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Some artists inspire you through a single finished work. Others change the way you understand creativity altogether. Isaac Nease—known creatively as _rkyves—has always been the latter for me.
Isaac and I have been close friends since high school, but describing him only as a friend would leave out one of the most important parts of our relationship: he is also one of the artists who made me want to create more fearlessly. Knowing him has continually reminded me that art does not have to remain confined to one format, one discipline, or one definition. An idea can become an illustration, an animation, a photograph, a piece of music, a film, or something that does not have a name yet. What matters is having the curiosity to follow it.
There is something rare about watching someone close to you develop a creative language of their own. You do not only encounter the finished work—you witness the searching, the experimentation, the abandoned ideas, the unexpected breakthroughs, and all the quiet decisions that happen before anything is ready to be shown. Through Isaac, I learned to appreciate that part of the process just as much as the final result.
His work has encouraged me to look beyond the limits of whatever medium I happen to be working in. It made me stop asking what kind of artist I was supposed to be and begin asking what each idea could become. That influence has followed me through everything I create. Whether I am designing, writing, building a world, directing an image, or exploring an entirely unfamiliar medium, some part of that curiosity can be traced back to the artists who made creative freedom feel possible. Isaac is one of those artists.
That spirit is present in “The Deep End,” an unfinished animation from 2025.
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The word unfinished can sometimes sound like an apology, as though an incomplete work is less deserving of attention. In reality, unfinished art can reveal something a polished final piece often conceals. It allows us to see an artist in motion—testing an idea, discovering its rhythm, and building a world before every edge has been refined. The uncertainty remains visible, and that visibility gives the work its own kind of honesty.
Animation makes that process especially intimate. Every moment has to be constructed. Movement must be imagined before it can be seen, and time itself becomes part of the material. Even in an unfinished state, an animation can contain intention, atmosphere, personality, and possibility. It can show us where an artist was going while preserving the traces of how they were attempting to get there.
That is what makes The Deep End worth sharing. It does not need to pretend to be complete in order to communicate Isaac’s talent. Its unfinished state is part of its significance—a record of an idea being pursued and evidence of a creative mind refusing to remain still.
This feature is not simply about presenting one animation. It is about recognizing the person behind it and giving appreciation while that person is still creating, experimenting, and becoming. Too often, artists receive their flowers only after the world has decided their work is important. The people closest to them already know.
I have had the privilege of knowing Isaac beyond the work. I have seen the imagination, instinct, and genuine creative ability that exist behind the name _rkyves. More importantly, I have felt the effect of that creativity on my own life. His talent has pushed me to explore art in all of its forms and to trust that an artist never has to remain inside one category.
The Deep End may be unfinished, but Isaac’s influence on me is already permanent.
This is my appreciation for a close friend, an extraordinary artist, and someone whose work deserves to be seen—not only for what it is today, but for everything it suggests is still to come.