A Very Talented Animator and Character Designer on YouTube
Q: Hello Tom, and thank you for being part of this feature story. Tell us a bit about your profile background and experience. What is the Animator's Guild?
No problem, I'm glad to be part of the featured story section. As for my background and experience? I don't really know where to begin. When I was nine years old and had my first computer I found a website called Newgrounds.com and I saw all kinds of animations made there using a program called Macromedia Flash. Within a month I had flash running and I started to animate. Thirteen years later here I am using all the things I taught myself to run an ever growing animation channel on YouTube.
As for The Animators guild, that was the name a close friend and I decided on as a team name for when we made animations together, rather than working under two separate usernames. Unfortunately as soon as the logo was complete and the YouTube channels name was changed my fellow animator dropped out of the channel. I have adopted the name to Retrosleep (theAnimatorsGuild), since I'm still the only person animating on the channel, but I'm keeping the seat warm in hopes the guild will have more than just myself animating for it.
Q: When and how did you discover CrazyTalk Animator? Is there a reason why you seem to choose this particular program? What other programs do you use?
I'm bad with dates, so I honestly couldn't tell you. I do know I learned about it before it went on pre-order and when I saw it, I knew it was something I had to have. I actually didn't have the money at the time so my friend Atoms actually purchased the pre-order deal for me. The reasons I choose to use CTA2? I would have to say it's due to its amazing way to animate with a 3D armature, save the animations and then apply them to multiple characters. It saves tons of time and the IK system really helps with more natural movement.
Previous to CTA2 I was using Adobe flash, it's amazing how my work flow is much more compatible with CTA2 rather than flash. For example my video with Caitlyn was animated using symbols to create a character, which is the same thing you do to create a custom character in CTA2. However flash doesn't support a great bone structure tool so I have to move each part of the character independently of each other, while CTA2 keeps everything linked and moving with that IK system. It's amazing. For the other programs I play around with too many to list. I will say that iClone works great with Maya though.
Q: Your animations are exceptional! And your characters are incredibly well-made. You have animated cartoons like Leagues of Legends, Caitlyn and even a Shrek character! How long does it take you to create a unique character? And what is the creation process?
Thank you! When it comes to recreating a popular character I try my best to recreate them in my own style while keeping all their core features the same. I'd say creating animatable characters at all primary angles takes around 2 days.
For the process when it comes to original characters I like to write about who the character is first and then sketch many variations. When it comes to pre-existing characters I do things a bit differently. I usually start by finding official art on the character for reference, then I look at fan art to see how the fans are drawing their favorite characters and I take it all into consideration and then I proceed sketching out the character at every angle along with a few expressions they may do in the video. From there I bring the sketches into Flash and I create the final character to be used in the video, and of course after that I'd have to translate the character to match the CTA format which isn't to difficult.
Q: The Animators Guild is slowly but surely growing its fan and subscriber base. Where do you see your channel in 3 years time? Where would you like it to go?
I'm a very ambitious individual so I do set my goals high. In 3 years time I hope for the Animators Guild to be in the millions for subscriber count, and to be releasing much more than just animated parodies. I have a project called Fantasy Quest Live that's about the virtual lives of a party of 5 who make a living in this fantasy world called Ahyure. It has over 200 pages of lore written by myself and an entire first season partially scripted by my musician Smashing Atoms and I. Oh! Atoms has composed an amazing sound track for it too. He actually also did the music for the Shrek video.
I plan for it to be created in 3D and be watchable in stereoscopic 3D. It's going to blow away fans of rooster teeths RWBY. I have high expectations for the project. It's something I have been developing for around six years now, but I won't be able to start it until I get a sponsor for the series or until the channel has a very large following. I attached a concept art picture created by Undercard of the main cast of the series.
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To see more, visit >>
Website: http://theanimatorsguild.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/retrosleep
Twitter: https://twitter.com/retrosleep
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