This Guy Created the 5-Minute Mind-Altering, Virtual-Reality World for Squarepusher

“Unpredictable” is the one consistent characteristic that can be ascribed to electronic music’s resident oddball, Squarepusher. Not only does his music do weird things, but his videos do even weirder things. For his IKEA-like-titled track “Stor Eiglass”—whose melody line is a twitchy, digital version of the Cure’s “Just Like Heaven”—taken from his latest album, Damogen Furies, Squarepusher goes next-level for the video.

The collaborative work of Marshmallow Laser Feast (who specializes in creating interactive environments), Blue Zoo animation studio, and illustrator Rob Pybus, “Stor Eiglass” is set in a virtual reality world. The mind-altering five minutes of “Stor Eiglass” is viewable in a number of immersive ways. Most VR is via Android/Google Cardboard or iOS. But with YouTube 360º via Google Chrome, using the W/A/S/D keys to make perspective changes, it’s the next best thing to transport you to the candy-colored fantasyland of “Stor Eiglass,” which is both futuristic and familiar. Though Pybus is no stranger to GIFs and 2D animation, “Stor Eiglass” is the first time he has had his work come to life in this fashion.

“It’s important to progress with your artwork but not lose its voice.”

A graduate of Brighton University with a degree in illustration, the London, UK-based Pybus, who has been working in a freelance capacity for the last four years, has a distinct style. Initial glances at his more recent bright and saturated illustrations might induce uncontrollable watering of the eyes. Once this streaming stops, there is so much to look at and discover. Brimming with detail, Pybus’ engaging work is reminiscent of illustrations in children’s books— geared toward stimulating the mind and sparking imagination—while also embedded with layered sophistication.

You post some wonderful hand-drawn sketches on your social networks. Do most of your illustrations start this way?
My illustrations usually start off as sketch on paper. Using a pen can be tricky to get the same width of an outline of a character. With a pen or brush, there’s a chance it’ll look a bit messy. While sometimes this is good, for most of my final pieces I like a consistent line thickness. By using Adobe Illustrator, you can achieve this easily. And I use Photoshop to color it.

There is a color palette change from your older illustrations, which were in pastel hues, to your more recent ones, which are bright and saturated. Why the shift?
That shift was just a natural progression in my approach. I like to try something a little different for every piece I do. I was trying to be as bold as possible with my images, and strong color is an obvious route. Over time, the colors became more and more saturated. [But] oversaturation has to be done in the right measure.

Who are some of the artists that have influenced your style?
I liked a lot of the Usborne books illustrated by Brenda Haw, Aubrey Beardsley, Heinz Edelmann from Beatles Yellow Submarine fame. I’m a big fan of Jean Girard Moebius.

What type of commissions do you prefer?
A good commission is a client that is confident in using me. That means they either trust me and give me a good amount of creative freedom, or give me a set task and know that I can do it.

You have a diverse cross-section of clients, from stiff and stuffy to dynamic and progressive. What kind of direction do you get from say, the German finance magazine Bilanz?
They were really lovely and very helpful. I was given a written brief, which was to explore a city of the future. They referenced a previous piece I did, so I knew the kind of route to take. My initial sketch wasn’t quite right, so we had a phone conversation, and thereafter it was a dream to do—very responsive client and super friendly.

Even with the wide range of clients and topics, your style still comes through.
It’s great to hear there’s a consistency in my work. It’s important to progress with your artwork but not lose its voice.

You did some spraying and murals recently. That’s not something you normally do, is it?
It was an attempt at something different. It was really fun, and I’d love to do some more. I’m doing a piece in London in a few weeks on some windows, which will have the same approach. It’s a business called Unit 9 in Hoxton Square. It’s a different artist each month. I’ll be using special chunky marker pens for the window. I like the challenge. I may use a projector in some areas to make sure the image will look good. The aim is to animate it once it’s finished, so it’ll have to be neat. In a similar way to the mural I did in Spain, I will draw out the individual frames, then photograph it once it’s done. Then I’ll animate those photos in a sequence and make a little GIF out of it. It’s a bit of a novelty, but it adds a new layer to people looking at the piece. They could look at a link and see it come to life. Immortal GIF.

Why did you start with GIFs?
Animation was something I’ve always been into. Also, the nature of editorial jobs these days, they often ask for an animated version of the illustration for their online content or iPad version. It’s a great way to develop your drawing to have more narrative and humor.

Is “GIF-ing” turning into something where you constantly have to keep it in mind when creating your illustrations?
Before I start the piece, there’s the knowledge of whether it’ll become a GIF or not, so I work to the desired result. I love making GIFs, so even if I had finished a piece and a client wanted it moving, I’d be happy to make it so.

You’ve gotten into 2D animation as well. That wasn’t part of your degree, was it?
I taught myself while I was studying at Brighton. They had a very old “line tester” animation machine, which was great to get stuck in, simply and crudely. I have gotten into 2D animation in a few ways. It’s very time-consuming, and as I have quite an appetite for finished pieces, it’s hard to stay focused on a longer animation. The need to be clever with time and not too ambitious is the key. My work has quite a few layers to it, so it can be quite hard to animate. Once it’s done, though, the results are always more satisfying than a static piece.

You’ve used 2D animation to create a comedy skit where you interact with your animated illustrations, which is hilarious.
The idea came about from wanting to do stand-up but bring something new to it. I find stand-up a formula that’s quite flat. Nothing wrong with just speaking into a microphone, but doing this made things more of an experience for the audience. I love stupid stories and saw this as a way of forcefully bringing them into people’s lives. Using a projector, which I leave running at the back of the room, can be a way to transport the audience.

It’s very silly and slapstick, but it was a great way to explore animation as a live medium for comedy. The making of the animation took a while, but at the same time it’s quite rushed—which adds to the comedy. The script doesn’t exist, and the video was the first time I’d rehearsed it; that’s why it’s a bit all over the place. I started it in a simpler form while doing another set that was more like a presentation. Part of the presentation had a moving backdrop, which I walked alongside to give the impression of moving. I then explored the idea further, and it got more fun and complex, like a piece of theatre. I performed it at a few clubs and then took it to the Edinburgh Comedy festival last year, performed it everyday for over three weeks.

The Squarepusher “Stor Eiglass” is very much a 3D animation experience.
That project was a lot of fun. It took six weeks from start to finish. There was a lot of room for creative freedom and humor. I led the way with the narrative and solidifying the overall concept. Robin McNicholas was the other director involved. We chatted with Tom Jenkinson (Squarepusher) for a good length to get a firm idea of what direction we should take. He was clear: He always has a narrative and a sense of movement intertwined with his music. Doing a VR journey was going to echo this sentiment well. We all agreed it would be good to highlight the ludicrousness of new forms of technology and how we could use VR to mock the actual medium—but in doing so, we in turn validated the medium as something positive to support creativity. It was a funny circle.

Even watching it on regular YouTube without using the keys is pretty exciting.
It’s a bit of a bane with the project, to be honest. It’s a fun 360 video in itself, but it is so different in VR mode. It’s tricky, though, as the tools for viewing aren’t readily available. The experience gets across the narrative better. You are a person being taken through various layers of reality. This still comes across in a 2D video; it just loses some of the intense nature of the VR version.

What are some of your favorite pieces?

Jacobin Magazine Spring 2014 Issue (front cover and inside feature)

This piece was great fun, and I was really happy with the way the colors came out.

The New York Times (editorial on the need for architecture to connect with the general public)

This one only took an hour or so, which is quicker than usual. The turnaround was super tight, so it was so satisfying.

New Republic Magazine (“Letters From an American Farmer and Other Essays” editorial)

This job was really nice to do. The subject mater was interesting, and I was really happy with the end result—as were the guys at the New Republic.

Guardian Review (cover)

This was another super tight turnaround. Working for a good newspaper felt really humbling. To go to the local news agents and see your work printed big is a rewarding feeling.

Guestbook Magazine (fold-out cover)

The end result for this one was a fold-out magazine, which looked really smart. When I got my copy through the post, I was really happy with how they made it. A super fun job, as it was longer than most editorials.

The Squarepusher job was endless fun, really nice to work collaboratively with so many nice people, and I learned a lot about the importance of a narrative.

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