Autism Awareness Month: Interview with Cy from Cypopps
In our series of interviews for Autism Awareness Month, I have had the privilege to speak with other autistic people who have worked within the animation industry and neurotypical individuals who have written and created short films and television shows featuring characters on the spectrum. For this year, we are joined by two YouTube animators to discuss their careers on the platform, sharing their experiences as autistic content creators, and how their audiences have reacted to their work since both came out on the spectrum. (You can read our interview with Ilyssa from Illymation here.)
Cy started her YouTube channel, Cypopps, nearly four years ago and turned her childhood and adult stories into short animated videos, some of which have focussed on her autistic experiences and have become popular among her fans. Taking the time to join us and answer our questions, Cy shares with us her journey into animation, collaborations with other content creators on the spectrum, and what her audience can expect to see on Cypopps later this year.
Cy Shocked. Image supplied by Cypopps.
How did you start your career in animation and what made you interested in becoming a YouTube animator?
As a kid on the spectrum, I always loved animated media because it was easier for me to understand. I could not read the facial expressions of the people in live action TV shows, but cartoon characters had exaggerated emotions that made sense to me, and I connected with them. This led me to making my own original characters, stories, and worlds. I always dreamed of creating an animated TV show.
As I grew up, I tried to think more practically, more “realistically,” and I strayed away from art and animation for a while. During the pandemic, life paused and I was able to really think about my direction, and I realized I still wanted to do art deep down. I have also been drawing comics since I was a kid, and I decided that would be how I’d get back into art, which felt scary because I’d been away from it for so long at that point. I decided to talk about my autistic experiences through comics as I retrained my hand to draw and grew new skills at social media and connecting with people. And to my surprise, these comics were very successful online, and some were even published in the comic anthology Sensory: Life on the Spectrum.
The success of my comics really gave me the confidence boost I needed to create animations. While I still have more comics planned down the road, it is not unheard of that a webcomic creator will transition to YouTube animator, so it felt like a natural progression to me. Which lead me to today, eighteen videos later, an animation YouTuber with close to eight hundred thousand views. I consider myself to be very early in my animation journey, and I can’t wait to see how I continue to evolve in the years to come.
Since you came out to your audience as autistic a year ago in your video, I’m Autistic, And Here’s How People React To My Autism, it has been your most popular video to date on your YouTube Channel. What was it like to have a successful video on this subject and how has that impacted your following videos?
Oh yeah, that video is definitely my biggest, I think last I checked it was like at one third of a million views. I can’t even imagine that many people in a room, and it’s like… all of these people heard what I had to say about autism? That is just crazy to me.
It’s amazing to have other autistic people and supporters of autistic people interacting with my channel as a result of the video, so I am super grateful that people have really attached to it the way that they did! It feels like people really connected to the video based on the majority of the comments, and I appreciate that so much!
On the other hand, there can sometimes be pressure to make only autism content because of the demand, and I try not to give into that pressure to make all of my art about autism. I have a lot of other concepts to tell stories about!
Cy In Class. Image supplied by Cy Popps.
In your four years of content creation on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, what has the reaction been like from the audiences when they see a clip from your autistic videos or read one of your comics?
Most people react really well and are super complementary if they have something to say about it! A lot of people have told me that they relate to my depictions of autism in my art. Or they experience something similar to me, but in their own different way.
A lot of the time, people will start telling their own stories about their autistic experiences in the YouTube comments, which I often enjoy reading. People seem to connect most to the YouTube videos I think because they are longer and give more context. It’s hard to get the full picture of someone’s life or experience from a nine second TikTok, you know?
If I ever experience some negative audience reactions, I just consider it a blessing in disguise. I’ve learned this means my art has reached outside of my bubble. The algorithms of social media are an echo chamber, and if my video has broken free of my echo chamber, that means I’m reaching new people. So I have to just appreciate everything that comes with that.
You have collaborated with other autistic content creators like Alienated Anna and Bex Ollerton. What was it like to work with other artists on these different projects? Are there any other animators you would like to work with next?
It’s always amazing to work with other artists! Both Bex Ollerton and Alienated Anna are super kind and talented artists in their mediums!
It’s great to collaborate with other autistic artists because you might have some of the same difficulties and understand each other because of that. For example, I usually prefer to collaborate with people over messaging, rather than calling or video. It gives me time to think through my thoughts and respond, and I don’t have to read expressions or remember to look at faces. I’ve found that a lot of other autistic artists seem to prefer messaging as well. While I am trying to get better at other forms of communication, it’s nice to not necessarily have the pressure to have to do that.
I don’t really have a running list of animators I want to work with… it just seems to happen pretty naturally and organically. I would love to talk with the animator Illymation. She seems pretty cool.
Will you continue to make animations that tell more of your autistic stories? And what can fans expect this year?
People who watch my channel can expect more autistic stories this year! I have a new animation out on YouTube and it is the story of how I came to receive my diagnosis, viewed through the lens of everyone thinking I was just really shy.
Fans can also keep on the lookout for some experimentation on my channel in the later half of the year. I want to try out some different formats and maybe even some new characters.
You can watch Cy’s videos on the Cypopps YouTube channel and follow her on TikTok, Instagram and X.