A feature story on senior Taylor Jackson
by Ciara Stephens
Crayons and markers are a huge part of our childhood when we create drawings, stick figures and ideas of what we want to be when we grow up. For senior Taylor Jackson her art training started from just 3 years old when she said her father put a mouse in her hand, opened up a paint program on the computer and she began drawing. At five, her grandmother gave her a journal that inspired her to create comics about a character she named Kitty.
“It was a cat and I would draw her little adventures with her friend Ashley who kind of represented me. It would kind of just be a reflection of things that happened in my life whether they were like embarrassing things or happy things.” Jackson said.
Though none of her intermediate family members are artists, they’ve always pushed her to continue with art and do whatever made her happy which resulted in Jackson becoming an art major. Although there are no formulas or equations to memorize and study, being an artist has its own challenges. The industry is competitive and there are chances that your art may not be appreciated. Jackson added that being self-conscious about art can also create frustration.
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| Jackson named this piece “Boss on Parade”. |
“You’ll have periods where you’ll be working on a piece and you just can’t get something right and it makes you so angry because you’re like I should be able to do this.” Jackson said. “It can always sort of put an artist in a slump if they feel like their art isn’t getting better.”
Jackson acknowledges that Berry’s focus isn’t as an art school, but said despite that, she’s grown and learned a lot from her art classes such as understanding color and the body. She cites Kelly Stevenson, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art, as extremely helpful in pushing her to be creative and improve her skills. Comparing the past to now, Jackson says her skills freshman year were “many leagues below” what they are now. With so much experience under her belt, Jackson is working on finding her own art style and developing her interest in figure drawing that was sparked by the Cartoon Network show, Steven Universe.
“I would say Rebecca Sugar, the creator of Steven Universe, has been a huge influence on my life. When I found that show, it really helped me with my art because I started to do character designs of gems and I would make gem characters.”
For one of her classes, she plans on making everyone in her class a gem; “a gem-sona is what they call it.” There is no end to developing artistic skills and Jackson plans to take a few animation classes at an art school and hopes to intern with Cartoon Network in the future.
As a senior and lifetime artist, Jackson’s encourages people not to give on their art.
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| Jackson’s unfinished raku skull titled “Crystal Skull”. |
“You can do it because look where I started out. I was four years old and drawing on Paint. I was five years old and drawing comics. And let me tell you, if you saw these, they’re horribly drawn, but there’s something.”
As far as the people who harshly criticize art, Jackson brings up something to think about. She explained that art is what made scientist aware that humans were capable of abstract thinking.
“People discredit art when art was the first indicator that humans were becoming intelligent.” She added another piece of advice for these people as well. “Just try to understand art even though you may not like it or think it’s weird, but if a person is making a lot of money off of art then somebody must see the worth in what they’re doing.”
After graduation, Jackson wants to pursue a career in character design in film, video games or animation. Who knows? We might be seeing a reappearance of the adventures of Kitty and Ashley in a show one day. Whatever happens, we know that with the skills and confidence, Jackson has a colorful future ahead of her.