We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Taylor Wells. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Taylor below.

Taylor, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I’ve known since a young age that creating art was all I wanted to do. In elementary school, a close friend and I would daydream about starting a band and becoming fully-fledged rockstars. He already had a guitar and was taking lessons, so it was up to me to buy a drum kit and learn how to play. I didn’t come from a wealthy family, and buying your kid drums that they may not even use isn’t something most parents would do. My parents, however, know how tenacious I am when I really want something, and they surprised me with my first drum kit on my 13th birthday. That gift started a journey of playing at every house, bar, and venue that my small hometown and surrounding towns had to offer.

In 2008, I moved to Chicago to pursue my dream where I felt there was more opportunity. While I did play at nearly every dive bar and small venue in the city, I quickly realized just how saturated the music scene in the city was. Combined with the cost of living, the band slowly played fewer shows and eventually broke up. I would go on to start a new band with close friends called More Gorgeous that saw some success, but my childhood dream of touring the world and playing stadiums wouldn’t come to be.

I share all of this because it wasn’t until I was 29 years old that I discovered a passion that would not only fulfill me artistically but sustain me financially. In February of 2019, I was doomscrolling Instagram when the Stop Motion short film “Lunch” by Jan Švankmajer popped up on my screen. I was completely captivated by it. I had always been interested in Stop Motion Animation and would actually create terrible little animations on my dad’s old hi-8 camera when I was a kid. There was a distinct moment while watching “Lunch” that I decided I was going to try my hand at Stop Motion as an adult. I bought the equipment I would need and started practicing the fundamentals, uploading my animations to Instagram.

Once my skills improved and I had built up a small following online, brands started reaching out to me for commissions. This is when I realized that Stop Motion Animation could be a professional path for me. Now with many commissions under my belt and an engaged community online, Taymations has become a business.
Being a rockstar may not have been in the cards for me, but by not giving up my passion to create and learn new ways to express my art, I’ve built something I love that also pays the bills, and that’s pretty rock and roll.

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.

I’m Taymations, a Chicago-based Stop Motion animator specializing in Strata-Cut Animation and Claymation. Five years ago, I made the decision to seriously pursue mastering the art of Stop Motion after over a decade of attempting to become a successful musician. This decision led me down a path of discovery and sparked a passion that completely overtook me artistically. As I learned, practiced, and consumed as much Stop Motion as possible, I slowly developed my style and skills, sharing my animations along the way.

In 2021, the legendary animator Guldies (my biggest influence) held a Stop Motion contest on Instagram. At that point, I was more confident in my skills and decided to enter. Among several extraordinary animations submitted by great animators across the world, mine won. This was the first major milestone in my journey and validated my decision to pour my heart and soul into this difficult art form. It also kickstarted the growth of my brand and led to my first professional commission. Now, five years later, I’ve worked with brands like Coca Cola, Squanch Games, and Top Fashion and have won awards at film festivals such as Big Teeth Small Shorts and Florida Shorts.

I love creating short, engaging social media marketing content for brands. Stop Motion has the unique quality of being widely adored yet rarely practiced. It is notoriously difficult and tedious to create, which keeps it in this mostly unsaturated space, making it extremely effective in capturing attention. In a world of perfect CGI and flawless AI-generated images, the imperfections of a medium like Stop Motion are not only refreshing but will stand out more as time goes on. It’s the same reason cell phone video ads tend to perform better than expensive, overly produced ones. People can sense when something is real and react more positively to it.

Taymations has grown from a personal challenge to a business through trying new things, approaching challenges with passion, and taking risks. I didn’t start this journey until I was 29 years old, when society would have you believe you should be well into whatever you’ve decided to do. It’s never too late to start, and as long as you pour yourself into what you’re doing, constantly look for ways to improve, and occasionally take big risks, you will succeed.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think it comes down to every person having an understanding and appreciation for art on a human level. Most people consume art regularly, and there’s this expectation to consume it for cheap, or even free. Corporate platforms have pushed it down the fastest, cheapest, and most clickable path possible. As artists, it’s set this precedent to produce your art quickly and effectively and to use the data it produces to dictate your next creation. As consumers, it’s built up an expectation of endless fast, free, and enjoyable content whenever you want it.

The problem is art isn’t perfect; it’s messy and unpredictable, and no amount of formulas or AI-driven algorithms will change that. Artists are at their best when the art itself is guiding their decisions. Following their curiosity, making mistakes, and trying again is how artists develop their style. Forcing this process into a post schedule that pays fractions of a penny per view only burns out the artist and incentivizes appealing to as many people as possible, rather than the inspiration to create.

There’s nothing wrong with scrolling TikTok or watching YouTube, but we shouldn’t take for granted the time, talent, and passion that artists and creatives put into the art we consume every day. If there’s an artist whose work you love and regularly consume, support them, engage with them, buy directly from them. Also, let’s stop gutting art courses in public schools and pay teachers more.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Inspiring people to try something new and potentially find a passion is my goal. On my YouTube channel, I primarily focus on teaching the techniques of Strata-Cut Animation. This form of Stop Motion involves building an animation into the physical geometry of a loaf of clay. You then take thin slices from the loaf and snap photos after each slice. When played back, the animation that was built into the loaf is revealed.

Understanding how to build object time flow into a clay loaf can be challenging, and I aim to make the barrier to entry as low as possible. I receive messages from people thanking me for clearly breaking down and explaining the process, and I’ve seen some of them attempt it themselves and post their results. To me, that is the most rewarding thing I can imagine as an artist. I remember how it felt when Strata-Cut clicked for me, and I knew it was a path I would pursue. Helping others reach that point fills me with joy and, in turn, inspires me.

I also feel a sense of responsibility as one of maybe 15 Strata-Cut artists to teach and spread this beautiful art form to as many people as possible and prevent it from fading into obscurity. Seeing others try it out and perhaps falling in love with it makes me feel like I’m fulfilling that responsibility.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.taymations.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taymations/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TaymationsYT