama‘ and the ‘Rainbows’. Sorry about that, Jamie.
Next up we have Matt Ley who animated ‘Video Games Are Dumb’ and ‘Designated Driver’. I really love working with Matt and his super clean style and I’m trying to squeeze as much out of him as possible before he disappears off to university. So young, so beautiful.
Now it’s time to thank some of the animators I’ve worked with just the once. We have Kim who animated ‘Face’, Ross who animated ‘Justin Time’ (which I was legally forced to rename by the Canadian studio responsible for a show called ‘Justin Time’), Scott who animated ‘Stripper Cake’, Jonti who animated the cutscenes for ‘KatataK’, Alex who animated ‘Detective TomSka and Tanya Bear’, and Sven who is animating ‘Magical Dream Bed’. Thank you guys, I salute you all!
Now, probably most importantly we have Edd Gould. My origins in online video began with animation, I started uploading my earliest comics and cartoons back at the turn of the millennium to websites like StickSuicide.com where I met an adorable 14 year old Edd. As someone who desperately wanted to be a popular animator I saw Edd as this god-like figure because he had like 10 whole people watching his cartoons. I pestered him until we became friends and together we worked on his cartoon called ‘Eddsworld’. Edd also animated a few videos on my channel most notably ‘asdfmovie2‘ in which he played the ‘I Like Trains’ kid, and he also animated ‘2 Canadians on a Plane’ (ew), the asdfmovie2 ‘deleted scenes’, and our first ever sponsored video ’asdfmite’. You’ll always be missed, old friend.
Finally I need to thank the animators who stepped up to keep Eddsworld running after Edd passed away. Most notably an extremely talented artist whose name you should know by now, Paul ter Voorde. Paul moved to England to help Edd with the show but kinda ended up becoming the face of it. It was a lot of pressure to put on him which I feel entirely responsible for but his contributions to the show have been amazing. He also animated a video called ‘Memories’ for my channel as well as a couple… Weirder things. Paul, thank you so much.
But let’s not forget the other animators who have made Eddsworld possible! There’s Pearl who animated ‘Tom’s Tales of Crazy’, Tobias who animated ‘Hide and Seek’, Anthony who animated ‘PowerEdd’ (and the swishy fist thing at the start of my videos), and Sandra who is animating ‘Mirror Mirror’. Also a special thanks to Josh and Jonti who illustrated the backgrounds for ‘Space Face’. We could not have done this without them.
It’s safe to say I also owe a very overdue public apology to some of these animators; particularly Zach, Josh, Paul and James. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life when it comes to paying you guys fairly or even on-time which is ironic since so many of you have had to work to super unrealistic deadlines. I’ve definitely lost the right to work with a lot of you again and all I can do is apologise and promise that I do everything I can do avoid repeating any of those mistakes. I really am sorry.
So on that cheery note I just want to say a final thank you to all the animators who have made my stupid ideas a reality, apologise again to those I’ve wronged, and I hope that you (the person reading this) appreciate these people and what they do a little bit more.
