Hey you!
So this is the first installment in a series I’ve wanted to start for a long time now
called Thanksdays!
I wanna introduce you to the people who make my videos possible and the work that goes
into them. Because even though my video descriptions are super detailed you never read them so just…
Eat a dick. Eat a whole bunch of dicks.
This first episode is going to be about animators because animation is the thing 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’. 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. Nicely done.
(Not Jump)
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 ‘Chaos Relay’ and ‘Stabbed’. 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 came across on Newgrounds back in 2010 and he animated a
couple videos for my channel including ‘Snowballs’ and ‘Rock Bottom’ whilst also becoming
super, super popular in his own right. So, thanks for that Zach!
On Newgrounds, my old stomping ground, to which I wasn't really welcome. I also found
Edgar Nielsen who 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. Also the pay was probably
terrible because I was still at university.
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! You're gonna need a lot of these.
Speaking of asdfmovie animators a lot is owed to Jamie ‘RageNineteen’ Spicer-Lewis who
animated both ‘asdfmovie3‘ and 5. I first met Jamie because he suggested a joke for
asdfmovie3 but I instead ended up asking him to animate the whole thing. Jamie also animated
two videos which only got released in Scrap’d Week: ‘Freshman Llama‘ and the ‘Rainbows’.
So, sorry about that, Jamie.
Next up we have Matt Ley who animated ‘Video Games Are Dumb’ and ‘Designated Driver’.
I love working with Matt and his super clean style and I’m trying to squeeze as much
out of him as possible before he goes 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 the
reboot of ‘Magical Dream Bed’. Thank you guys, I salute you all!
Now, probably most importantly we have Edd Gould. 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, baby faced 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, the asdfmovie2 ‘deleted
scenes’, and our first ever sponsored video ’asdfmite’. And also a video called
‘2 Canadians on a Plane’ (ew) which I would rather just forget.
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 responsibility for which I feel largely 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, I just want
to say 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.
Now i'm also sorry to say I also owe a very overdue public apology to some of these artists.
Mainly 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 given how often i've given
out unrealistic deadlines. I respect that i've definitely lost the right to work with
a lot of you again and all I can do is apologise again and promise that I do everything in
my power to avoid repeating any of those mistakes. I have a lot of love and respect for animation
and I fucked up. I've mistreated it. I know a lot of people won't believe me when I say
this but I am genuinely sorry. Yep.
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 over the years, apologise again to those I’ve wronged,
and I hope that you the person watching this appreciate these people and what they do a little bit more.
Thank you and TomSka out.