About

Located in Southern Ontario Canada. A traditional artist with CG skills.

I studied art in High School and thought about being a comic strip artist or musician but I followed the science and engineering path studying Surveying, Geology, Biology (BSc.) and Electronics, (Canadian Army).

I was assembling electronic controls for train engines and painting on the side when I saw an article about CG Animation. CG was new and on the rise and it looked like a lot more fun than what I'd been doing. It also looked like there weren't enough artists to fill the need. So, I decided to merge my pastime of painting and drawing with my technical side. I taught myself Photoshop 3, Illustrator 4 and an early nurbs modeling program called Sketch! (see the angel image below) fyi... Sketch!, created by Alias/Wavefront, would merge with Power Animator in 1998 to become Maya.

I landed my first job in 1996 as a 'Computer Artist' at a newly formed game company, Silicon Knights. It was my first exposure to like minded artists and animators all working in one place and it was worth the uncertainty of the career change. The first game I worked on was "Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain" a 3/4 top down done in 2D. The next game was a 3D game "Zork: Grand Inquisitor". SK wasn't a full CG studio yet so they bought new computers and cuts of 3D Studio Max (which came with manuals at least 500 pages long). We were basically paid to learn the program! Which we happily did for hours on end.

I was very fortunate to get into animation when I did. There were no schools or video courses to take... just the ever growing paper manuals, released every time a new version came out, that we would scour for new tools and tips. Animation was booming and CG was leading the charge. Unfortunately that meant a lot of traditional artists got pushed out. Funny how the CG artists forget that when they gripe about AI taking their jobs... just a thought.

Since those early days I've worked for a number of studios and projects in both Art and Production roles in series animation, film, AAA games, and a 3D film conversion. Not to mention numerous demo's, animatics and concept packages.

I'm no longer punching the clock but I'm still engaged in my art... painting, drawing, and animating... both traditional and digital. To see a selection of my work, please visit my 'Portfolio' section.

My most recent endeavour is an original Short, script to screen, including music and sound FX. You can watch it at TonyAscroft.com

I'm also part of a musical duo called BnT (pronounced Bent). Bob Feenstra and I have been playing in bands and jamming together for years. Here's a sample of our sound... listen on SoundCloud or on YouTube.

Contact info is on the home page.


Roundabouts Ontario featuring Hemmingway!


One of my first CG illustrations, 1995.


call/text 905-541-3907 ~ Tony