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| Oh no, I lost my train of thought for a brief moment there. |
A little about Eddsworld
Eddsworld is an independent British comedic flash animation production company that was created by Edd himself in 2004, it consists of animations, comics (Hundreds might I add), flash games and various art works.
Animated episodes (Previously animated by Edd, and co-written by himself along with colleagues Thomas Ridgewell (AKA Tom Ska), Matthew Hargreaves, Thomas Brown and Tord Larrson, the series is now currently under Thomas' direction since Edd's passing) would focus on the lives of Edd, Tom, Matt and previously Tord, and would run anywhere from 30 seconds to 10 minutes.
Why do you like this guy so much?
I suppose I find his humor different from other popular web animators (Though I am pretty sure it's just considered British humor by most?), that at times they actually came off surprisingly... pleasant, I noticed Edd tended to avoid any obscene, dirty, or just downright graphically traumatizing jokes, and if he did, it was done so tastefully that you probably never would have noticed, and heck, none of the characters ever really cursed in his works.
But yes, it just shows that this form of humor can still be appreciated in an online world filled with dirty, graphically violent, "scare you shitless" and "I wrote this when I was high" type of humor.
How does he do them?
Edd mostly used Adobe Flash for his works, and before he had discovered the program, he did some pretty adorable works with the use of a GIF animation program. The young man was a pretty dedicated individual as he took 7 months to learn the basics of Flash animation from his mentor Lavalle Lee (Also a flash animator as well as a web designer), he also studied at the University of Creative Arts, Maidstone, England later on.
I always found flash animation to be a little challenging, especially since most executions tend to turn out quite stiff if not done right, Edd was one of those that managed to make his works fluid enough that none of the characters moved about like hands puppets behind a makeshift stand (Unless he wanted them to that is).
I really enjoyed seeing his progress as his animations continued improving, from stick figure animations to the full bodied characters we see today. It is just so inspiring to see how much he has done over such a short period of time. It also does my heart good to see how he could work and get along so well with many other talented animators, film makers and voice actors.
Edd was also one of those that truly loved what he did, he always wanted to please his fans, the utmost effort in terms of writing, voice acting and of course animation was always put into all his works.
To me, Edd Gould was and still is a positive role model to all independent animators.
Edd's Death
It is painful to go into this part but I suppose I have to... I was shocked to hear that Edd had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and for a second time, the first being in 2006. And after 6 long years of fighting so hard to beat it, Edd had unfortunately lost.
It was a huge blow for fans including me upon hearing of his passing, especially when I had believed so strongly in his full recovery along with many others. Edd (And his friends) had kept up a very strong and positive front during that period, which was another thing that I admired so much about him...
The Eddsworld series continued however even after his death, a fundraiser was also held to help raise funds for another season of Eddsworld, the profits were then made to go towards charities that focused on non-medical care for adult cancer patients.
Whenever I think about how his dearest friends (Especially Tom) are still struggling and trying their absolute hardest to keep this series going in his honor while still grieving over his death... I just... I can't describe how I feel thinking about it even now.
Here is one of Edd's final major works (Also one of my favorites):
Also here is another favorite:
Aftermath
The Edd character continues to appear in the series, with Tim Hautekiet taking over as his voice actor, and Paul ter Voorde as the new lead animator. I honestly didn't really have a chance to watch any of the newer episodes save for the last project that Edd never got to finish, but from what I can see, Paul and the others are doing a pretty swell job.
I hope this blog post did not come in any way tasteless (I really apologize as it was in no way intentional, I blame my horrible writing skills) especially since it is dedicated to one of the few artists I truly admire, Edd Gould was a truly beautiful human being.
Here's to you, Edd.
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