Today we’d like to introduce you to Taylor Ellis.
Taylor, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I can probably attribute where I am now to the decision to quit my job back in 2007. I gave up the gainful employment of graphic design to wander in the realm of uncertainty. As a designer, it was always someone else’s ideas, agenda, and tastes that were the influence on my artwork. I was bored, burnt out, and was feeling like 8 years of design had given me skills, but nothing that I could look at and say “I did that, for me.” You hear people say “living the dream,” all the time and I think “whose?”
I got a job at a bar, moved into an artist community, and freaked everyone that knew me the heck out. They thought I had lost my mind, but I was only doing something different. The bar got me away from an office and caused me to meet a lot of different people. The artist community got me away from 60 hour work weeks to pay rent. I had real time to do art again and my new housemates were teaching me all kinds of things my art degree left out. One of them would be the Tarot.
I became an obsessed student. I’d balance the life of the bartender with a practice of reading Tarot for pretty much anyone that would let me. I wanted to understand all 78 of the different cards because I wanted to make a deck of my own. A few years later, I would be using my socked-away savings to print my first run of the “Ellis decK.” This would become the first thing that I could look at and say “I did that, for me.” I knew whose dream I was living.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Was the road smooth? No. Fun? Yes.
I was afraid that I’d never finish the Ellis decK. The drawings took about 2 years of work, and I’m not afraid to say I got sick of it at points. I used to beat myself up for feeling burnt-out, but non-action can be a good thing. If you fake it with art just to get it done, it shows. I learned that if I was going to channel this creativity in a way that made good work, I had to sometimes let the channels cool down. I had to accept that no cram session in the world would make something I was proud of.
Self-Publishing was another undiscovered country. I kind of hoped some fairy god-publisher would show up with some check for me. I had an agent and an art show and sold about half the decks, and then nothing really happened after that for a while. My wife and I took a risk and traveled to a symposium for Tarot readers on the West Coast. I sold out of the first printing there and returned home to an inbox full of orders. Almost all of my sales are online, and all my shipping has all been trial and error to find something that worked for me. I prefer drawing to having to think about these things, but if we don’t push our own work, it doesn’t go anywhere.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I’m a self-employed artist. I love to make fantasy art. Creating fictional worlds has been something I’ve done since childhood and being able to use my imagination this way has become one of my most valuable art-supplies.
I’m also a Tarot reader. I’ve done this in every capacity from fortune-telling to mapping life goals. I’ve read in homes, at bars, parties, festivals, on the street, online, in bookstores, and pretty much anywhere with a table and two chairs. The Tarot is such an inspiring force for me. Using the imagery of the cards can help “unstick” mental blocks and give people that push to let something different happen in their lives.
What were you like growing up?
I was an only child and I definitely stood out as one of the weirder kids. I loved comics and cartoons and I was always half in a fantasy-land. I could get lost turning a garden into a forest in my mind, or romping around in the creek looking for turtles. I’ve always been halfway in outer space, but I don’t think of that’s a bad thing if I can bring things back from space to share!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ellistrations.net
- Email: taylor.ellis@gmail.com
- Instagram: whycantijustbetaylor
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EllisDeck/
Image Credit:
Sarah Farah
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