Photo courtesy of Tommy Simms
Tommy Simms
Tommy poses his 18-inch tall Kaiju in a frame for the Fuzzysurf music video “Sucky”.)
For as long as Tommy Simms can remember, he loved to draw. He credits the creative environment he grew up in: “My parents have always been very supportive of my art. My mom sculpts figurines for a living, so I grew up around a lot of polymer clay. That’s probably why the transition from drawing to claymation seemed so natural for me.”
That support led him to UW-Milwaukee, where he majored in drawing and painting. It was here that Simms took his first animation class, taught by Tim Decker. Tommy had found his niche, explaining how, “... with animation, that combines all of the drawing, acting, theater, and production into one, so I can work with everything.”
His senior animation project, a claymation western titled The Legend of Leatherface Larry, was screened at the 67th Festival de Cannes. This project bears influence to the “rubber hose” animations of Popeye and other Fleischer Studios shows Tommy was raised on. His infatuation with cartoons largely guided him toward the arts, saying, “As a child, I think one thing that got me into theater was how cartoon physics could be translated to real-world things.”
Fuzzysurf Videos
Much of Simms’ work falls under the umbrella of Simwig Studios, a film company named after Simms and his collaborator, Joe Ludwig. Although the two met outside of school, they shared an educator in Tim Decker, who also taught animation at MATC, where Joe studied. Simwig Studios’ first joint project was “Glass,” a video for the group Lovely Socialite, but their most expansive work has been the music videos shot for local band Fuzzysurf.
Earlier this year, Fuzzysurf released a 20-song project titled Chameleons, the largest body of work for the quartet, consisting of Sean Lehner, Corey Murphy, Colin O’Day, and Joe Ludwig. The group’s latest video release is a song off the record, “Never Fell in Love”, and is an ambitious whodunit featuring the bandmembers as suspects. Another video of theirs, a single titled “Sucky”, features a purple Kaiju terrorizing downtown Milwaukee. The latter does a great job showcasing Simms’ talents, as the claymation monster steals the show wreaking havoc around the city.
With each new video, Simwig Studios and Fuzzysurf manage to outdo themselves. Frontman Sean Lehner explains the rationale behind this, saying how it is Fuzzysurf’s goal to always “create something new and fresh” both audibly and visually. From puppet versions of the bandmembers to the blending of animation styles, Fuzzsurf’s visuals show that constant innovation helps to set them apart from other local acts.
Simms’ story is a testament to the idea that in the pursuit of your dreams, it is necessary to try new things and find others whose talents complement your own. It doesn’t matter what market you’re in, what matters is the time you put in toward honing your craft. As Simms puts it, “Decent quality productions can be made anywhere, you don’t have to be on either of the coasts or need a giant budget to produce some quality film.”
The music video for “Sucky” will have its Milwaukee premiere in September at the Milwaukee International Short Film Festival. To check out more of Simms’ work, visit @TommysToons, and for his collaborations with Joe Ludwig, check out @SimwigStudios.
