Meet Taylor Yingshi | Visual Development Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Taylor Yingshi and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Taylor, what are you inspired by?
I love depicting mundane subject matter with a sense of cinematic light and atmosphere. Something as simple as a fire hydrant can feel compelling to me – the corroded metal, graffiti, and wet pavement below it. Basically, the dirtier the better haha. While I strive to make my shape language as clean as possible, I contrast that with textures that are rough and worn down. In this way, I like to make spaces feel lived-in – not like it was just bought at an IKEA, but rather like a character has been interacting with it for years and years, giving inanimated objects and surfaces a personality of their own.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve always gravitated towards digital art! Maybe it’s the neurotic part of me, but I love achieving that pixel-perfect precision on my pieces. Currently, I am a visual development artist for the entertainment industry, specializing in all things backgrounds – paint, design, orthographics, cutaways, etc.

Although I never studied animation formally, I feel lucky to live in a time when online resources are so readily accessible. I honestly owe a lot to channels like Proko and Schoolism for producing such valuable content for free. My gradually increasing addiction to physical artbooks has also helped. Something about that tactile feeling of being able to hold a piece in your hands just triumphs over a digital square on a feed any day. Finally, I have to shout out Warrior Art Camp – it’s my first “official” animation class, and I couldn’t have better instructors and classmates!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m sure there are endless recommendation guides for New York City – but I would like to point everyone towards the MET Cloisters. It’s a quiet museum way uptown with a medieval style courtyard and the famous Dutch unicorn tapestries. Nothing beats taking the train up there with friends on a long weekend.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
It’s cliche, but I have to shoutout my mom and dad. They have been supportive of my offbeat way of doing things, while also pushing me to work hard, and I really owe all my successes to them.

Website: https://www.tayloryingshi.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yingshiart/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tayloryingshi/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/yingshiart