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TomSka

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Not to be confused with Tomsk.

TomSka
TomSka during the Geek Faëries in France in 2016
Personal information
Born
Thomas James Ridgewell

(1990-06-27) 27 June 1990 (age 34)
Essex, England
NationalityBritish
EducationUniversity of Lincoln
Occupation(s)YouTuber, actor, filmmaker, director, producer, writer, voice actor, musician
YouTube information
Also known asTomSka
Channels
Years active2004–present
Genre(s)Comedy, action
Subscribers6.4 million[1]
Total views1.6 billion[1]
Associated actsEddsworld
Hbomberguy
100,000 subscribers2010
1,000,000 subscribers2012[2]
Last updated: 29 June 2020

Thomas James Ridgewell (born 27 June 1990),[3] known online as TomSka, is a British YouTuber, director, writer, producer, actor, voice actor, musician and filmmaker, as well as founder of the Turbopunch Ltd. media production company. He is known for his animated comedy web series asdfmovie,[a] Eddsworld, and Crash Zoom.[4] As of June 2020, his YouTube channel has over 6.3 million subscribers and his videos have garnered over 1.6 billion views.[5]

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 where he posted his video creations, including his viral animated video series asdfmovie and his friend Edd Gould's Eddsworld. Ridgewell graduated from University of Lincoln,[6] where he studied Media Production, and whilst studying he created a series of unofficial "advertisements" for the university which received millions of views.[7]

Career

As a professional YouTuber, Ridgewell earns money from revenue on his videos on the website.[8] He also has made short films for BBC and Comedy Central. He has been discussed and interviewed in relation to this, especially when the medium of online video was in its infancy.[3][9] He has also appeared as a guest on the BBC's The One Show, and has appeared as a radio and TV guest internationally.[10]

In October 2007, Ridgewell created a secondary channel called DarkSquidge.[11] As of January 2020, the channel has over 1 million subscribers and more than 178 million views.[11] The content he uploads on this channel differs greatly from that of his main channel. While his main channel consists of sketch comedy and animations,[12] DarkSquidge shows behind the scenes footage of TomSka related projects and videos, as well as vlogging. Ridgewell also engages in social commentary on this platform, covering a range of topics such as mental health, sexual health, and body positivity. He uploaded weekly vlogs to the channel dubbed Last Week. After ending Last Week, he then made a monthly vlogging series called Last Month,[13] with a new series of videos known as #CONTENT forming the bulk of the channel's uploads.

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 twelve episodes as of August 2019, as well as three "deleted scene" videos, a promotional video with Marmite, and four music videos; "I Like Trains", "Mine Turtle", "Everybody Do The Flop", and "The Muffin Song".[14] The song "Beep Beep I'm a Sheep" by Canadian musician LilDeuceDeuce with vocals by Ridgewell and Gabriel Brown,[15] released alongside asdfmovie10, was featured in the dance rhythm game Just Dance 2018.[16] A book based on the asdfmovie series, titled Art is Dead: the asdf book, was written by Ridgewell, illustrated by Matt Ley, and published by Little Brown on 22 October 2015.[17] A second book titled Sam Kills Christmas, written by Ridgewell and Eddie Bowley with illustrations by Dorina Herdewijn, was released on 8 November 2018.[18][19]

In 2012, Ridgewell founded a media production company, TurboPunch Ltd., located in London. He currently works there alongside co-writer Eddie Bowley and video editor Elliot Gough.[20] Both make appearances in sketches on the main channel, but are more often featured in videos on the second channel.

Also in 2012, Ridgewell took charge of the production of Eddsworld after the show's original creator, Edd Gould, died of leukemia. He left the series in 2016, handing the show over to Edd's family. In 2013, he was featured in YouTube's first "Comedy Week".[21] He was featured on the cover of Wired UK in February 2013 as part of a feature titled "How YouTube Reinvented the Entertainment Business"[22] and was selected by YouTube as a guest host for its Geek Week series in August. The BBC announced that Ridgewell would appear as a guest presenter on the Dan and Phil Show in September 2014 on BBC Radio 1.[23][24][25]

In 2014, Ridgewell, in collaboration with video game developer Pixel Spill Studios, created the game KatataK, a side-scrolling shoot 'em up for iOS and Android devices.[26][27]

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.[28] It features three young characters, Lucy, Ben, and Kate, in their various surreal exploits.[29]

In 2016, Ridgewell filmed several sketches with the BBC in a trial for a potential sketch show on BBC Three. These sketches were not picked up by the BBC, however, and he later posted the clips on his YouTube channel.[30]

In 2019, Ridgewell developed a card game based on asdfmovie in collaboration with Big Potato Games called Muffin Time: The Random Card Game.[31] He raised over £1,000,000 for the game on Kickstarter.[32]

Personal life

Ridgewell’s twin sister, Amelia, died prenatally after their mother sustained injuries in a car accident. This is reflected in his name (Thomas meaning twin).[33]

He was raised a Jehovah's Witness, but no longer practices this faith.[34] Despite this, he has expressed a hope in a higher power.[33]

Though not primarily a musician by trade, Ridgewell has played bass guitar in multiple videos, including "Guitar Warfare"[35] and "Mine Turtle" as a featured artist with LilDeuceDeuce.[36] He also performed vocals on "Mine Turtle", "Beep Beep I'm a Sheep", and sketch video "Musical Suicide".

He endorsed the Labour Party in the 2017 United Kingdom general election.[37] He also expressed his opposition to both Brexit[38] and the Conservative Party.[39]

Books

  • Art is Dead: the asdf book (2015, Little Brown Book Group, ISBN 9780751563047)[40]
  • Sam Kills Christmas (2018, Little Brown Book Group, ISBN 0751563056)

Notes

  1. ^ "asdf" pronounced /ˈæzdəf/

References

  1. ^ a b "About TomSka". YouTube.
  2. ^ ChewingSand (3 October 2012), Hazel and Tom are Professional, retrieved 13 June 2016
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ "Between Comedies, TomSka Also Educates His YouTube Fans - VideoInk". VideoInk. 17 August 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  5. ^ "TomSka YouTube Channel Analytics and Report". www.noxinfluencer.com. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  6. ^ "Former University of Lincoln students to guest present on Radio 1". Lincolnshire Echo. 27 August 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  7. ^ "Appointment to view: The University of Lincoln goes viral". www.brandrepublic.com. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  8. ^ "The Tom Ridgewell show: the 22-year-old making £10,000 a month from his bedroom on YouTube". Evening Standard. 12 March 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  9. ^ reporter, Dan WhitworthNewsbeat technology. "YouTube star TomSka 'makes thousands' every month". Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  10. ^ 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)
  11. ^ a b "DarkSquidge channel - about section".
  12. ^ "TomSka channel - about section".
  13. ^ TomSka (1 February 2019), Last Month, retrieved 5 March 2019
  14. ^ TomSka (30 August 2019), asdfmovie13, retrieved 30 August 2019
  15. ^ Melnychuk, Mark (7 April 2017). "Regina musician's latest video racking up millions of views on YouTube". Regina Leader-post. Retrieved 9 March 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. ^ "Random time: Beep beep like a sheep in Just Dance 2018". Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  17. ^ Dillon, Poppy (12 August 2015). "Tom Ridgewell to Release asdf Comic Book". TenEighty. Retrieved 20 February 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ "U.K. YouTube Vet TomSka Has Written A Kids' Book Called 'Sam Kills Christmas' - Tubefilter". 24 September 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  19. ^ Griffin, Louise (7 November 2018). "TomSka is ready to 'take down' Christmas with his new book, and we're not mad". Metro. Retrieved 18 February 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  20. ^ "TURBOPUNCH LIMITED - Video production activities - A business based in ENGLAND registered with Companies House". www.datalog.co.uk. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  21. ^ "YouTube's Comedy Week shows how much comedy has changed". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  22. ^ "Talent Tube: how Britain's new YouTube superstars built a global fanbase". WIRED UK. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  23. ^ "BBC - New youth presenters for Radio 1 - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  24. ^ Lewis, Tim (6 April 2013). "YouTube superstars: the generation taking on TV – and winning". the Guardian. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  25. ^ "Radio 1 to hire 'YouTube-famous' vloggers to broadcast online". The Independent. 22 August 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  26. ^ "KatataK". www.katatakgame.com. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  27. ^ Saylor, Jacob (29 December 2014). "KatataK is Now out for iOS and Android". Gameranx. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  28. ^ DarkSquidge (26 June 2015), I'M NOT AN ANIMATOR, retrieved 13 June 2016
  29. ^ TomSka (9 January 2015), CRASH ZOOM - Movie Massacre, retrieved 13 June 2016
  30. ^ "Tom Ridgewell Working with BBC Comedy – TenEighty — YouTube News, Features, and Interviews". teneightymagazine.com. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  31. ^ O'dell, Liam (14 August 2019). "TomSka Announces asdfmovie Card Game – TenEighty — YouTube News, Features, and Interviews". TenEighty. Retrieved 18 February 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  32. ^ Hutchins, Robert (16 September 2019). "Big Potato and Turbo Punch join £1m club on Kickstarter with Muffin Time success". ToyNews. Retrieved 18 February 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  33. ^ a b DarkSquidge (28 January 2013), 7 Facts About TomSka, retrieved 13 June 2016
  34. ^ DarkSquidge (7 October 2015), The Day My Faith Died, retrieved 13 June 2016
  35. ^ Page, Justin (20 May 2013). "Guitar Warfare, An Explosive Guitar Battle Between Good and Evil". Laughing Squid. Retrieved 18 February 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  36. ^ MINE TURTLE (asdfmovie song) TomSka. 22 June 2012. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  37. ^ Twitter (2 June 2017), Over the past few weeks Corbyn has really won me over - I'll definitely be voting Labour next week., retrieved 29 November 2019 {{citation}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  38. ^ Lawrence, Derek (27 June 2016). "VidCon: TomSka compares Brexit to zombie apocalypse". EW.com. Retrieved 9 March 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  39. ^ Twitter (26 November 2019), Look. I don't want Brexit. I don't want the Tories in power anymore., retrieved 29 November 2019 {{citation}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  40. ^ "Art is Dead : The asdf Book". Book Depository.com. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
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