Edward Duncan Ernest Gould (28 October 1988 – 25 March 2012) was a British animator, artist, and voice actor. He was best known for creating Eddsworld, a media franchise consisting of flash animations and web comics featuring fictionalised versions of himself and longtime collaborators Tom Ridgewell, Matt Hargreaves, Tord Larsson and others.[1] After Gould's death in 2012, production of Eddsworld was passed on to Ridgewell and later Hargreaves.
Early life
Edd Gould was born on 28 October 1988 in Isleworth, Greater London to Susan Gould[2][3] and Duncan Gould. He had a sister and a brother. He attended the Orleans Park School[4] as depicted in his first Newgrounds entry "Edd", and met Matt Hargreaves during a sports day event there. Gould drew his friends in his comics and Hargreaves became a prominent part of Eddsworld.[5][6]
Gould met Tom Ridgewell, a fan of his work, online shortly after he started making stick animations. He likewise met Tord Larsson online. Ridgewell and Larsson were included in the Eddsworld cast along with Hargreaves, appearing in Eddsworld Christmas Special 2004.[7]
Career
In 2000,[8] Gould began animating using a GIF program to publish on Stick Figure Death Theatre. When the website stopped accepting GIFs, Gould spent seven months learning Macromedia Flash, helped by Lavalle Lee.[9] Gould published his first animation on Stick Figure Death Theatre or Stick Suicide called “Bendee 1” on 7 November 2002.[10] Gould made his first Newgrounds entry on 6 June 2003, titled "Edd."[11]
In September 2008 Gould began studying as an independent animator at the University for the Creative Arts in Maidstone. He joined Cake Bomb, a creative media group founded by Ridgewell.[12] He voiced the "I Like Trains" kid in TomSka's asdfmovie series on YouTube, and animated the second episode of asdfmovie.
Illness and death
On 16 April 2011, Gould revealed he had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a cancer of the white blood cells. It was his second diagnosis, having been previously diagnosed with the same illness on 30 January 2006.[13][14] He posted a video on YouTube entitled "Edd vs Cancer" featuring himself, Ridgewell, and Hargreaves discussing the diagnosis. He platformed his illness for several sketches on his friends' YouTube accounts.
Gould died from a recurring infection caused by the cancer on the morning of 25 March 2012.[15] He was 23 years old. Ridgewell and Hargreaves announced Gould's death in a short video, "RIP Edd Gould (1988–2012)", two days later.[16] The funeral was held on 10 April at All Saints' Church in Isleworth, where a eulogy compiled from video clips from fans and friends was shown. The last episode he directed for Eddsworld, "Space Face (Part 1)", was released posthumously to YouTube on 2 June 2012. Eddsworld production passed to Ridgewell who continued to produce episodes as part of Gould's will. Under Ridgewell's direction, profits went to CLIC Sargent (now Young Lives vs Cancer), a UK cancer charity supporting children, young people and their families.[13][17]
