Conversations with Taylor Woods

Today we’d like to introduce you to Taylor Woods.

Hi Taylor, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I am a junior at USC majoring in Fine Arts and minoring in Animation. My original love is drawing and painting, but using those mediums to animate has been a more recent endeavor of mine during my college years. Ever since I could hold a pencil, I have been doodling. I remember getting in trouble countless times over the years for drawing in class because my teachers thought that I wasn’t listening (even in art school).

In reality, it was just one of the many ways that my ADHD manifested in my life, and what many people don’t know is that stupid tasks like that actually help people like me to pay attention. I could spend hours talking about all the tiny and colossal ways that ADHD has impacted my life and daily routine – some of which I am still discovering today – but the truth is, I don’t think that I would have the same amount of creativity or intense bursts of hyper focus I have with my work if it weren’t for that. My parents noticed my interest in art very early on and, despite my protests at the time, decided to enroll me in art classes. So at the age of seven, I would spend my evenings drawing at a local art institute with a handful of women over the age of 40. Back then, I thought these long and drawn out sessions were boring and felt oddly out of place with the older and much more talented women who surrounded me.

But today, I realize that I would never have been able to take my art seriously if it had not been for my parents or their undying support (even though neither of them have ever really shown interest in the creative arts!). Just like mostly everyone in high school, I came into mental health and identity issues which really took shape in my drawings and paintings. My art teacher Mr. Mani (an absolute icon by the way, he was missing a finger on his dominant hand AND the dude was color blind) was an unexpected source of genuine support and inspiration. I was exposed to so much art diversity in a place you wouldn’t have expected it to exist. If it weren’t for him and my angsty high school charcoal drawings, I probably wouldn’t have gotten into the art school at USC.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I wouldn’t say it has been smooth, but I am definitely grateful for all that I have and all of the accessible helping hands along the way. I grew up more fortunate than most, and in respect to that I would say the biggest roadblock has been myself and my mental health. I have always envied people who say their art is compulsory because mine isn’t. I love art, and I am happiest when I am making it, but sometimes my brain just doesn’t want me to do anything. My anxiety is something that I have been working on for a long time, but the truth is that this seems to be what your 20s are all about – figuring out where you’re going and how you’re going to do it. As far as I can tell, most of the interviews in this series are of people who have a semblance of their lives figured out. While I might not be quite on that level yet, it might be good for some people my age or younger to be able to have someone to relate to. Or at least make other people feel more secure in their own lives!

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I mostly do crazy detailed marker or painted portraits – I adore faces – but the truth is that I love nothing more in this world than color. The contrasting paint and ink are not hard to miss in my pieces, but oftentimes I feel sad about people online (especially now) being unable to see them in person. I mentioned my hyper fixation before, and if you ever see my drawings up close and personal, you will understand what I mean. There is just something about going smaller and smaller, deeper and deeper. Getting to the sub-level of adding tiny dots into a massive portrait, that makes me start drooling. I want to create things that look as interesting and beautiful an inch away from your face as they do from 10 feet away. Even in my animations or my comics, I end up adding detail that I don’t really need. Even if it’s one panel in an entire book of panels, I still tend to treat it as if it’s its own stand-alone work.

What matters most to you? Why?
Hmm. This is a hard one, but I might have to say my passion. It is probably the most valuable thing I will ever possess, at least in this lifetime. It is both the fuel and my fire, and I seem to be unable to successfully do or create anything that I am not passionate about. Whether it be a research-based writing assignment for class or a commission or even an assignment from a drawing professor, I feel as though being a creative is about bending the rules just enough so that you can happily birth something that you are proud of and get away with it at the same time.

Contact Info:

• Email: taylor.rose.woods@gmail.com
• Website: https://taylorrosewoods2.wixsite.com/artportfolio
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taylor_art_account/?hl=en