On Monday this past week (February 2nd, 2015), I was treated with the tragic news that one of my favorite writers/animators passed away at a tender age.
Monty Oum, an animator known for his efficiency among those in freelance animation passed away after he suffered from a severe allergic reaction. He was in a coma from January 30th through February first where he passed away in the afternoon. News of his death did not get out until February 2nd. He was 33-years-old.
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| Monty Oum 1981-2015 |
Some of Monty's original work includes an animation called Haloid, a fully choreographed battle between Master Chief of the Halo video game series and Samus from Metroid series of video games. It even included an interesting twist in the end for the Halo fans. The crazy thing is, Monty animated and choreographed the entire video all on his own. People do this all the time with mixed results, but what he did... take a look for yourself.
For a freelance animator, that video there is something to behold. Monty has been known for his other animation series that combined the Dead or Alive and Final Fantasy franchises called Dead Fantasy (Some themes from this series are not safe for work).
Sometime in 2010, Monty was hired by Rooster Teeth Productions to work on their series Red vs. Blue. Red vs. Blue, or RvB as their fans call it, was a "Machinimation" (an animation produced with assistance from production company Machinima). It strictly used assets from the Halo series of games, but Monty made RvB into something completely different. He used his animation skill to create action scenes similar to that of Haloid. Monty's work furthered a hidden story within the series, and without Monty, it's certain that RvB wouldn't be where it is today. Please note that RvB has strong language when viewing.
By proving his worth, Monty was given the go-ahead to develop his own series. RWBY, as he called it, was a Japanese Anime styled web series that mixes the past, present, and theoretical future styles of the world, as well as some of the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales. Despite it's anime inspiration, the show is not as adult themed as most
anime. It is safe for your viewing pleasure at any time. The result is something magnificent, and clearly developed by someone who loves what he does. (Note: Due to Monty being the creative mind behind RWBY, it is unknown if the series will continue).
After his passing, the heads of Rooster Teeth gathered up and spoke of Monty's tendencies to get what he wanted done, no matter the cost of the tools, or his sleep. They even state that vacations for him was doing what he did at work. He is the ideal "I love my job" kind of person, and it showed. All of his work was finely polished, and showed effort and creativity in a way that not even I had seen before.
You see, I have been a fiction writer as far back as I can remember. I was never motivated to get my ideas down on paper, or on a computer, but once I saw a little glimpse of how Monty handled these sort of things, I was inspired. Suddenly I had my own story-driven world that was developed mentally, and soon enough became an episodic journey that I've been slowly writing for the past year. Monty inspired me to create. To do something with my life and not waste time. He spoke of how you should watch and play as many things as possible to get as much inspiration as you can. Most importantly he assured everyone that they needed to do what they love, or there would always be a void to fill in your life.
I encourage you to do the same, but to also let those who inspire you know that you care for them, and love what they do. Support what they do to the best of your ability, and also have respect for them as well.
Do so before they are gone...
Monty, you have helped me strive for a greatness I thought I couldn't achieve. You inspire me in a way that I never thought. Your work is unlike what I have seen, and in doing so showed me that a person needs to perfect their own style of doing things, set goals with those things, and "Keep moving forward." Thanks for showing me that.
Thanks all,
-Peter
