Hey you! So I’ve mentioned in the past that before I became just a writer and director
I wanted to be an animator. Between the years of like 2002 to 2007 animation, specifically
Flash animation, was a huge part of my life. It was only around the time I started making
YouTube videos that I finally realised that animation was never going to be my forte and
gave up on it all together.
You’re welcome.
That’s why I thought it’d be fun to delve back into the likely cringeworthy annals of
history and take a look at the budding animation career I once left behind. A lot of my earliest
animations from when I was like 10 to 13 have been lost due to me... Smashing up my old
computer with an axe so... How bad do you feel about that, 13 year old me?
That's fair.
Most of the stuff was just random experiments or vintage memes from the Flash animation community.
When I was 14 and this is how I celebrated my 14th birthday I was still trying to figure
things out… But take a look at this little collaboration I did with Edd back in 2004!
By the time I was 15 I’d already figured out exactly what kind of stuff that made me
laugh and it was mostly minimalist, intentionally stupid, random bullshit. Check out this “animation”
I made back in 2005 which was a blatant rip-off of David Firth's Jerry Jackson character.
It's called Tom Fights The Ninjas. Of course it is...
We went outside and we were walking down the street and then ninjas appeared and there
was a very big battle I used my... My Dragonball Z skills and I blew them away with-
I blew them away. We were really happy that we won. Tord died, erm, then me and Edd went home
and we had orange juice. The End.
Not long after Eddsworld really started kicking off I finally discovered my “style” and
it was all about clean, thick outlines. I ran a little series called Edd and Tom and
when you look at the designs it’s clear to see where to see where the asdfmovie style would soon come from.
Edd! What?! Smells! OH SHIT! OWNED!
Hey Edd! Happy birthday! Oh god i'm so old! It's your time! NOOOO!!!
Hey Tom... TOM!! I killed him already.
Speaking of asdfmovie, here’s the first ever animated appearances of my “asdfman” character back in early 2006.
Okay so what I haven’t yet mentioned is that the whole time this was happening I was
also a part of an animation community called The Lock Legion. What The Lock Legion was
or is I don't really know how to explain it basically we all had characters with keyholes
for faces and we made little cartoons about them. I was Dark Squidge Lock... What did
that mean? Nobody knows! I didn't have any friends there... Really...
What’s interesting about The Lock Legion though is where some of the other animators
wound up. Head Lock became Rubber Ninja, Cloud Lock became Wonchop, Master Lock became Hejibits,
and I became an alcoholic…
But as I mentioned before, once I started YouTubing I pretty much gave up on animation
all together. Except for my amazing work on Pokemon Extreme.
Oh look a bidoof! There is a bidoof in... There is a bidoof over there behind the bush.
I think i'm gonna catch him. Erm... Poke- OH NO HE'S ANGRY! HE'S- Oop... Someone signed in...
I decided to stick to writing the cartoons and eventually paying actually talented people animate them.
Now I wanna take this moment to thank some of the people who fostered the communities I
called home before YouTube. Tom Fulp of Newgrounds, Rob DenBleyker of StickSuicide, Lyall of Anitude,
the terrifying faceless masses of The Lock Legion, and also Anthony and Ian of Smosh
which some of you may not know was an animation community well before YouTube even existed.
Respect, my brothers. Respect.
Anyway! Thanks for watching, I hope you enjoyed my terrible cartoons and I’ll see you all next time.
TomSka out.