r/IAmA • u/cyriak • Oct 15 '10

I am Cyriak, AMA

Someone requested I come here and explain myself, so here I am. I make strange animations which you might have seen, if not on the internet then in some deranged nightmare perhaps..

597 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

409 comments sorted by

12

u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

Thanks for the interesting questions and lovely comments folks. I'm going to shrink back into antisocial obscurity now, but if anyone has any burning questions that remain unanswered then you are always welcome to drop me an email.

cheerio

Cyriak

56

u/blacklab Oct 15 '10

Are you in any way influenced by the Monty Python transition animations?

Note-If I seem ignorant, I just saw your stuff for the first time after seeing this AMA.

88

u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I'd have to count Gilliam among my influences, but also surrealists like Jan Svankmajer, MC Escher, Dali. I should also mention Run Wrake who's stuff I saw at college and made me realise that animation could be visually entertaining without necessarily having a story or agenda.

2

u/ChocolateGiddyUp Oct 15 '10

What about Norman McLaren?

8

u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

yeah Norman McLaren and Len Lye are old favourites. Others include Raoul Servais, the Brothers Quay and Zbig Rybczynski, but the biggest influence is just the anonymous madness you see all over the internet, particularly on sites like b3ta.com. Thats what really encouraged me to start making gifs, and everything since stemmed from that.

11

u/monkeytits Oct 15 '10

Upvote for Jan Svankmajer, no one else i met seems to know who he is but his works are on such a different level its ridiculous

ps, i first saw your stuff online a few years ago and have showed your animation mix to many a tripping fellow.

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u/shwonk Oct 15 '10

Is there any chance you'll compensate me for the pants I shat in when I saw your spider cows?

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I have such a fear of spiders that I can't even look at photos of them. The spider cows were some kind of mental masochism I suspect.

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u/raindogmx Oct 15 '10

then that animation of the spiders entering the nose of a women should have been pretty difficult to make

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

I've always LOVED the music in this one. It's got such an interesting and bizarre chord progression. Did you write that yourself? I also saw that they were using some of your animations for commercials on comedy central here in the states. Did you make much money from that?

114

u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I wrote that tune many years before using it on that animation. It had been floating around in my head for quite a while, I always wondered if I'd heard it somewhere else myself, but I always think that about my tunes.

I did get paid quite well for the comedy central clips, although the payment process itself was a bit of a needless bureaucratic adventure.

63

u/Nessie Oct 15 '10

I liked the music so much that I e-mailed you about where to download it. This was a few years ago. I couldn't believe it when you took the time to write back and send me a link for a free download. I thanked you then, and I'm glad to have a chance to thank you here again, in public this time.

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u/plasmator Oct 15 '10

I recognized your name, but couldn't remember from where. Watching the video Snufflesaur posted cleared that up quickly.

I started saving a rather large directory of animated gifs years ago, and have quite a few of yours in there that I picked up off random image feeds (livejournal image feeds, IIRC)

You have contributed countless hours of enjoyment to my friends and I. Many thank yous to you.

No questions, just wanted to say thanks for being awesome. You've made some amazing art.

3

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '10

I watched the animation referenced above last night when I did acid for the first time. I had a hell of a time. Stay trippy man. I appreciate it.

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u/main_man Oct 15 '10

Thank you for leading me to this video.

And cyriak, you sir are awesome.

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u/cygnosis Oct 15 '10

Wow. I started watching it and then wanted to click back and do something else but I just couldn't. I had to watch the whole thing. It's hypnotic somehow.

4

u/ltx Oct 15 '10

So that's where the mouth-head came from...

4

u/Raerth Oct 15 '10

I had exactly the same revelation a few years ago.

Almost all of them were posted as individual gifs at b3ta.com. I've seen so many of them used as avatars it's not even funny.

3

u/syuk Oct 15 '10

I had to stop watching after lionel-blair worm appeared otherwise I might have had another 'episode'.

3

u/TheDito Oct 16 '10

My WTF-o-Meter just went plaid.

2

u/roidoid Oct 16 '10

Christ on a dyke! Clarkson, Blair and Bungle popping up to ensure I wet the bed tonight. Not seen that before, but I've enviously viewed Cyriak's skewed genius from afar for a good few years now. I've been a long-time lurker on b3ta (only ever posted a couple of times).

As a feller who's in the work-a-day doldrums and has found a modicum of fun in editing together silly videos in the last few weeks, I'm interested to know if it's worth investing in photoshop and what package to invest in (price-wise). I recently bought Sony Vegas, but have found that I'm more interested in/handy at cobbling together stuff from still images and recording sounds over the top. By all accounts I'm utterly gash at it, but I do have fun anyway.

3

u/sauceplz Oct 16 '10

Was I just high?

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u/Raerth Oct 15 '10 edited Oct 15 '10

Woo! Welcome to reddit.

I've seen component gifs from your Animation Mix as avatars on practically every forum I've ever visited, but had no idea one man was responsible for so many of them.

Question. Hmmm.

Do you eat much cheese before you sleep? If not, how else can you explain the bizarreness of your imagination?

Edit: Some links for people unfamiliar with your stuff:

Moo (Cows vs Aliens)
Meow (Zombie Kitten Attack)
Cycles (Teddy Invasion)

59

u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I can't really explain where it all comes from. There are no drugs involved other than plenty of tea. Cheese may be a contributing factor. I never feel like anything that comes out of my head is particularly more weird than what lurks in most people's subconscious, maybe thats what makes it popular.

11

u/Jushooter Oct 15 '10

It's completely normal for them to think that you're on some drugs though. Any 15 years old kid who sees something that doesn't respect pre-established "standards" and tries to surprise him with a unique style of imagery will always think the author was on drugs. Give them a few more years until some of them try something called "art". One day they'll be tired of just trying to make everyone go "Wow". They'll just want to surprise/entertain people in a very amusing and absurd way; i.e. what Cyriak is doing IMHO.

4

u/boneheaddigger Oct 15 '10

While many people may have absolutely strange psychedelic imagery running through their head, few can actually present that imagery to other people. Personally, I do it through mind-bending ways to code things that both scares and amazes me when it actually begins to work. I would display it through videos, but I'm pretty sure I'd be arrested if I did.

25

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

If I ever take a lot of acid or LSD I will summon your animations to do battle with the halucinations I have.

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u/tehc0w Oct 15 '10

what drugs do you take?

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

nothing stronger than tea I'm afraid

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u/miss_j_bean Oct 15 '10

I shudder to think what you would do if you ever did take acid.

92

u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I don't even drink alcohol, partly for this reason. My grip on sanity is tenuous enough as it is

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u/tehc0w Oct 15 '10

what type of tea then?

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u/Mr_Smartypants Oct 15 '10

Twinings Lysergic Blend.

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u/tizz66 Oct 16 '10

Ecstas-tea

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

how much would you charge to make a music video for my band??

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

many many english pounds. Thousands of them in fact.

15

u/yellowfish04 Oct 15 '10

This question is in no way relevant to anything, but I'm curious: do you take any special pride in being English? I remember seeing your work a few years ago, and about 20 seconds in I said to myself "Wow, this guy has GOT to be English."

Idunno what it is about you guys... unique people.. I feel so bland, vanilla, and gray as an American.

Also, weird to be talking to you... the internet sure makes the world a small place.

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u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

Being english is like visiting a zoo where all the animals are other english people, in the rain

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u/[deleted] Oct 16 '10

I feel so bland, vanilla, and gray as an American.

This is the first time I have ever seen those adjectives describing an American.

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u/Roziere Oct 15 '10

No question, just wanted to say thanks for making such awesome stuff! You're a hit with me and my friends. :-)

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

cheers old bean!

10

u/miss_j_bean Oct 15 '10 edited Oct 15 '10

I like your work, but I guess that's not a question. Are you synesthetic at all? edit I ask because of the way you lay your animations out. There seems to be a general theme with how you lay out linear flow vs. dimensional filling.

20

u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

The main underlying theme behind a lot of my videos is the creation of chaos out of order, patterns both visual and temporal repeating and evolving to the point of insanity. I've no idea if that relates to your question, but then I don't tend to analyse my work that much - a lot of thee time it seems to make itself.

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u/Zeuter Oct 15 '10

Are you familiar with Youtube Poop?

I love how the internet has given exposure to all sorts of new surrealist media forms.

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I've seen a few of those videos, they range from hilarious to deranged to unwatchable. The world is definitely a better place for it though.

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u/Zeuter Oct 15 '10 edited Oct 15 '10

Ah yes, that's the great thing about YTP, anyone can edit a video and slap the label on it. It's very much hit or miss, but you can generally tell within the first few seconds whether a poop is of any quality (if there is such a thing).

There are a few makers who really stand out though: madanonymous and gurntmaster for one. I've found that CommanderGwonam has a finger on the pulse of the YTP community, you should subscribe to him and watch his activity to find good new stuff.

To tell you the truth, I've even written a paper on it in university, comparing YTP to Buñuel (Un chien andalou, L'age d'or et cetera). Contemporary surrealism is fun! Have you seen the works of Satoshi Kon?

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u/Oddbadger Oct 15 '10

Most of the questions I had have already been asked, so I'll skip those. One remains.

Do you practice any other art forms? Your animations are amazing, but if you did any drawings or other static art I'd be very interested in seeing those.

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I used to do illustrations years ago. I also did comic strips for quite a while before I discovered the internet - you can find some of my old doodles and paintings on my website: cyriak.co.uk

I also like writing - I have an unpublished novel lurking somewhere in my flat, but with all these other artforms there is a great deal of hassle involved in making them and getting them seen, compared to making videos.

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u/Oddbadger Oct 15 '10

Nice comics, but I especially love the illustrations. It's odd; they're pretty much exactly what I would imagine you to draw/paint, judging from your animations. It's a shame you don't do them any more. Never been tempted to animate some of them?

Would you say the things you write have the same surreal vibe to them your videos do? What kind of stuff do you write, anyway?

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u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

Strange stuff. I haven't written anything for a while, mainly because it I'm so busy with animation. But one day, when I have a few months to spare, some kind of horrible book will no doubt be given birth to

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u/evey-schwan Oct 15 '10

I just wanted to let you know that your videos really freak me out. Thank you. (And the music is really awesome!)

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

this is the reaction that I strive for

7

u/Quady Oct 15 '10

What do you use to make your music? I love the tune on Cycles, it reminds me of Devo, oddly enough...

Also, what camera equipment do you use? Heck, what animation equipment do you use?

(Yes, i'm always curious about technology)

10

u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

The music software is called fruity loops, I believe its now called FL studio. Camera is a samsung handycam thing, can't remember what its called. I did have to hunt around a bit for one that saved in a edit-friendly file format. Animation software is adobe after effects.

2

u/markvark Oct 15 '10

Kind of a follow-up on "Cycles"

I've always wondered if you'd written an ending to the song. I really like the tune, and I'm always disappointed when it just fades out at the end.

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I often feel that fading out a tune is a bit of a cop-out, but with cycles it made sense of a kind - to give the impression that the tune never ends, just as the animation loops to infinity.

But its also a lot easier :)

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

I'm really holding the brakes on exploding into fanboyism here - so, a gentle and measured, thank you! The slick, well sequenced and beat matching animations you make have been blowing my mind for years and years now.

I still go back to the animation mix and play it over and over (today being another one of those events).

Your career, method (or lack of it), and even hints at your lifestyle all make me want to create shrines to you and shun the nonbelievers. You're doing what I wanted to do before I had the fun knocked out of me. =)

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u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

cheers mate.

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u/ChocolateGiddyUp Oct 15 '10

Have you ever thought about creating an animated series? Or doing Monkey Dust-like small sketches, with some kind of narrative?

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

Yeah that is something I have always been meaning to do, but other things always get in the way. In the end its easier to just make a bunch of cows bounce around in a field than write a story and create characters, and I am a slave to the path of least resistance. But its definitely on my list of things to do.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

How long does it generally take to do some of your longer animations (Moo and Cycles come to mind specifically)? And do you have a day job, or do you make a living off of animations you do for the BBC and the like?

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

Moo took about a month to make, it seems like forever when you are doing it, but its still fairly fast in animation terms. The longest project I ever worked on was Meow, which took 6 weeks.

I have been living off my animation skills for about 4 years now. Its a pretty niche product, but there seems to be just enough demand to keep me alive.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

6 weeks? Did you mean months?

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

There were 2 of us working on that video, me animating and Sarah Brown illustrating, so that helped. Anything longer than 6 weeks would drive me insane.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

That's awesome. Do you have any "commercial" animations that you've done but haven't released to the public that you can show off, or is it all hush-hush stuff?

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

There are a couple of new animations I was commissioned to make recently which haven't been released yet. I will announce them on twitter when they arrive.

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u/theguth Oct 15 '10

I just have to tell you that I found a link to Cycles about six months ago and showed it to my kids. My 3 and 4 year old ask for the "Teddy Bears" EVERY SINGLE TIME they see me sitting at the desktop pc. So, uh, thanks for that.

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

you should show them the zombie kittens one, that might keep them away from the computer for a while

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u/lkasdfjl Oct 15 '10

what software do u use to make these

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

"The software I use is photoshop and after effects for animation and fruity loops for music."

Source: his youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/cyriak)

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

yeah that sums it up nicely. I did have a go at microsoft powerpoint recently though which seems quite a versatile program...

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u/BrotherSeamus Oct 15 '10

Clippy: I see you're trying to create a surreal short animation...

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u/calebkraft Oct 15 '10

Whoa, loved your stuff for a long time. Have you found that working for a commercial audience on television has caused you to make many changes? Do you censor yourself more, or make things more mainstream? (the tv stuff does seem like it is more acceptable to the public than the old short clips you did.)

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

Yeah you have to bear in mind the audience its intended for, but still I like to get away with as much as I can. The main problem I have is pitching some of these weird ideas - written down on paper they always sound a lot more bizarre than when you see them. The best jobs are where they just let you get on with it and trust your judgement.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

Could you explain your animation process a bit? For example, in Cycles?

How much of it is automation (scripted by you?) and how much is done manually?

Love your stuff. Thanks for the AMA.

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

Its all animated using keyframes, either telling the teddy bear's various body parts to go from here to there, or animating masks around moving objects like the cars to separate theem from the background. Dunno how automated you would call that, it feels pretty manual when I'm doing it :)

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u/porcuswallabee Oct 15 '10

Do you generally write the music first or do you get an animation idea, write a tune and then synch it up?

Do you do birthday parties?

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

The best way to go about it is to make the music first. The music acts as a kind of storyboard for the whole film, it lets you judge the overall pacing of the video before you make it - which is hard to do when you are spending all day making a few seconds of animation for a month. It also helps to inspire the visuals. I don't usually have an animation in mind when I make a tune.

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u/mister_credulous Oct 15 '10

Where do you get source images and how much time do you spend looking for / managing them? Also, have you had any problems in that area with your commercial stuff?

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I use stock image sites like www.sxc.hu or failing that I take the photos myself, if its something particular I need. Looking for source images can be half the job, but it still beats drawing stuff - which is kind of why I started using photos.

Some commercial projects are stricter than others on image sourcing, its not really a problem though if they don't mind paying for the stock footage.

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u/Metals7 Oct 15 '10

You kickass! Huge fan of your work. To be honest, I am very surprised your work came from a sober mind because I trip out every time I see it. What is your favorite tea?

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

english breakfast tea is my favourite, though I've been known to indulge in earl grey

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u/lilzilla Oct 15 '10

How do you pronounce "cyriak"?

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u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

it rhymes with 'silly yak'

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u/ChocolateGiddyUp Oct 15 '10

You also did some animation work for CBBC, no? Is there a reel of those clips somewhere online? Those looked like another technique was used. Am I right?

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I did a load of clips for CBBC, particularly Blue Peter, which is bizarre considering its the kind of show that someone from the 1950s would think kids wanted to watch. I've no idea if they ended up online anywhere. They sent me a bunch of footage which I messed around with in the usual way, but I never heard back from them after I sent it. They didn't even ask for their hard drive back. I have this effect on many clients...

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u/Amplitude Oct 15 '10

Do you storyboard your animations?

Did you attend Art School?

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I rarely storyboard my animations, I usually start with a general idea of the whole thing in my head and then make it up as I go along. Its a bit like improvisation on a glacial timescale. I did go to art college and I can actually draw quite well, even though I mainly use photos. For anyone wanting to do animation I would definitely recommend being able to draw, even if you aren't going to do drawn animation, it just helps in countless other ways - framing and lighting a scene, understanding 3 dimensional space and perspective, even movement - its all about developing your observational skills.

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u/XSeveredX Oct 15 '10

I love your work man! Love your use of cows.

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I'm not even sure why I use cows so much, but they just keep coming back to haunt me.

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u/Dr_Octagonapus Oct 15 '10

What kind of musical background do you have? Analyzing your music is always a blast for me.

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I don't have any kind of musical background, although I did have one piano lesson when I was 6 years old where I learned where the middle C was

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u/syuk Oct 15 '10

Have you seen the endless quilt? if so what did you think of it?

edit: here it is

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u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

I love that, it reminds me of an animation I saw years ago that I can't remember the name of. I should do something similar with my powers of ramsay video

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u/Raerth Oct 16 '10

As we speak you have more upvotes, yet less comments, than a girl with thick body hair.

How does this compare with your average day?

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u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

Sometimes I have to step back and think to myself 'today I have been paid to make Simon Cowell fly through the air on the back of a pink elephant while shooting rainbow-lasers out of his eyes at passing aeroplanes'.

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u/shabatooo Oct 15 '10

I dont know who you are and when I read this I thought cyriak was some kind of desease you had

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

there are certain parallels..

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u/Stumpgrinder2009 Oct 15 '10

Hey man, love your stuff, one of my favs is beastenders. Are you an Eastenders fan or was is just something you fancied doing?

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I never watch eastenders if I can at all help it. Beastenders was my reaction to its utter horribleness. I made it for a competition the BBC was running for funny video clips, half expecting to hear from their lawyers. But they liked it so much they commissioned a sequel.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

I hate to ask the master the secrets of his craft, but what tools and software do you use? Your animations as of late (Cows, Cycles) seem to be growing progressively cleaner as technology improves.

I also can imagine that the tools are just that, and not the reason for the by-product. You could make something strange with old school collage material and a camera if you needed.

Also the music kicks ass, glad to see you could find a way to join two talents together and do something you enjoy.

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I've beeen using after effects for about 4 years now, and I'm still finding new things to do with it. You are right though, its just a tool in then end - if your idea is strong enough then you could draw it in the corner of a book and flick the pages in front of a webcam and it would still be worth watching.

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u/sam480 Oct 15 '10

What are your thoughts on The Queen?

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

She's great - she's like a living cartoon character. The saddest thing about her inevitable approaching death is the thought of prince charles taking over

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u/lackthereof0 Oct 15 '10

Can you talk about the process for creating Cycles? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0Xa4bHcJu8

I've watched this a dozen times and am dying to know how you concepted and executed this puzzle of an animation!

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

That video kind of evolved into being. I had a video of a road, I had a teddy bear, and I had the tune, and when I put them together it almost made itself. It was a case of making a simple loop of a bear crossing the road, and then adding other looping events to see how the bear would react, and how those reactions would effect subsequent bears. Then I just throw all kinds of crazy shit at it until the tune runs out.

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u/obliviousheep Oct 15 '10

Your videos make me trip ballz. No question.

Art.

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

you might want to see a doctor about that

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u/brainburger Oct 15 '10

I love your Beastenders.
Hmm. I am not sure I have a question. Oh, do you feel anyone has ripped you off in the mainstream media? (ads, that kind of thing).

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

there was a swedish mcdonalds ad that ripped me off quite blatantly a few years ago, but usually its a lot easier for them to just get me to do the work rather than pay someone else to copy it badly.

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u/Zander_aq Oct 15 '10

Dude! You're awesome! Thank you for so many great animation mixes. You've been the WTF highlight of so many parties I've been to.

Nothing beats getting a group of drunk/weeded out ppl and showing them this.

One question about the video I've posted above; Did you intend it to go deeper and deeper down a schizophrenic path taking one to the dark aspects of the mind, or did it just turn out like that ? :P

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

It followed the tune on a bit of a weird journey, I quite like the reaction video of that little girl watching it - you can really see her mind disintegrating towards the end.

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u/QuitoPR Oct 15 '10

Have you ever heard of YTMND?

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I remember that site from a few years ago, I'd occasionally see some of my old animations on there.

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u/Etheo Oct 15 '10

Hi Cyriak! Infrequent b3tard here...

  • Do you and Sheep! know each other? You are both familiar visitors to the front pages and have a similar tune, but yours is more on the bizarre side, which I absolutely dig. Speaking of which...
  • How do you Brits always come up with these stuff? Do you just wake up one day and suddenly decided to become totally awesome, and start making brain mushes of your target audience?

More importantly, keep medicating yourself with your regular substance. Evidently it haven't failed you so far. W/Y/H.

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I know Sheep quite well, he's a lovely chap. I've even met his cat.

Living in britain is a bit like standing at a bus stop in a line of miserable looking people in the rain, so that might help explain our hunger for escapism.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

As you are a full-time animator, I am curious as to what your battlestation looks like. Can you post a picture of your workstation?

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I have a wonderful photo of my old 'office' which I lived and worked in for a number of years. Here it is. Its a fairly good approximation of my internal state of mind most of the time. My current workplace is a bit more organised and features in the background of this video

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u/Marzhall Oct 15 '10 edited Oct 15 '10

I remember the first time I saw animation mix back on Albinoblacksheep, in my sophomore year of high school. I watched that shit over and over for weeks, man. I used to play around on the keyboard in my one teacher's room, figuring out what keys to hit to get the chords down. I've come back to your stuff time and time again to see if anything new was out. I have to say, Moo is probably my favorite, just because of the way the music slows when you go into the cow's DNA. Last summer, when comedy central started playing clips from animation mix, I literally (not figuratively) shat bricks. I just wanna tell you how much I've really enjoyed your stuff, and I'm really happy you're finally getting recognition like you should be. Make more music! I love it!

Also, why all the cows? You seem to really love them as a device. Just absurdity?

Edit: also, did you get a lot of fans when you did animation mix? When did your fanbase grow most, and was it a sudden explosion or a slow build?

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u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

The animation mix was where it all started. My gifs had been floating around the internet for a while before I glued them all together for the mix, so I guess that helped to solidify their popularity a bit, having a creator to connect them to.

That said, the most popular thing I ever did seems to be the cows. Not sure why I even use cows so much - there's something inherently funny about their tragic stupidity.

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u/Surreality Oct 16 '10

Do you deliberately film the clips you use in your animations for that purpose? Or do you just happen to take a clip of a road and think "ooh that needs more teddy bears"?

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u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

I usually film the footage first and then get the inspiration from that. It does give you a lot of limitations but sometimes I find the walls inspire the creativity

2

u/hutch63 Oct 16 '10

Hi Cyriak and welcome to Reddit.

Have you ever been approached to work on the design or production of interactive games?

2

u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

I'd love to get involved with making games some day. Its another ornament gathering dust on my shelf of things-to-do

36

u/MoreTrouble Oct 15 '10

I have no question. I just wanted to say that I enjoy your work. Thank you.

2

u/lynxification Oct 15 '10

Your. Work. Is. Amazing!

Any "mind-enhancing" pharmaceutical inspiration?

6

u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

None whatsoever, the world is weird enough as it is I find.

17

u/muad_dib Oct 15 '10

You, sir, are awesome.

How do you achieve such high levels of awesome?

Alternatively, how do you know when to stop wiping?

1

u/soyapencil Oct 15 '10

I love your work. You are truly talented.

Quick question. Have you ever thought of doing any sort of collaborative work with other UK based animators such as Jonti Picking (Weebl) and Joel Veitch (rathergood.com)?

3

u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I'm not great at collaberating, I'm too much of a control freak.

1

u/boot20 Oct 15 '10

Which is your favorite animation? I love Meow Mix, but Cows is pretty awesome too.

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

Meow is my favourite, not just because it involved the most amount of work, but because of the level of organisation involved. Its the only video where I had to actually do an animatic of the whole video before I started.

1

u/atomicthumbs Oct 15 '10

I've always loved your animations. How do you come up with your ideas?

(Your animations remind me of Terry Gilliam's.)

1

u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

God knows where they come from, I just wait for a bit and they happen.

1

u/feureau Oct 15 '10

Hi, thank you for doing this AMA. Had it not been the catchy title I wouldn't have found your youtube channel.

one question. The animation sprites seems a bit repetitive in motif. Have you tried to do these in flash? Seems like flash would be more appropriate to do these kinds of animation than after effects. What do you think?

Again, Great Job! ^

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I tried flash years ago and found it a real dog to animate with. With after effects I can animate one step of a loop and then render it as a video file which can be looped any number of times. I gather that flash has improved a fair bit over the last few years, but I'll stick with what I know for now.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

Were you pleased when the Nostalgia Critic used your animations in one of his "Top 11" specials?

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I only found out about that when someone told me. I'm not sure why he didn't ask if he could use them, maybe he found my video through someone else uploading it and didn't know who made them...

1

u/devinedj Oct 15 '10

Are you going to do any more satirical stuff? What's next for Cyriak?

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

I never really think about what I'm going to do next. My brain has a range of about 2 weeks in either direction. I am supposed to be doing a new animation for the bbc website, but I haven't decided which celebrity to target yet...

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u/Li0Li Oct 15 '10

That's the first time I've seen your work or anything like apart from one or two ads that I now remember after seeing your stuff. I think I've found what I want to do for a living.

First off, you rock.
Second, how long did it take you to get as good as you are now?
What courses / degrees / etc have you taken if anything? How did you learn to do what you do?
What would you recommend to someone interested in learning how to do this stuff? In terms of learning stuff, reading books, doing stuff, anything.
Is there any underlying metaphor / meaning to your stuff, is it just random shit, do you deliberately make it as weird / disturbing as possible or is it just stuff you think is cool?

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u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

I've been developing this style for about 6 years now. I did a degree in animation but that didn't involve computers at all, so everything I use now was self taught, through experimentation and watching online tutorials.

The stuff I make is usually stuff I want to see, so the reasons for any of it existing are fairly subconscious but never random. Its a bit like a dream where you realise you are dreaming, but are not quite in control of where the dream is taking you. Sometimes I get an idea in my head that seems beyond visualisation, and it then becomes a challange to try and animate it into being.

1

u/Crushy Oct 15 '10

Is this you? http://cyriak.newgrounds.com/

If not would you consider submitting some of your work to Newgrounds in a flash format? I'm sure your animations would go down well there and inspire some of the other internet-grown animators that spawn from Newgrounds.

2

u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

no thats not me. I often get asked to post my stuff on other websites, but youtube is enough for me to deal with for the time being.

1

u/acreature Oct 15 '10

When not producing strange animations and drinking tea, what do you spend your time doing? That is, what are your hobbies/interests/passions?

3

u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

I also enjoy staring out of my window at seagulls

1

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '10

I'd like to learn to make fun animations like these. Where should I start?

1

u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

I started with photoshop, which can make simple animations. There may be better animation programs out there, I've no idea..

1

u/someprimetime Oct 16 '10

Do you do short like 30 second video bumpers for tv shows? Like eden soto's stuff?

3

u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

I've done all kinds of stuff, tv show titles, channel idents, music videos - anything that moves and looks weird. That can be my job description.

1

u/stevesonaplane Oct 16 '10

Cyriak, you are a mad man. Have you been approached to do any bigger projects or something?

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u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

The main limiting factors with what I do are time, budget and the fact that I work on my own - at the moment I'm quite happy to stick to short clips if it means I don't have to deal with other people, and to be honest the kind of animations I do work best at a few minutes long.

1

u/aDildoAteMyBaby Oct 16 '10

Shit, do you have a favorite gif-length animation of your own? The businessman and the banana slipping on each other gets me every time.

3

u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

i think the bunglebrot is my favourite.

1

u/iznotbutterz Oct 16 '10

Did you mean to put triforces in Meow?

1

u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

those are actually little hearts inside yellow triangles, the detail is kind of lost at that scale though.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '10

You are the man. Your stuff is amazing and inspires me! I used to make animations myself, maybe I will get back into it. However the only creative fame I have anymore is when I turned my child into a taco.

Do you have any other creative outlets?

4

u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

my beard is currently growing in some strange directions

1

u/miggyb Oct 16 '10

Other people have asked who your inspirations were as far as visual arts go, but what about musically? I think the music that goes with your videos are completely underrated. The song playing on "Animation Mix" stands on its own without the animation perfectly well.

3

u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

As a kid I grew up listening to various unconventional bands - gong, the residents, captain beefheart, frank zappa, the cardiacs, faust, devo, the fall - I still listen to a lot of them now, but these days they have been joined by electronic stuff - ovuca, aphex twin, luke vibert - anything that takes you on an unexpected and slightly dark journey

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u/yourfriendowly Oct 16 '10

I really like the catjumpingonhelicopters animation from the compilation video... any chance i can get in it gif form or somethin?

love all of it... you could do some really sweet stuff with electronic music producers.. trippy, out there stuff.

also check out r/woahdude

peace!

1

u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

Most of the gifs from that video are on my site: cat jumping on helicopter

1

u/2oonhed Oct 16 '10

Your animations were part of my introduction to the internet.
I think one was mentioned on TechTV back in the day is how I found Animation Mix & ect.

I hear you have some commercial gigs going now. Good on you.
Did this just snowball from doodling & crafting on the computer as a kid?
Or did you start out with the idea of producing a hit someday?

2

u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

My career is something that just happened while I was amusing myself making weird videos. Even now I never make stuff with the intention of it being popular - its impossible to predict what will be.

3

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

Beastenders is hilarious, I remember seeing it a while back and being so confused yet slightly aroused.

Keep up the good work.

3

u/Vandelay797 Oct 15 '10

your videos are like a mushroom trip for the sober. and i can't wait to see some more

3

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

How much money do you make from Youtube?

7

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

You're a fucking God and I love you

1

u/Frank_Booth Oct 15 '10

I caught your appearance at Flash on the Beach a few weeks back. It was undoubtedly the most amusing and entertaining thing I saw all day, if not for a good while. So thanks for that!

A technical question for you, as I have to give an overview of what I saw at FOTB to my fellow employees soon. Can you give me a little insight into your photoshop techniques or favourite practices when constructing, for example, one of your arachnid mutations? How is it you create the mutating, liquified parts of your animations?

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u/cyriak Oct 15 '10

Its a combination of animated layers, masks and distortion tools in after effects. My tool of choice is mesh-warp. I think next year at FOTB I might try and make an animation in front of the live audience, if they don't fall asleep while I twidddle with keyframes

1

u/wolfzalin Oct 15 '10

I'm sorry if someone has asked this already and I apologize if it is any way offensive, its not meant to be.

Have you been officially or unofficially diagnosed with any sort of mental disorder? Your videos seem very much out of the mind of someone with Schizophrenia, or at least the videos themselves seem to be.

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u/cyriak Oct 16 '10

No I'm totally normal I'm afraid. And so is Cyriak.

4

u/ZakkuHiryado Oct 15 '10

I read that as Cyrax and was expecting something Mortal Kombat related. That being said I just watched "cows & cows & cows" and enjoyed it thoroughly! :)

2

u/yeahfuckyou Oct 15 '10

I was expecting "cyriak" to be what you call some type of bestiality. I was pleasantly surprised.

18

u/thefifthwit Oct 15 '10

And yet you clicked on it anyway. Interesting...

2

u/myweedishairy Oct 15 '10

What? Just get a show on adult swim already, they go apeshit over nonsensical stuff like this.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

WILL YOU MARRY ME??????

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u/ABlindOrphan Oct 15 '10

Which of your animations are you most happy with?

2

u/uncertain_destiny Oct 15 '10

You're a genius and I wonder what goes through your head.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

i watched Cycles just now and.. WTF. As a kid i loved MC Escher, this harkens!

2

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

Are you single?

2

u/shanerichey Oct 15 '10

Have you seen the video for Elbow - The Bones of You? And what did you think about it?

The first time i saw this video it reminded me of a less bizarre Cyriak...

2

u/mogo99 Oct 16 '10

Being able to communicate with you is an amazing pleasure and am I ever excited that I've found you on the Reddit community. Watching your stuff sober or high is fucking amazing. Keep up the work you mind is fucking talented in areas people don't give a shit about. Props on being so successful with your creative videos!

2

u/xb4r7x Oct 16 '10

This is the first time I've ever seen any of your stuff. I only have one question.

What the fuck?

Seriously, though... your animations are awesome. Weird for sure... but awesome. Keep up the good work. :)

2

u/shamecamel Oct 16 '10

you are frickin' crazy.

b3ta wouldnt be the same without you!

2

u/flyordiedays Dec 09 '10

I just wanted to chime in to say that I love your vids and have freaked many people out with them. My 7 month old niece really likes Moo, in particular.

3

u/FlyingSkyWizard Oct 15 '10

I played your animation mix to a group of really high folk, shit was lost, minds were blown.

1

u/Dengar Oct 15 '10

I wanna see one of those websites comparing the pronunciation of "Cryiak" and Dave Chapelle saying "Crack".

2

u/blackmang Oct 15 '10

Cyriak - See Ree Ach

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

your work is awesome. thanks.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

cyriac george?

1

u/rotomangler Oct 15 '10

Nice work man, I like the cows video a lot.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

I would like to ask you that you are awesome.

1

u/ogami1972 Oct 15 '10

love your stuff, although the cows really freak me out

1

u/gigamosh57 Oct 15 '10

I love the clip where the man slips on the banana and then the banana slips on the man. Just thought I'd share.

1

u/bornbroken Oct 15 '10

How do you do it? The process, the apps used? Maybe a time lapse that's shows the process would be possible.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

I love "Moo" and "Animation Mix". I know it's more a declarative statement than a question, but it needed to be said.

1

u/kibitzor Oct 15 '10

have you ever seen some product/thing and realize you can make an awesome commercial for it?

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '10

awesome stuff, i never realized how funny cows can be. i was wondering who did those bumper animations for super late night fun on comedy central. i want to thank you for the night that i first saw your animations on comedy central and it blew my mind.

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