Des Taylor
Encyclopedia
Desmond John Corey Taylor, Jr. (born 18 April 1971) is an English pop art
and comic book
illustrator from Tottenham
, North London
, England
. He is the creator of Katie Rogers, a graphic novel originally published in 2008 by Ape Entertainment. and
other forthcoming characters, Scarlett Couture, The Vesha Valentine Story, (published by Slave Labor Comics) Legend of the Blue Lotus and The Infamous Katie Rogers ( a brand new graphic novel in the works) .He has also published 'Learn This- How to Draw Comics and Manga by Wayland Books.
His official print site is DESPOP. www.despop.co.uk.
to immigrants from Montserrat
, West Indies
. He was educated at Bruce Grove Primary School in Tottenham and Northumberland Park Secondary School in Northumberland Park
. Taylor studied art, English and drama at Southgate College
in Enfield
from 1990-91. He took an art foundation course at the College of North East London from 1991-92. He graduated in 1994 from West Herts College
in Watford
, following studies in graphic design. Throughout his studies Taylor had always developed a passion for Fashion Design and was inspired by everyday people.
in 1977, Taylor was drawn into fantasy art. After earning his art degree, Taylor became a freelance illustrator working in London. Among his early professional clients was Watford's Geri Halliwell
, before she became an international star with the Spice Girls
. Taylor’s illustration of Halliwell is included in her autobiography If Only
.
In December 2009, Des Taylor hosted his first art exhibition-THE ART OF DES TAYLOR at the trendy Maverik Showroom in London's East End. He was assisted by (top art creative and famous fashion window designer for THEO FENNELL, Christian Louboutin, PRADA) close friend, Emma Davidge.
His style has bridged the gap between POP art, Comic book illustration and animation so to be used commercially in Comics, Fashion and Design.
Film studios and producers have show interest in his work to date.
Among Taylor’s clients:
ITV studios America
and Jack Kirby
, along with painters Toulouse Lautrec
and Roy Lichtenstein
.
fan magazine, tapped Taylor to provide original illustrations of the King of Pop. Taylor consequentially met Jackson backstage and the singer told him how much he loved Taylor’s cartoons. In June 2002 Taylor presented Jackson onstage at the Killer Thriller party at Equinox, Leicester Square
, London.
In the summer of 2005, whilst recuperating from a serious soccer injury, Taylor started to flesh out the comics character Katie Rogers. The character is a fictional English-born publicist
working in Manhattan
. Taylor took inspiration from his visits to New York City
, mixed with his experiences around the girls he had met working as a freelance illustrator in the world of fashion. Many of the character’s traits and personality quirks are based on Taylor’s friends.
Katie Rogers debuted on the social networking site Myspace
in 2006 and gained an army of more than 7,000 followers. This led Taylor to launch Katie's Party, live events held in various nightclubs in Soho
, London. The online character entered the real world in parties that featured cocktails, dancing and top London DJs.
In 2009 San Diego-based Ape Entertainment brought out the first Katie Rogers graphic novel. which was split up into a magazine format with an 88-page story, short stories and character interviews. Although loved by fans Taylor felt that the book and character had more potential
in the book market and was looking to target a new market as comic book sales had been suffering in the US.
In August 2011 Des decided to totally revamp and update the character to better compliment his changing art style. After mutual agreement he ended his publishing contract with Ape Comics and is working on a complete reboot of the character to keep up with the changing trends in Social Media. A new graphic storybook called The Infamous Katie Rogers is currently in the works.
cinema, Taylor moulded the character Vesha Valentine. Part cabaret artist, Burlesque performer and all around Show Girl. The book , designed to be read like a fictional autobiography. Unlike your traditional comic book of panels and speech ballons Taylor designed Vesha Valentine to be read in a more ' storybook'
type of adventure, a format he has called 'Modern Graphic Pulp' or Graphic Storybook.
" The Vesha Valentine Story is presented like an episode of E! True Hollywood Stories. It traces the rise and fall of a Hollywood starlet (who is a composite of famous screen queens like Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth), from her days of entertaining diner patrons to becoming a big time Hollywood actress. As a young girl born to a famous mother, Vesha had a natural gift of song and dance, performing at the cafe owned by her grandparents in France. Like many young girls of the time, Vesha set her sights on performing on stage in front of large crowds. She would find herself in a small rinky dink revue that was struggling to compete with the Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergere. However, Vesha's gift for performance would bring the house down as hundreds would flock to see her show. Vesha wanted more and after starring in several successful films, she would move to Hollywood and start living an all too familiar life: she would date movie executives, famous heartthrob actors and eventually stick to a young Navy captain. In typical Hollywood fashion, Vesha would be met with financial ruin as elements from her past catch up to her and news of her husband being shot down over Vietnam drive her to drinking. Vesha would ultimately bounce back and recapture the success that drove her to become America's sweetheart." so an adequate quote explained from part of a review from the blog Life, The Universe and Video games .
Vesha Valentine was released to great reviews in March 2011, published by Slave Labor Graphics in San Jose. The book was Number 10 in the Top 25 Small Press graphic novels at Diamond Distributors in April 2011.
Two launch parties were held to celebrate the books launch in London at Bar Bodega, Watford and at bespoke lingerie/ sex store BORDELLO in which model Nina Hearne posed as the comic book star. Celebrity jeweler Theo Fennell and his family attended the BORDELLO party as well as other creatives in the art and fashion industry.
Taylor plans to create more Vesha Valentine art and books in the near future.
as the picker. The show was hosted by 1960s icon Cilla Black
. He went to the isle of Aran, Scotland
, as a grand prize.
Taylor resides in Watford
. He is a lifetime Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
supporter and follows world football
. He collects comic books and Star Wars
collectibles with a passion.
He is engaged to marry his fiance Wiesia Radwanska ( who inspired the name 'Vesha' for Vesha Valentine) and is expecting his first child, a little girl named Scarlett in early 2012.
Review from Comic Book Resources
Review of Vesha Valentine
Bookgasm review of Vesha Valentine Story
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
and comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
illustrator from Tottenham
Tottenham
Tottenham is an area of the London Borough of Haringey, England, situated north north east of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:Tottenham is believed to have been named after Tota, a farmer, whose hamlet was mentioned in the Domesday Book; hence Tota's hamlet became Tottenham...
, North London
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He is the creator of Katie Rogers, a graphic novel originally published in 2008 by Ape Entertainment. and
other forthcoming characters, Scarlett Couture, The Vesha Valentine Story, (published by Slave Labor Comics) Legend of the Blue Lotus and The Infamous Katie Rogers ( a brand new graphic novel in the works) .He has also published 'Learn This- How to Draw Comics and Manga by Wayland Books.
His official print site is DESPOP. www.despop.co.uk.
Early life and education
Des Taylor was born 18 April 1971 in TottenhamTottenham
Tottenham is an area of the London Borough of Haringey, England, situated north north east of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:Tottenham is believed to have been named after Tota, a farmer, whose hamlet was mentioned in the Domesday Book; hence Tota's hamlet became Tottenham...
to immigrants from Montserrat
Montserrat
Montserrat is a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies. This island measures approximately long and wide, giving of coastline...
, West Indies
Leeward Islands
The Leeward Islands are a group of islands in the West Indies. They are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. As a group they start east of Puerto Rico and reach southward to Dominica. They are situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean...
. He was educated at Bruce Grove Primary School in Tottenham and Northumberland Park Secondary School in Northumberland Park
Northumberland Park
Northumberland Park may refer to:* Northumberland Park, London* Northumberland Park railway station, a London Underground station in Northumberland Park, London* Northumberland Park Depot, a London Underground depot in Northumberland Park, London...
. Taylor studied art, English and drama at Southgate College
Southgate College
Southgate College campus is located in the London Borough of Enfield, and situated beside the Southgate's main shopping centre and within a 200m walk of the Southgate tube station on the Piccadilly Line...
in Enfield
London Borough of Enfield
The London Borough of Enfield is the most northerly London borough and forms part of Outer London. It borders the London Boroughs of Barnet, Haringey and Waltham Forest...
from 1990-91. He took an art foundation course at the College of North East London from 1991-92. He graduated in 1994 from West Herts College
West Herts College
West Herts College is a college in Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The College has campuses in Watford, Hemel Hempstead and Kings Langley.-Range of courses:...
in Watford
Watford
Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...
, following studies in graphic design. Throughout his studies Taylor had always developed a passion for Fashion Design and was inspired by everyday people.
Illustration career
Taylor started drawing as a child after watching his older sister paint. Upon seeing Star WarsStar Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
in 1977, Taylor was drawn into fantasy art. After earning his art degree, Taylor became a freelance illustrator working in London. Among his early professional clients was Watford's Geri Halliwell
Geri Halliwell
Geraldine Estelle "Geri" Halliwell is an English pop singer-songwriter, author and actress. After coming to international prominence in the late 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, Halliwell launched her solo career in 1998 and released her album Schizophonic...
, before she became an international star with the Spice Girls
Spice Girls
The Spice Girls were a British pop girl group formed in 1994. The group consisted of Victoria Beckham , Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe" in 1996, which hit number-one in more than 30...
. Taylor’s illustration of Halliwell is included in her autobiography If Only
If Only (autobiography)
If Only is a 1999 autobiography by Geri Halliwell, written after she left the Spice Girls.-Synopsis introduction:From her childhood in Watford to her rise to international fame with the Spice Girls, Geri Halliwell tells of her never-ending quest for fulfilment and coming of age, at a time when she...
.
In December 2009, Des Taylor hosted his first art exhibition-THE ART OF DES TAYLOR at the trendy Maverik Showroom in London's East End. He was assisted by (top art creative and famous fashion window designer for THEO FENNELL, Christian Louboutin, PRADA) close friend, Emma Davidge.
His style has bridged the gap between POP art, Comic book illustration and animation so to be used commercially in Comics, Fashion and Design.
Film studios and producers have show interest in his work to date.
Among Taylor’s clients:
- CitroënCitroënCitroën is a major French automobile manufacturer, part of the PSA Peugeot Citroën group.Founded in 1919 by French industrialist André-Gustave Citroën , Citroën was the first mass-production car company outside the USA and pioneered the modern concept of creating a sales and services network that...
- Company
- Cosmopolitan UKCosmopolitan (magazine)Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s...
- Fabric (club)
- Theo Fennell
- FHMFHMFHM, originally published as For Him Magazine, is an international monthly men's lifestyle magazine.- History :The magazine began publication in 1985 in the United Kingdom under the name For Him and changed its title to FHM in 1994 when Emap Consumer Media bought the magazine, although the full For...
- Chameleon Visual
- La Perla
- Ministry Of SoundMinistry of SoundMinistry of Sound London, commonly referred to as simply Ministry of Sound or MoS, is a nightclub based in London, United Kingdom and an associated record label. It was ranked fourth in the 2010 DJ Magazine top 100 clubs poll 2010. As well as the nightclub in London, there is another in Egypt and...
- More!
- Thomas PinkThomas PinkThomas Pink is a retail clothing business started in London in 1984, by three Irish brothers James, Peter and John Mullen. The company was named for an 18th century London tailor who was known for making much sought-after red hunting jackets....
- Pizza HutPizza HutPizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise that offers different styles of pizza along with side dishes including pasta, buffalo wings, breadsticks, and garlic bread....
- Ann SummersAnn SummersAnn Summers is a United Kingdom-based retailer specialising in sex toys and lingerie, with over 140 high street stores in the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands and Spain. In 2000, Ann Summers acquired the Knickerbox brand, a label with an emphasis on more comfortable and feminine underwear, while...
ITV studios America
- TouchTouch MusicTouch is a British audio-visual organisation, operating the Touch label. It is the main arm of the London-based multimedia publishing company Touch, established in 1982...
- Gerald Eve
Influences
Taylor has stated his influences are comic book creators Bruce TimmBruce Timm
Bruce Walter Timm is an American character designer, animator and producer. He is also a writer and artist working in comics, and is known for his contributions building the modern DC Comics animated franchise, the DC animated universe.-Animation:Timm's early career in animation was varied; he...
and Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
, along with painters Toulouse Lautrec
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa or simply Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, and illustrator, whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of fin de siècle Paris yielded an œuvre of exciting, elegant and provocative images of the modern...
and Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein was a prominent American pop artist. During the 1960s his paintings were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City and along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist and others he became a leading figure in the new art movement...
.
Michael Jackson
From 1990-92, Adrian Grant, publisher of Off The Wall, the official UK Michael JacksonMichael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
fan magazine, tapped Taylor to provide original illustrations of the King of Pop. Taylor consequentially met Jackson backstage and the singer told him how much he loved Taylor’s cartoons. In June 2002 Taylor presented Jackson onstage at the Killer Thriller party at Equinox, Leicester Square
Leicester Square
Leicester Square is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. The Square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west...
, London.
Katie Rogers
In the summer of 2005, whilst recuperating from a serious soccer injury, Taylor started to flesh out the comics character Katie Rogers. The character is a fictional English-born publicist
Publicist
A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a public figure, especially a celebrity, a business, or for a work such as a book, film or album...
working in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. Taylor took inspiration from his visits to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, mixed with his experiences around the girls he had met working as a freelance illustrator in the world of fashion. Many of the character’s traits and personality quirks are based on Taylor’s friends.
Katie Rogers debuted on the social networking site Myspace
Myspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
in 2006 and gained an army of more than 7,000 followers. This led Taylor to launch Katie's Party, live events held in various nightclubs in Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
, London. The online character entered the real world in parties that featured cocktails, dancing and top London DJs.
In 2009 San Diego-based Ape Entertainment brought out the first Katie Rogers graphic novel. which was split up into a magazine format with an 88-page story, short stories and character interviews. Although loved by fans Taylor felt that the book and character had more potential
in the book market and was looking to target a new market as comic book sales had been suffering in the US.
In August 2011 Des decided to totally revamp and update the character to better compliment his changing art style. After mutual agreement he ended his publishing contract with Ape Comics and is working on a complete reboot of the character to keep up with the changing trends in Social Media. A new graphic storybook called The Infamous Katie Rogers is currently in the works.
Vesha Valentine
In late 2010 (after a first appearance in Celebrity jeweler Theo Fennell's store Christmas window displays around London) Des Taylor began to flesh out a comic character that would put him and his talents on the radar. Created out of a love for the screen siren's of classiccinema, Taylor moulded the character Vesha Valentine. Part cabaret artist, Burlesque performer and all around Show Girl. The book , designed to be read like a fictional autobiography. Unlike your traditional comic book of panels and speech ballons Taylor designed Vesha Valentine to be read in a more ' storybook'
type of adventure, a format he has called 'Modern Graphic Pulp' or Graphic Storybook.
" The Vesha Valentine Story is presented like an episode of E! True Hollywood Stories. It traces the rise and fall of a Hollywood starlet (who is a composite of famous screen queens like Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth), from her days of entertaining diner patrons to becoming a big time Hollywood actress. As a young girl born to a famous mother, Vesha had a natural gift of song and dance, performing at the cafe owned by her grandparents in France. Like many young girls of the time, Vesha set her sights on performing on stage in front of large crowds. She would find herself in a small rinky dink revue that was struggling to compete with the Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergere. However, Vesha's gift for performance would bring the house down as hundreds would flock to see her show. Vesha wanted more and after starring in several successful films, she would move to Hollywood and start living an all too familiar life: she would date movie executives, famous heartthrob actors and eventually stick to a young Navy captain. In typical Hollywood fashion, Vesha would be met with financial ruin as elements from her past catch up to her and news of her husband being shot down over Vietnam drive her to drinking. Vesha would ultimately bounce back and recapture the success that drove her to become America's sweetheart." so an adequate quote explained from part of a review from the blog Life, The Universe and Video games .
Vesha Valentine was released to great reviews in March 2011, published by Slave Labor Graphics in San Jose. The book was Number 10 in the Top 25 Small Press graphic novels at Diamond Distributors in April 2011.
Two launch parties were held to celebrate the books launch in London at Bar Bodega, Watford and at bespoke lingerie/ sex store BORDELLO in which model Nina Hearne posed as the comic book star. Celebrity jeweler Theo Fennell and his family attended the BORDELLO party as well as other creatives in the art and fashion industry.
Taylor plans to create more Vesha Valentine art and books in the near future.
Personal
In 2001 Taylor appeared on the UK game show Blind DateBlind Date (UK TV series)
Blind Date is a British dating game show produced by London Weekend Television. An unscreened pilot was made with comic Duncan Norvelle as presenter but it was eventually hosted by Cilla Black, who already hosted the LWT series, Surprise, Surprise...
as the picker. The show was hosted by 1960s icon Cilla Black
Cilla Black
Cilla Black OBE is an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World, and Alfie...
. He went to the isle of Aran, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, as a grand prize.
Taylor resides in Watford
Watford
Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...
. He is a lifetime Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....
supporter and follows world football
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
. He collects comic books and Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
collectibles with a passion.
He is engaged to marry his fiance Wiesia Radwanska ( who inspired the name 'Vesha' for Vesha Valentine) and is expecting his first child, a little girl named Scarlett in early 2012.
External links
Review from Comic Book Resources
Review of Vesha Valentine
Bookgasm review of Vesha Valentine Story