TomSka
| TomSka | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) TomSka during the Geek Faëries in France in 2016. | ||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||
| Born | Thomas James Ridgewell 27 June 1990 | |||||||||
| Nationality | British | |||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Video blogger, filmmaker, actor | |||||||||
| Website | turbopunch | |||||||||
| YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Also known as | TomSka | |||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2006–present | |||||||||
| Genre | Comedy | |||||||||
| Subscribers | 4.57 million[1] (April 2017) | |||||||||
| Total views | 969.2 million[1] (April 2017) | |||||||||
| Associated acts | Edd Gould | |||||||||
| ||||||||||
Last updated: 14 April 2017 | ||||||||||
Thomas James "TomSka" Ridgewell (born 27 June 1990)[3] is an English YouTube celebrity known for his comedy video blogs, the animated web film series asdfmovie and webtoon Eddsworld.[4] As of March 2017, his YouTube channel has over 4.6 million subscribers and his videos have garnered over 982 million views.
Early life and education
As a child, Ridgewell began making short films using his parents' video camera. Not long after YouTube was established, Ridgewell created CakeBomb, a website which he posted his video creations, including his friend Edd Gould's EddsWorld, and his first asdfmovie. Ridgewell graduated from the University of Lincoln,[5] and while there created a series of unofficial "advertisements" for the university which received millions of views.[6]
He was raised a Jehovah's Witness, but no longer practices this faith.[7] Despite this, he has expressed a belief in a god.[8]
YouTube career
A professional YouTuber, Ridgewell earns money from revenue from his videos on the website.[9] He has been discussed and interviewed in relation to this, especially when the medium of online video was in its infancy.[3][10] He has also appeared as a guest on the BBC's The One Show, and has appeared as a radio and TV guest internationally.[11]
In 2008, Ridgewell released the first installment of asdfmovie, an animated sketch comedy series featuring very short clips of minimally-detailed characters in surreal and occasionally darkly humorous situations. There have been ten episodes, the latest having been uploaded on 1 April 2017.[12]
In 2012, he took charge of the production of Eddsworld after the show's original creator and his friend, Edd Gould, died of leukemia. He left the series in 2016, handing the show over to Edd's family.
In 2013, Ridgewell was featured in YouTube's first "Comedy Week".[13]
He was featured on the cover of Wired UK in February 2013 as part of a feature titled "How YouTube Reinvented the Entertainment Business"[14] and was selected by YouTube as a guest host for its Geek Week series in August.
The BBC announced that Ridgewell will be appearing as a guest presenter on the Dan and Phil show from September 2014 on BBC Radio 1.[15][16][17]
Ridgewell spoke at the VidFest UK London Comic Con in 2014.[18]
In January 2015, Ridgewell launched a new webtoon, Crash Zoom, on his TomSka channel. It is animated by Ben "Wonchop" Smallman, who also animated some of the asdfmovie episodes.[19] It features three young characters, Lucy, Ben, and Cate, and their various surreal exploits.[20]
DarkSquidge
DarkSquidge is the name of Ridgewell's secondary channel on YouTube. As of December 2016, the channel has over 600,000 subscribers and more than 67 million views.[21] The content that Ridgewell uploads on this channel differs greatly from that of his main channel. While his main channel consists of sketch comedy and animations,[22] DarkSquidge shows behind the scenes footage of TomSka related projects and videos. Ridgewell also engages in social commentary on this platform, covering a range of topics such as mental health, sexual health and body positivity. Vlogging is also a part of this channel. The youtuber uploads weekly vlogs to the channel dubbed as "Last Week". This channel was created in October 2007.[21]
Other projects
In 2014, Ridgewell, in collaboration with Pixel Spill, created the game KatataK, a side-scrolling shoot 'em up for iOS and Android devices.[23]
In 2015, Ridgewell worked with animator Matt Ley to create Art Is Dead, a comic book based on, and featuring, adapted sketches from his asdfmovie series.[24][25]
Books
- Art is Dead: The ASDF Book (2015, Little Brown Book Group, ISBN 9780751563047)[26]
References
- ^ a b "About TomSka". YouTube.
- ^ ChewingSand (3 October 2012), Hazel and Tom are Professional, retrieved 13 June 2016
- ^ a b Fox, Killian; Lewis, Tim (6 April 2013). "YouTube UK: 20 of Britain's most popular online video bloggers". the Guardian. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
- ^ "Between Comedies, TomSka Also Educates His YouTube Fans - VideoInk". VideoInk. 17 August 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
- ^ "Former University of Lincoln students to guest present on Radio 1". Lincolnshire Echo. 27 August 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
- ^ "Appointment to view: The University of Lincoln goes viral". www.brandrepublic.com. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
- ^ DarkSquidge (7 October 2015), The Day My Faith Died, retrieved 13 June 2016
- ^ DarkSquidge (28 January 2013), 7 Facts About TomSka, retrieved 13 June 2016
- ^ "The Tom Ridgewell show: the 22-year-old making £10,000 a month from". Evening Standard. 12 March 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
- ^ reporter, Dan WhitworthNewsbeat technology. "YouTube star TomSka 'makes thousands' every month". Retrieved 13 June 2016.
- ^ thepod96 (23 November 2011), TomSka and Bing on The One Show - BBC One, retrieved 13 June 2016
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ TomSka (1 April 2017), asdfmovie10, retrieved 2 April 2017
- ^ "YouTube's Comedy Week shows how much comedy has changed". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
- ^ "Talent Tube: how Britain's new YouTube superstars built a global fanbase". WIRED UK. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
- ^ "BBC - New youth presenters for Radio 1 - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
- ^ Lewis, Tim (6 April 2013). "YouTube superstars: the generation taking on TV – and winning". the Guardian. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
- ^ "Radio 1 to hire 'YouTube-famous' vloggers to broadcast online". The Independent. 22 August 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
- ^ "TenEighty at Vidfest UK MCM ComiCon". TenEighty. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
- ^ DarkSquidge (26 June 2015), I'M NOT AN ANIMATOR, retrieved 13 June 2016
- ^ TomSka (9 January 2015), CRASH ZOOM - Movie Massacre, retrieved 13 June 2016
- ^ a b "DarkSquidge channel - about section".
- ^ "TomSka channel - about section".
- ^ "KatataK". www.katatakgame.com. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
- ^ DarkSquidge (11 September 2015), WE MADE A BOOK (Art is Dead reveal), retrieved 27 February 2016
- ^ DarkSquidge (29 October 2015), ART IS DEAD IS OUT!!!, retrieved 27 February 2016
- ^ "Art is Dead : The asdf Book". Book Depository.com. Retrieved 12 September 2015.