Taylor Boardman

          I have been passionate about drawing and animating for as long as I can remember. I create art simply for my own pleasure without rhyme or reason. My artwork usually reflects how I am feeling or what is going on in my life at the time. I notice the change in content and style when I look at my old sketchbook drawings and class assignments. I am currently interested in creating more character art and watercolor paintings. 

          My earliest memory of diving deep into the art scene was when I was in middle school and drawing anime fan art. I would doodle my favorite characters from various anime shows such as Ouran High School Host Club, Bleach, or Naruto. I would draw on anything I could such as loose-leaf paper, notebooks, or the back of tests. I actually formed my major high school friendships solely based off of my Black Butler fan art. I had no formal art education whatsoever, so I had to teach myself. I would spend my free time looking up step-by-step tutorials on how to draw various anime characters. I remember when my parents gifted me an actual “how-to” drawing book for manga style drawing. That book was absolutely life changing for me and advanced my skills and knowledge.

          In high school I would experiment with different drawing techniques and styles like manga, stippling, graphic, or life drawing. Towards the end of middle school and all throughout high school I would find myself drawing and doodling very frequently as a coping mechanism. I would get so lost in my work that people would sometimes find it difficult to gain back my attention. Drawing helped me feel calm and in control during a time that I felt like my life was chaotic; it felt like the world just fell away and nothing else mattered. Taking an animation course in both my junior and senior years made me realize that I wanted to keep pursuing art and that I really wanted to earn a formal education in it. 

          College level art was in a league of its own compared to high school level art or just drawing for fun. It was difficult and stressful and the workload was unlike anything I was used to; but I had so much fun. No matter how difficult the work became or how stressed out I was during midterms and finals, I had never been happier in my entire life. In just my very few art classes in my first semester I had realized potential I never thought I could possess. For example, I never thought that I would be capable of drawing from life or drawing naturalistically until I took my Foundation Drawing course. By the time I finished my final for that course I had absolutely blown myself away. I was so happy and proud of myself because of the significant amount of progress that I made.