We were lucky to catch up with Maurice Taylor recently and have shared our conversation below.
Maurice, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
I believe choosing animation in college is when I first chose the artistic path professionally. Because that choice caused me a bunch of money! But thats a different story for a different day.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
When did i first know…I think it was just always in me. My entire family is in someway artistic. My grandfather was a drafter/machinist. He made Automobile parts. My grandmother was a teacher but also a a Photographer. in which both of them together had 5 kids who they passed down the creative gene to, with the youngest of their children being my dad Neal Taylor. My dad In the 80’s had his own Clothing design company called “Swaytech Designs” He made hand painted clothes from t-shirts, jean jackets, jeans and also did a handful of murals around the DMV area.
So with most of my family having artistic ability it was second nature to me. In my younger days I had the typical kid aspirations lol, you know; I wanted to be a football player for a tad bit I think I wanted to be a lawyer…IDK where that came from. But also in my younger days I always had that entrepreneurial spirt. id sell pictures I had drawn. I clip them on the fence in my yard and sell them to people who walked pass the house for 5-10 cents, anything they’d give me I would sell my art and also candy in school as well. It wasn’t to long before I started to mimic what my father was doing and I had started to paint on shirts. I went through a few company names. I think in 6th grade I called my clothes ” Mad SKillz” then I changed it to “MAD STYLES” once I got into my high school years I settled with “LOCHINEE SPORTS” im still to this day known in the annapolis area for “LOCHINEE SPORTS”. All of my clothing art was done by hand, But I really was buzzing because I was the only one in the Annapolis Area that did Air Brushing.
After High school I went to community college because I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I was young and un-focused so I failed most of my classes except, women’s health and art. At this time I still was making my clothes. A high school friend of mine had approached me and said “Moe you should come to the school I attend for fashion”. I shrugged it off at the time but then I had a change of heart toward the end of the 2003 summer. That fall I found myself taking my friends advice and it landed me at the Art Institute Of Philadelphia. I was ll signed up to start my first quarter in the fashion design program. But I had went to visit the Guidance office with a friend who had some things to take care of. While sitting in with my buddy I overheard the Guidance counselor say “we have a ANIMATION program” When I caught wind of that I chimed in immediately. At that exact moment I dropped the fashion program and jumped head first into the animation program. I didnt even give it a second thought. I LOVE CARTOONS with a passion!
College was the best I had ever done in an Academic setting this was due to the passion I had for my major. I excelled tremendously in college. I made Deans list and Best Of Quarter multiple times through my college years even graduating with best portfolio in my associates degree class. I finished College with a Bachelors in Multi Media Art and Animation. After college it took me awhile to find a job in my field. So I hopped back on my entrepreneurial boat. Continuing making shirts I also started to add in some of college skills. I started doing music album covers for my friends and also creating party flyers which lead me to start taking photos at parties. I elevated my air-brush game from t-shirts to now doing automobile air brushing such as Motorcyles, helmets, cars etc.
in 2011 I bought my first camera a Canon t2-i. this was my start into the videography/ cinematography world on a more professional level. around this time I started a company with a friend called “Art Life Studio”
this was when I stepped up and started doing work for known artist. The first big project I did was an animated music video for Raheem Devaughn. Moving along since that project I started to develop my video skills bit by bit. I took two video classes in college but that was about it. I did enjoy them immensely tho so maybe that was the spark I needed. around the time of 2012-2014 I had done videography for Kendrick family soul, Idris Elba, Omari Hardwick, Mack wilds just to name a few. Id also had gotten into wedding photography and videography around this time as well.
2014 I had gotten a call from a high school friend who told me that some other friends who we all went to school together were looking for an artist to do some wall mural in their new factory. I followed up with them and got the job. I knocked the job out of the park, so one thing lead to another and they wound up hiring me to make small edits to product labels. The company was called Tessemae’s I moved up in the company from a designer to becoming the Creative Director. In this position I handled all of the creative content, label art and food photography for the company. Through my 10 year tenure at the company I believe I really homed in on my skill set as a cinematographer, designer and photographer. through the years here I have worked with amazon prime, Lionsgate, jerry Garcia just to name a few.
Some of the work that I’m most proud of thus far that I can say may mark milestones in my artistic journey would be. In 2018 I did an animation for Blue Ivy with my Art Life Studio family. This was an animation to her viral freestyle she had done. This free style was featured on Jay-z’s 444 album. this was one of the major milestones in my career thus far. Another project that I’m proud of was the most recent brand refresh me and CEO at that time did for Tessemae’s. This was pivotal for me because the prior brand refresh we did consisted of allot of moving parts and at that time I was still a young designer looked at the process in awe. So to come full circle and taking the bull by the horns; I mostly did this entire process lone wolf outside of creative input and inspiration from the CEO of the company at that time. From Designing of the labels to branding and product photography was all done by my hands. This was the most intense process to do, but i’m proud of it. I also have recently finished my first feature film called ” For All Have Sinned” This was a passion piece in a sense. I’ve always called myself a Cinematographer but really didnt have any films to show. Of course I had small short pieces ive done but I wanted a Film. For me procrastination for myself is big. I procrastinate and sometimes let my ideas and creative endeavors all waist side. so my only goal for this film was if I started it I was to finish it. I started this film in 2021 and we finished it august of 2023. I mark this as a pivotal moment in my filmmaking career. Last but not least is the short documentary “You Gave Me My Flowers” this is a documentary I made for my grandmother. Procrastination again creeps its deadly gaze on me. I had this project in the queue since 2011 working on it and then letting it fall to the waist side for months and even years at a time. I found myself wanting to make this documentary so good that I wasn’t making it at all. My grandmother has and is one of the most important people in my life so I really wanted to make this very special for her. So i got motivated and determined to not let another month, year or day pass me by without finishing this. I showed this Piece to here January 27th, 2024. Im proud that I finished this and she got to see it, this meant allot to me.
What I want people to know about me is. I like to laugh and have a good time and make dope stuff. thats everything in nutshell. Then one day they will see me accepting my Oscar and giving a nice speech.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
The goal for me is to be great. But I also want an Oscar. id like to get an Oscar in each category I fancy which are in somewhat order: Cinematography, Animation, Editing, Special effects and sound design. I think wanting to achieve that somewhat helps but thats not what I think about everyday. what drives me is just wanting to be the best, wanting to be great and everyday being creative and doing for the most part what I love.
My last job I worked as a shoe salesman. and one day I was at work in the back stocking shoes and something came over me. I left the back and walked out front to the manager and said ” I appreciate yall. But I think I just want to draw for the rest of my life” shock hands and walked out. Ive been out here every since.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The Most rewarding for me is people enjoying or finding an emotional connection to what ive created. People tell me that my videos can strike emotion. Sometimes I wonder why they feel that way, because when I make them I make them in a way that feels good and looks good to me. Now some pieces I made may strike emotion in me but when I show them sometimes they don’t hit the viewer in the same way. But the overall reward of being a creative is being able to create. I create stuff every week at work my future plan is to being able to pay myself to create things I want to do.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mauriceltaylor.com
- Instagram: @gogomoe
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoaEJ3CVOPZdho2Ic0Wubcw
Image Credits
Erick Sellman