True Tail is an indie-animated series created by Allison Sribnick and Zachary Rich, two animation kids who wanted to stop watching cartoons and actually make their own. Thus, after graduating from the Savannah College of Art & Design, they decided to put their heads together and in 2013 Skynamic Studios was born. Originally developed as a short web series, True Tail has gone through many different phases. However, one thing has always remained the same: it is a tale focusing on bringing fun and engaging characters to life!
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Our tale begins in the medieval land of SplitPaw, an enchanted fantasy Kingdom full of magic, where one of the greatest professions a young child can strive for is to become a hero!
We follow the adventures of Caleb, a young kitten who wants to be the greatest hero SplitPaw has ever known. Luckily for him and his friends, there is True Tail, a school for heroes-in-training. Within the school's mighty walls, a young hero can learn how to save a damsel, practice their swordsmanship, and discover what it takes to harness the magical energy permeating throughout the land. Together with Melody, Viktor and Doh-Li, Caleb is going to discover the hero he was destined to be!
These kids may look cute and cuddly, but training to be a hero is no joke! Caleb, a young squire, may be small but he is not going to let his size stop him from swinging his sword on the front lines. Good thing Melody always has his back. With her lute and high energy this bard sings magical songs to empower even the weakest of heroes. However, sometimes you need a little brainpower to solve those complicated problems, and that's where Doh-Li comes in. Born into a family of honorable mages, this young kirin is truly gifted at casting spells and brewing any potion to heal a weary hero's wounds. Lastly, there is Viktor, the boy who was raised by a family of pirates, only to realize he'd rather have ladies screaming his name in admiration, rather than yelling for him to return their jewels. These crazy four make up our main group in True Tail, but they are not the only characters in our story...
We also have Garth, the barbarian pup who comes from a family of Vikings. He is determined to be a mighty warrior, in both the classroom and on the sports field! Dylan, the shy and nervous wizard unicorn, who comes from a family of world-renowned mages. Harper, the sassy mockingbird bard, who is the queen bee. And Ami the young adventurous tanuki, who can take down any boy that gets in her way.
Every hero needs a villain or a rival, and the bad boy of this series is Elder. The only son of a powerful sorcerer, his skills with magic are just a little too good! Along with Atticus, a scribe that has the power to spell doom for any that try to best him in academics - Lyra, a wolf whose song will enchant all to do her bidding - and Boris, a sweet minotaur who only shows his true power in battle. These four make up the elite students of True Tail and they do only one thing, and that's win!
The Professors at True Tail are some of the wisest, strongest and weirdest cast of characters - from the bumbling Barbarian warthog, to the headstrong panther Huntress, or the simple-minded mole Scribe. Since the dawning of time there have been heroes all around SplitPaw and some of the most well-known ones have found a home teaching the next generation of heroes at True Tail. Each of these champions will teach Caleb and his friends about teamwork and how to help others, in their own special ways. However, Caleb better behave, lest he gets burned by the Dean, who just so happens to be a firebreathing dragon!
Detention is no joke at True Tail and this is due to Eldritch the dungeonmaster. Although the school is a calm and safe place to learn and grow, there is a darkness brewing. Unknown to Caleb and his friends, the master of detention is none other than the ruler of the dark mythical creatures of Splitpaw. Eldritch and his minions have one goal: to do away with True Tail, thus ending the next generation of heroes who are always getting in the way of his evil plans. It will be up to Caleb and his friends to take this villain down! They’ll need to make use of everything they have learned if they even want to stand a chance against this crazy cockatrice.
The entirety of the show takes place at True Tail: a mighty castle built by the land's greatest heroes. It has everything a would-be hero needs: archery fields, training grounds, living quarters, and dozens of classrooms. The castle lies at the heart of a village full of shops and inns run by some of the most interesting characters. Outside the safety of the village's borders lie the untamed wilds of SplitPaw!
SplitPaw is a land of heroes and magic. It's easy for one to find themselves in giant mushroom forests, mountains of crystal, or electrical swamps. The inhabitants that call SplitPaw home come in many different shapes and sizes, from the giant Bear Knights of the Ursa Empire, to the roving Fox Pirates of the Northern Seas, and the immortal Phoenix Wizards of the floating city of Zaster. Fortune and adventure await those that are willing to claim it!
When we first started coming up with True Tail we never expected anyone in the animation industry to take an interest in us. But in the fall of 2014 everything changed when we got an email from Nickelodeon Animation Studios asking us to pitch our concept to them. After that meeting we learned a great deal about what it meant to pitch to a big studio and what we needed to do to take True Tail to the next level. After many months of deliberation and redesigns we decided if we wanted to make True Tail into a show that went beyond a web series we were going to need to make a few changes.
Though our original story was good, and we loved mixing our simplistic shape-based art with a mature story line, we found it nearly impossible to pitch this concept to any animation studio. With this new version we have a more lighthearted tone that gives us the chance to bring humor and energy into the series. We are still making an action adventure show, but it will just be a little less serious.
Also, the new school-based setting gives us the chance to show our characters grow into the amazing adventurers we had in our first version. This means that one day we may be able to take them out into the world. Again, we still plan on having a few episodes where the kids travel around SplitPaw, it's just we now have a central home for them to return to. Believe it or not, trying to produce a show that travels all over an area is extremely expensive and taxing on production, because you can't reuse any of your previous assets. By having the kids in one location we can spend less money and make more episodes. Thus, to make a long story short, we changed True Tail to make it more commercially viable and bring our diverse cast to a wider audience.
Skynamic Studios is a cloud-based, startup animation studio that specializes in 2d flash animation. The entirety of the studio functions just like a brick-and-mortar studio, but all of the work is done virtually through online collaboration. We utilize programs such as dropbox, google hangout, skype, and the adobe creative suite to create high-quality animation.
The studio is led by a team of co-owners: Allison Sribnick and Zachary Rich, who founded it in May 2013. The crew is made up of extremely talented artists who span the globe. Over the years we have been contracted to work on several projects, all of which can be viewed below. If you are interested in having us do work for you, please feel free to reach out. We are always interested in hearing about other great concepts and bringing them to life.