Andrey Kravchenko

“

So we went online and browsed a number of different 3D model marketplaces and bought the Tom character for $60.00. [...] we loved the style of the artist, although we did not know who he was at the time because he posted all of his designs anonymously. [...] his name is Andrey Kravchenko, and he's now working full-time for us.

„

— Andrej Nabergoj

Andrey Kravchenko (Ukrainian: Андрій Кравченко), alternatively spelt Andrii Kravchenko, is a Ukrainian freelance 3D artist and former full-time employee at Outfit7. A part-time modeler, Kravchenko is well known for his work on the Talking Tom & Friends franchise. His first work on the series was in the creation of Talking Tom Cat, where he unintentionally played a large role; He created Tom's original character model in the computer graphics program Autodesk 3ds Max, and uploaded it to the website TurboSquid in early 2004. This model was eventually purchased by the newly founded Outfit7 in 2010, and used to create the original Talking Tom Cat, a children's app which was one of the company's numerous early attempts to reach success within the mobile industry.

Due to the success of Talking Tom Cat, Kravchenko was searched for and recruited into Outfit7 by its CEO Andrej Nabergoj. Following that, the company would purchase the license for all of his models, and he would play a large role in creating many of the series' core characters, such as Ben and Angela. His last publically known official Talking Tom & Friends related work was creating Ginger's redesign for Talking Ginger, which released in August of 2012. Though whether or not he chose to leave Outfit7 following this on his own is unknown, he would continue to create videos involving Outfit7's characters on his YouTube channel until late 2013.

History

Before his work on the Talking Tom & Friends franchise, Andrey Kravchenko worked a part-time job in the movie industry. As an artist who creates 3D models, he would also alternatively make them in the software Autobook 3ds Max and upload them for public use on the stock model website TurboSquid. He would continue to remain largely anonymous until he began work on the Talking Tom & Friends franchise.

On January 31, 2004, Kravchenko uploaded a model of a feral gray cat for purchase on TurboSquid, which went for $90 USD. On December 14, 2004, Kravchenko uploaded a Santa Claus model for purchase on the same website, which went for $60 USD. Both models were relatively unused, until 2010, where the cat model was purchased by Samo Login, CEO of the newly founded Slovenian enterprise Outfit7, in order to develop Talking Tom Cat, which released on June 26, 2010. That app was such a success that it inspired TurboSquid themselves to applaud Kravchenko's accomplishment. Following the success of Talking Tom Cat, Outfit7 also purchased Kravchenko's Santa Claus model off of the same website to develop Talking Santa, which released on November 29, 2010.

Sometime after the release of Talking Tom Cat, the success of the aforementioned app inspired the current CEO of Outfit7 at the time, Andrej Nabergoj, to go on a search for the artist in order to recruit him. After several months, and calls to the Russian secret service agency, he was able to locate him in Ukraine, and recruited him into the business. After Outfit7 purchased his entire stock of models, Kravchenko would go on to become a full-time employee at the company. Kravchenko's next major role was creating Ben, a character who debuted in Talking Ben the Dog and would later go on to become one of the franchise's core characters. Kravchenko also played a large role in the creation of Talking Tom Cat 2, where he created Tom's redesign for the said app. Following that, one of his other known roles is creating the redesign for Pierre in Talking Pierre the Parrot, which following its prototype released on November 29, 2011, was overhauled and relaunched in December of the same year. Afterwards, he then created Angela for Tom's Love Letters, which released on January 28, 2012, and would later greatly assist in the conception phase of Tom Loves Angela, which released on June 6, 2012. Finally, Kravchenko's last known official work on the franchise is creating Ginger's redesign for Talking Ginger, which released on August 12, 2012, but he would later feature several Talking Tom & Friends characters he created in a video titled "Showreel 2013", uploaded onto his channel on December 18, 2013.

Trivia

• He is responsible for the original model of Tom and Santa, and later Ben, the Talking Tom Cat 2 redesign of Tom, Ginger and Pierre's Talking Ginger and later versions of Talking Pierre the Parrot redesigns, and Angela's original model.

Gallery

Kravchenko's draft for Tom Loves Angela

Concept art for Angela, by Andrey Kravchencko

External links

• Andrey Kravchenko's TurboSquid account
• Andrey Kravchenko's YouTube account