We recently connected with Cyle Williamson and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Cyle, thanks for joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

Oh, yeah! I would definitely say that I’m happy as an artist. The regular job question is funny to me because it’s something I think about now and then, but the thought usually revolves around money and how I could probably be making more of it if I just had a regular job, haha. Then I remember my last regular job, job type job, how it was very soul sucking to me and over time I ended up mentally disconnected from it.

While I was working there I’d find myself looking at artists in the film / makeup fx industry, I’d see their work and think to myself, if they can do this for a living I know I can too.

Once I shifted my mindset to “I want to be an artist for a living” things started to change. I began a personal project, a short film, it incorporated all the things I wanted to do professionally and by the time that was completed, a fork in the road presented itself to me. On one path at my regular job, the team I was on suddenly dissolved and everything I had learned and mastered for the past four years was useless and I was going to have to start over in the company. I decided to take a week off and think about what I wanted to do with my life at that time. Within that same week the other path presented itself, a special effects studio in Chicago contacted me as they were looking for help on a TV show. I quit my regular job and accepted the offer at the studio, that was the last time I had a regular job and that was ten years ago.

I’m very grateful to get to work as an artist for a living and I hope to continue to do so.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Cyle Williamson, that’s Kyle with a C, I’m based out of Chicago, IL (willing to travel) and I got into this industry because I always knew I wanted to make films. When I was seventeen I started thinking about how I’d get my foot in the door of the film world, I was reading an issue of Fangoria magazine (a horror movie magazine for those that don’t know) and I saw an advertisement for a special effects makeup program. At that time I had only dabbled in the very basics of makeup effects with latex, fake blood, and cheap Halloween prosthetics, but my favorite films and the type of films I want to make all have practical effects in them and it got me thinking. I realized I should learn how to do this type of work because then I would understand how to execute the effects, know the processes of every stage, learn shortcuts, figure out how to cut costs, and among other things I could put my artistic talents to use. Even then I knew it wasn’t one of the typical film crew jobs, so it naturally stands out, you don’t see the sound guy bringing blood and severed heads to set.

I ended up going to the special effects makeup program I saw advertised in Fangoria magazine, it was a wild sixteen month speed course of the basic foundations of SFX makeup. This was about sixteen years ago and everything I learned in that course you can now learn on YouTube for free, haha. We were taught everything from hair work, anatomy, animatronics, makeup, wounds, sculpting, lifecasting, mold making, and how to fabricate and apply prosthetic appliances. It was a great time being surrounded by other artists who shared the same interests and became lifelong friends along the way. I found the training very beneficial so for me it was well worth it and I probably wouldn’t be doing this for a living if I didn’t go there.

Unfortunately, for me, not all films require special effects makeup but when they do that’s when a production reaches out. It could be for something as simple as a gunshot wound or a complex full creature makeup, every production is different. I come in to help achieve the vision of what the director wants and what the film needs in order to sell the effect to the audience. In my experience a lot of productions are unfamiliar with the SFX process, so we work together on how we’re going to film it so they better understand any limitations and that everyone is on the same page to best achieve the effect.

New techniques and materials are constantly invented and there’s never just one way to get a job done or skin a cat as the saying goes. I’m always learning something new on every project, but at the end of the day all that really matters is what’s captured on camera.

I think what sets me apart from others, at least on a film set, is that I show up with the stuff that grosses people out or with things they’re intrigued by. Everyone wants to play with the severed limbs or poke at the wounds so it’s a lot like Halloween in that way which is really fun.

It’s always a compliment to the work when the crew or an audience member is fascinated / grossed out by something or when they close their eyes or cheer after an effect goes off, I’m proud of those moments.

I think the main thing I’d want anyone to know about special effects makeup work is that it’s very time consuming and a lot of hard work goes into it. Most of the time the work shows up on set ready to go, no one sees the time spent creating it and I think that’s one thing a lot of people don’t realize. There’s a whole process to getting things done, anyone who does this kind of work knows exactly what I’m talking about.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me it’s two things, the first is getting to collaborate with other creative individuals. If the project you’re working on is cool that’s an added bonus, but meeting new people that you click with usually leads to a much better time and to another project in the future where you get to collaborate together again. This type of work should be fun, if it’s not fun then why are we doing it? I just want to make cool shit with cool people for the rest of my life.

The second is getting to create something from nothing. First the idea lives in your mind, then you bring it out into the physical world, and once it’s completed it’s a real tangible thing. That’s a very rewarding feeling to bring something into existence that was only a thought. If the thing you created then resonates with others, that’s even better.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

The goal has always been the same, it’s the whole reason I learned practical special effects and that is to make films. I’ve worked on plenty at this point and it’s the best film school possible, you get to learn the different departments and you get to see what works and what doesn’t work. It is the next step forward for me and I can’t wait to apply everything I’ve learned so far.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cylewilliamson/?hl=en
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@cylewilliamson5388
• Other: Email: [email protected]