Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jimmy Taylor. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Jimmy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
The biggest risk I’ve made in my life would have to be moving to Los Angeles in 2022. I was born, and raised in Cleveland Ohio, all my family, and most of my friends reside there, it’s also where I went to college. I’d never lived anywhere else so packing it up to have my first out of state move be on the other side of the country was very daunting. Fortunately I was able to do this journey with two of my best friends/colleagues, and was able to secure a new job in California before arrival so that certainly made it a smoother transition.
I’m a background designer, and illustrator, and I wanted to give my growing career the best opportunity to flourish as much as I possibly could. Since Burbank, California is known as the animation industry capital of the world to me the move felt essential. It’s definitely been a rollercoaster but in my two years out here I’ve gotten to do a slew of freelance work animation work for Disney TV, some boutique animation studios, and an animated comedy short for talented comedian Niles Abston for his comedy special Household Name, and I’m really grateful for those opportunities.
Jimmy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m a Background Designer, and Illustrator with a strong enjoyment in storytelling, I grew up in Cleveland Ohio and developed a passion for animation, and cartoons when I was 10 and would make cartoon comic strips, and characters after school. Years later I attended the Cleveland Institute of Art where I majored in animation where I got my Bachelors Degree.
These days I’m an artist with 4 years of creative work experience who loves to create artwork that tells great stories. I create backgrounds, prompts, and promotional illustration work for animated, and illustration projects.
I’d say I’m most proud of my willingness to learn and grow, as an artist. I think it’s very important to stay having a student mindset in a creative field, especially as technology, and talent are aways evolving, it’s also just great to have an ever growing dialogue with the kind of work you want to do as you get older, and change as person.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
The goals for me right now in animation, are to work in television as a background artist, and jump to feature one day as a lead environment artist. Alongside those pursuits I’m creating an online print shop, and creating webcomics.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
There’s a lot of great online art resources I wish I would’ve known about when I was in college. Chris Oatley tips, Trent Kaniuga, and Bobby Chiu’s Schoolism courses are just a few to name. I learned a lot from the tutorials those artist provided, and it’s really just a thing of how much better could I have been if I would’ve uncovered and sunk my teeth into these resources at an earlier time frame, but better late than never.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jimmytaylordraws.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jimbotheartist/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmy-taylor-99b9abb9/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jimbotheartist
- Other: https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/spitter-man/list?title_no=967872
https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/jimbotheartist/
