Interview with Ruby Taylor

While reading the Flow magazine we came across some cool illustrations. We looked up the illustrator and saw Ruby Taylor her website. We saw her work and wondered what it would be like to be an illustrator. How does she think about passion and inspiration? So we decided to email her some questions! If you never try, you never know. And now we know! Are you curious yet? Here you can read all about her work as an illustrator and how she thinks about passion, dreams and inspiration.

My work as an illustrator

I live in London and I work freelance from home. I also have a part- time job as a studio assistant. My Illustration work has a strong focus on colour and I like to use limited or muted colour palettes. I love hand-drawn type and playful little characters. At the moment I really enjoy making patterns, I like that you can piece together different elements which then form a narrative, a feeling or an environment.

Most of my work is done digitally but I always start by sketching and then I paint all the shapes that make up each image.

- On which project are you working right now?

At the moment I am working on a postcard for a magazine. They are giving away a set of A-Z alphabet cards as a free gift to their readers. It’s a really nice magazine called Flow! My letter is N, I am drawing a Numbat which is a cute little animal from Australia. It’s very rare!

- What steps do you find in the process of making an illustration? What do you find difficult and what do you find easy to do?

It really varies, I think the hardest thing is when I try to work and I’m not in the mood. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes I just don’t feel creative at all, I will sit down to work and I know that its going to be a struggle to make anything I’m happy with. But then I get other days where I feel super creative and I have a really successful day and get loads of great stuff done.

When I became an illustrator 

I always loved to draw so choosing an Illustration degree seemed like a natural choice for me, but when I chose the degree I wasn’t necessarily thinking I would make a career out of it, I just wanted to study something I loved. When I graduated I gradually started getting illustration work and it kind of just happened. I love it though; I wouldn’t want to do anything else!

- Would you consider your work, your passion?

Definitely! I really enjoy it and its so satisfying seeing my work in print. I think about illustration all the time, what I want to paint, who/what I would like to make work for, little things I want to create... I’m probably quite boring!

- Our project is about understanding the meaning of passion. How would you describe the meaning of passion? What is it worth?

That’s tricky! I think passion is probably something that you love and feel compelled to do, almost in a way that you can’t control. It’s something that you would make sacrifices to do.

Inspiration, heroes and dreams

I love looking at vintage packaging and old printed ephemera, the colours are amazing and the designs are so beautiful! I have a book called Collecting Printed Ephemera, which is full of collections of printed-paper and packaging, I often look through it if I need to be inspired.

Its harder to say who my heroes are as love the work of so many different illustrators, but if I had to name some I would say Leonard Weisgard and Alain Gree, they make amazing children’s book illustrations. But there are loads of other people’s work I love!

- How would you describe the meaning of inspiration?

I think inspiration influences you and makes you want to go a do something, it gives you a starting point from which you can build on and make your own.

- Do you have dreams? Which dreams would you like to fulfil?

I would really like to make my own products, possibly home ware or stationary that feature my illustrations and patterns. And maybe have a small company or brand that produces beautiful things! I would love to fulfil this!

- How would you describe the meaning of dreams?

I think dreams are fantasies, some are ones that you can make into realities, like doing your dream job or buying a home. Others you can’t... Another one of my dreams is going back in time to the late 70s and being in a punk band... but I’m pretty sure that’s never going to happen.

- Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

I would love to be making enough money from full-time illustration to support myself - I’m hoping that will happen in 5 years time!

If you are searching for you passion…

Don’t be scared to keep trying things out, the only way you will find out if you like, or don’t like, something is if you give it a go. And it doesn’t matter if you realise you don’t like it, there are loads more things you can try!

- What do you recommend to do if you want to find your passion?

Like I said, keep trying stuff out!

You can find out more about Ruby Taylor her work right here.