After living in New York for more than four years, Nathan Pyle has acquired quite a bit of knowledge about how to live and work in the city. So in his spare time between freelance gigs, the TV producer and illustrator created a series of animated tips for New York City living.
The NYC advice and etiquette rules range from the obvious ("underground cell service is mostly nonexistent") to the practical ("one $20 umbrella will outlast four $5 umbrellas").
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Speaking to The Huffington Post, Pyle explained that he wanted to create a way to disseminate helpful information about the common experiences New Yorkers share every day. "Making a simple GIF is one of the best ways to get information out on the Internet," Pyle told HuffPost, adding that he hopes the animated tips appeal to New Yorkers or people who have just moved to the city.
The freelance illustrator, who came to the Big Apple from the suburbs of Ohio, has received thousands of comments about his GIFs on Reddit and is thrilled that people could be helped by his illustrations.
Several people have already written to Pyle in solidarity, saying they have experienced the broken-glasses scam scenario Pyle lays out in one of his GIFs. He says he experienced the scam firsthand when, walking through the Greenwich Village neighborhood in Manhattan, he was bumped by another pedestrian who had swerved right into his path. The scammer dropped a pair of glasses after the body-to-body collision and demanded Pyle pay to fix the damaged specs. "It was clearly very fishy from the get-go," Pyle explained, adding that he didn't fall for the ploy and refused to pay up.
Pyle debuted 13 of the GIFs -- animated using Adobe After Effects -- on his blog Monday. He said he has hundreds of other ideas written down and plans to create an illustrated etiquette book, which would give him the chance to write more about his personal experiences.
Check out several of "NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette" in the gallery below, and click over to Pyle's website to see all the animated tips. Pyle can be reached at nathanwpyle@gmail.com.
