We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Taylor Eby a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Taylor, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I was asked a few months ago to work on a background design for an underwater scene. The brief was incredibly broad and I truly wanted to think outside of the box. I was reminded of my late grandpa and all of his many jobs and adventures. One of which was his time spent in the Navy retrieving portions of space ships from NASA when they fell in the ocean. My grandfather was a massive inspiration for me and my creative pursuits, unfortunately he passed away this year. It was incredibly meaningful to be able to honor him in this way, and take his life experiences and turn them into something unique. This project turned out to be one that I am very proud of and truly pushed me outside of my comfort zone.

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.

Animation has always been a fascination of mine. As a child I remember turning on Cartoon Network and watching their evening block of new episodes with my brother every night. It was a kind of escapism for me. For those thirty minutes I was a superhero, or an archer, or a master of the elements, that brought me a lot of joy as a kid. I knew I wanted to work in children’s animation but I didn’t know how. I wasn’t an animator, and didn’t want to be. I wanted to create the characters and their worlds, not make them move.
Concept art ended up being the perfect fit for me. My job is to create the characters, their props and their worlds for the animators to bring to life. We essentially take the story and create visual assets that the animators will then tell the story with.
I have always been proud of how quickly I can put ideas to paper. Animation is a fast moving industry that requires adaptability from its artists. I think one of my greatest strengths is I do not judge my ideas until I see them put to paper, you never know what will work until you try it.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn that every piece you make must be perfect. When I was first starting out I would spend hours upon hours on pieces because there was always something to work on, or fix. My perfectionism also stopped me from exploring different ideas, I would shut them down before I even put pen to paper. This made a lot of my original works lack vision or creativity, because I put myself in a box. I learned quickly that in concept art we do not have time for perfectionism. You need original ideas and fast. Our job is about thinking it out on the page, in real time. This job has really pushed me to not strive for perfect but to strive for fun, or exciting, or interesting, but perfect is not necessary.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My ultimate goal would be to create my own children’s animated series. The longer I have been in this industry the more I find that I love working with my fellow artists. The collaborative aspect of this job is one of the things that makes it so fun. Being able to lead a team of my own would be the ultimate dream. Getting to that point is a long road, and I know I just started this journey but I am beyond excited to get there one day.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://aqua-lemon-4mmg.squarespace.com
• Instagram: @Taylor_eb14
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylorebyillustration
• Other: Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/taylor_eb14