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Angie Taylor

Motion Designer, Animator, Author, Educator www.behance.com/AngieTaylor Brighton, UK Age 54 She/Her

How did you get your start in motion design, animation, or whatever it is that you do?

I graduated with a degree in Sculpture, drawing and humanities from EDINBURGH College of art in 1996. When I left, I thought, “what the **** can I do with a sculpture degree? I’d have loved to just be an artist, but I needed to make money. I had nothing. My choices, in terms of making money quickly were; make gravestones. Or become a prop-maker, I chose the latter.

I moved to London and began my prop-making career in the TV and film industry in 1987. I started freelancing and then got a full-time job making food props for TV and film - anything from non-melting ice cream and chocolate to pigs on spits, lobsters and pizzas. We made props for all sorts of amazing productions including Aardman Animations and the BBC. It was fun figuring out how to make stuff look real but I soon got bored recreating reality. I preferred the idea of surreal.

In my spare time I was deejaying in London’s punk clubs and gay clubs. I met lots of creative people in these nightclubs including; Heaven, FF, Turnmills, The Fridge, The Bell. When I was deejaying I attended a music and technology course to learn about Sampling and sequencing. We used Cubase version 1.0 on Amiga computers. There was also a copy of Deluxe Paint on there and I started playing with it during breaks. I’d make little cycling color animations.

I wanted to do more but I couldn’t afford to buy a computer at the time. My Dad had a Sinclair Spectrum and had the Hobbit game on it. I borrowed that when I could. I loved the idea of sequencing images and storytelling, it really excited me.

One day, when I was dropping off props at the BBC, I saw somebody using a very early beta version of Photoshop1. I thought “I want to do that!”. I realised I needed to make big changes for this to happen. I gave up prop-making and became a full-time Deejay in order to save to buy a computer.

In 1993 I met my wife, Jo. When we got together we spoke about our life goals. We both agreed that we needed a change. So we left London and moved to EDINBURGH. Jo loves books took a job as manager of a big, family-run book shop. I couldn’t find any courses on computer graphics so I enrolled in a course in traditional graphic design and another in IT - just to get access to computers.

The Graphic design course was very traditional - there were no computers. We had to use Letteraset to lay out text. We would enlarge text in a Grant Projector. It was a great course, I loved it. The IT course was also good, I learned the beauty of spreadsheets (no, I’m not joking!)

I also wrote my first tutorial on that course - teaching other students how to copy and paste images into their documents and make screenshots. There was a copy of Corel Draw on the computers. I learned it inside out. But I wanted something more. When I finished the course I was a bit unsure about which direction to turn.

Then one day I went to a party at a neighbours house. He had an Apple Macintosh Classic. I knew these were the dream of every graphic designer so I asked him whether I should get a PC (which I’d learned on) or a Mac.

“Ooh! Get a Mac!” He replied. “I work for a company called Adobe. If you get a Mac, I’ll get you a copy of Photoshop to help you get started”. I wasn’t really aware of who Adobe were but I’d seen Photoshop and was so grateful to him for this offer. I really don’t know where my career would be today without that lucky break. (Thanks Rory!)

So I saved, and saved, the bought myself my first computer. It was an Apple Power Macintosh 8500. He brought me a lovely, new, cellophane-wrapped copy of Photoshop 3. I watched a free video tutorial that was on the installation CD by the amazing Russell Brown. I thought, “this is what I want to do!”

As a thank you to my friend, I made him a card. I took a picture of his new-born baby. I scanned it, added a Mohawk hairstyle, tattoos saying “Mum” and “Dad” on her knuckles, and a leather jacket. All done in Photoshop. He was blown away with what I’d done. He asked me to come and show people at Adobe how I’d done it. As a result of this, Adobe asked me to do some Photoshop demos at a trade show in Amsterdam called CGIX. That’s when I first saw After Effects. It was version 2.0, it was love at first sight! I’ve been in love ever since!

My friend, Rory, got me a copy of After Effects and I was obsessed! I got myself the Total AE by Total Training course and watched it back to back, at least twice. Brian Maffitt is still the best After Effects teacher IMHO. I practiced for about 6 months, 12 hours a day while my lovely partner earned a daily income. I also started doing more demo work for Adobe. Doing After Effects demos as well as Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere. But that wasn’t earning me enough and I really wanted to get into motion graphics.

I sent letters to about 40 production companies telling them I had a home setup to create motion graphics with After Effects and could be employed on a freelance basis. This was 1996, in those days most people laughed if you suggested using AE for TV graphics or animation. Luckily one person gave me an opportunity. He was interested in new technology and ran a business called Atacama Films (www.atacamafilms.co.uk) making films for museums. So I got my first AE job doing graphics on a film for the Cook Museum in Middlesbrough. From there things slowly grew by osmosis.

I worked for about 20 years, freelancing for other companies and directors. In between jobs I was still doing demo work at trade shows and events for Adobe, Wacom and Apple. I was lucky enough to work with great some great directors, including Chris Cunningham and John Williams. I also worked on projects with great artists and musicians such as; The Slits, Beck, Joan Armatrading. I produced motion graphics for the BBC, Channel 4 and other TV and film companies.

However being a designer didn’t come naturally to me. I was trained as a fine artist so loved to experiment and hated having to constrain my ideas to please clients - I found this to be very restrictive. The stuff I liked was not really inline with the latest design trends which I found to be boring and formulaic. I have never enjoyed creating stuff that looks like everyone else’s. It’s like fashion, I’ve never understood why everyone would want to look the same as each other! This is possibly due to my ADHD and Autism Spectrum Condition. I was diagnosed with these at the age of 54.

During my career I wrote a few books on After Effects and motion graphic design and I began making video tutorials. I enjoyed this creative process more than the work itself. I love helping other people come up with ideas and helping them to solve problems. This was always the stage of design projects I was best at. I find it very hard to focus on the fine-tuning aspects of the job! I need challenges to keep me motivated.

Another thing that motivated me was my negative experiences at art school. I found that it really knocked my confidence and had a detrimental effect on my creativity. Before art school I drew constantly. But art school instilled in me a worry that I was not good enough. That feeling has never left me. Because of this I possibly avoid doing my own work. Teaching others is a great way of doing this!

So I gave up freelancing in 2013 to pursue a career in education. I now run my own business. A private art school called Creative Cabin on the south coast of England, near Brighton. I offer people bespoke, one-to-one tuition as an alternative to traditional art school education. People come to the Cabin and I help them with their creative projects. I hope to inspire them in the career they desire. It’s very rewarding. I also provide “Creative Escapes” - retreat vacations for creative people where they can learn drawing skills, make sculpture, forage and cook wild foods and relax in our beautiful, cliff-top woodlands. I also offer a mentorship service to clients.

Writing books was a struggle for me due to my dyslexia, whips is often comorbid with ADHD. So I started creating video tutorials with a company called Video2brain. They were bought by Lynda.com, who were, in turn, bought by LinkedIn. So my tutorials can now be seen on LinkedIn Learning.

I’ve also struggled throughout my life with anxiety and depression. These conditions are very common in those with undiagnosed ADHD and Autism Spectrum Condition. As a result have probably never achieved as much as I had hoped to. I also had to stop travelling for work due to physical issues associated with these conditions.

How do you balance your work with your personal life? How do the two influence each other?

I’ve always put home and family first so have turned down a few opportunities that could have taken me away from home. But all in all, I’m happy now to teach other people how to do the work that I love. To be honest, I find it more rewarding than actually doing the work myself. I was never satisfied with what I created anyway!

How have you learned to practice self-care? What do you do to take care of yourself?

My ADHD and Autism have pros and cons. I think my total obsession with After Effects, Illustrator and Cinema 4D are the pros. The cons are that I find it difficult to communicate with other people in a conventional way. I find it easier to get up on stage and do a demo for 500 people than I do having a two way conversation with a client. Funnily enough I’m fine when it comes to training on a 1-2-1 basis - that’s when I’m at my most happy. I have difficulty networking with people. I used to cope with alcohol and drugs. But now that I’m sober, I have to limit the stress in my life. So working from my home based studio, Creative Cabin, with my dog, Elsie, by my side, is where I’m happiest.

As I said,I’ve had a few lucky breaks along the way. Who knows what would have happened without them. My books on After Effects helped me get to the stage where I could get a mortgage and eventually buy our house with the Cabin next door, which I converted into a training studio.

I couldn’t have learned as much as I did without the friendship and help I received from the amazing After Effects community back in the 1990’s. I was part of the IMUG and subscribed to the wonderful Media Motion email user group. It’s was so open and everyone shared everything. There I met lifelong “industry friends’ like Trish and Chris Meyer, Brian Maffitt, Paul Tuersley, Steve Forde, Mark Coleran, Mark Harrison, Philip Hodgetts, Peder Norby, Pete Litwinowicz, Amacker Bullwinkle, Tim Clapham, Simon Harper and others too numerous to mention. We’d meet up at trade shows and seminars where we’d talk about nothing other than technology and animation - That’s the only thing I miss about my old life - the people.

But over the years I’ve learned how important it is to take care of yourself and those closest to you. I always found the traveling hard and stressful. To cope I would drink alcohol. I’d get home from a trip feeling exhausted, emotional and unhealthy. I put on weight and ended up with back and knee issues. Partly from too much sitting at a desk. I have a sit/stand desk so vary my working position as much as possible. I use a Salli swing, saddle chair which has really helped my back.

In terms of keeping well. I see a personal trainer and a psychotherapist once a week. I cycle everywhere and I swim as much as possible. My best friend is my dog, Elsie. A rescued Staffie-Patterdale (Stafferdale) cross who I walk every day. For my mental health I do mindfulness mediation and listen to inspiring podcasts from the Audio Dharma website.

How do you define success? What would success look like for you?

Success in life is being content and being around those you love. If you can leave something behind that inspires or changes the lives of others, that’s great. But if not, that’s fine too. Just being human is difficult enough. Be easy on yourself and enjoy the life you have.

What advice do you have for those just starting out?

To those who are starting out today I’d say, pick one thing and focus on it. Don’t be persuaded into becoming a multi-tasker like I did, it will only dilute your talents and prevent you from focussing. If you want to learn something don’t use Google or YouTube tutorials. Do a properly structured course that will teach you the fundamentals and principles as well as the cool techniques. And look after your body and mind. You don’t have to crumble before you learn that your health is the most important asset you possess.

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