We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Noah Herschel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Noah below.

Noah, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I would say that all of my animations and songs mean something to me! When it comes to my most meaningful projects, two specific animations have a special place in my heart, the first Lonely Heart Guy animation was my first full-fledged animated sketch and establishes the “cinematic universe” for most of my animations. Creating original music is also an essential part of my animations and this was the first sketch where I put a lot of work into creating a dynamic soundtrack that fit the vibe of the animation. I came up with the Lonely Heart Guy character on Valentine’s Day of 2021, I was feeling depressed and lonely then since I didn’t have anyone to be with, so I made a character that was an exaggerated representation of these feelings. The other animation that is also very special to me is my senior thesis film, Mr. Entropy, The Angel Of Chaos, this is my longest work so far and ties a lot of my animations together while also building an overarching story, it is also a pure distillation of my surrealist, experimental style that is prevalent in my work. I had some amazing people help me bring this project to life, the collaborative aspect makes it even more special to me.

Noah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am Noah Herschel and I post stuff under the pseudonym intrika or intrika-z! I’m an animator and musician from St. Louis, Missouri! For as long as I have been able to form memories, I have always loved animation as well as making things. In elementary school, I started using very rudimentary programs to create animations, eventually working up to more advanced software as my animation skills improved. I try to go for a dreamy, surrealist vibe whenever I create animations. My goal is to have the viewer feel like they’re having an experience. If a person watches my animations and goes, “I don’t know what the f*ck I just watched, but I liked it”, then I am happy. I like incorporating different styles, such as 2D, 3D, and stop-motion. Though some of my animations more or less stick with a certain style, most of my animations have mixed media elements. Mixing different styles makes the animation process much more fun for me, it also allows me to continually grab the viewer’s attention since they won’t know what to expect. I’m always learning and incorporating new animation techniques, so my style is continually evolving. Music is also important to me, my dad was a notable local drummer so I was regularly exposed to the music creation process. Music also plays a big role in my work, I always try to create original soundtracks that add to the atmosphere and mood of the animation, it’s fun for me to put all these different elements together, sort of like a puzzle. My love for making music and animating go hand in hand, when I make a new song, I have visuals in my head of what I think would go well with the music, and when I animate something, I hear a soundtrack in my head. When it comes to thinking of new ideas, I always have a bunch of nonsensical thoughts/narratives happening in my head, so I try to distill some of that into animation. My animations are my way of expressing myself and what is happening in my mind.

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

The main driving force behind my creative journey is a love for what I do. My work doesn’t get too much exposure and I don’t make money for what I upload on YouTube yet, but when the people who do see it tell me they enjoy it, that gives me a huge sense of fulfillment. Not only that but I also enjoy doing the work to make my animations come to life. No matter what, I will still do what I do since it makes me happy, I just hope to bring that same enjoyment to those who happen to stumble upon my work!

Have you ever had to pivot?

I originally went to college for Computer Science, I have always loved computers and since middle school, I loved programming! Most of the time I would program games but I also just enjoyed the problem-solving that came with programming. I started gearing myself towards a future in programming, when I entered college I was majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Animation. I found myself really enjoying my animation classes, while I found the programming classes interesting, the multitude and complexity of the assignments started getting daunting. During the second semester of my freshman year, Covid happened and everything was online, it got to a point where I was getting way too stressed with trying to keep up with lessons and assignments over Zoom, so I switched my major to animation since I was still having a lot of fun with that. I felt much more at home in the animation program and I ended up graduating with my degree in animation this last spring. That said, I still do some coding, and in fact, I have implemented creative coding in some of my animations and I do hope to continue learning programming. Sometimes you just have to walk through whatever door life opens up for you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.intrika-z.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intrika_z/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@NoahHerschel