By Victoria Pike
“When I grow up, I want to be an Irish Dancer,” said 12-year-old Taylor Hubbard. At the time, Taylor had no idea that she would grow up to be a wife, mom, author, graphic designer, photographer, and artist.
After graduating in 2007, from Lakeside High School in Hot Springs, Hubbard was off to college at UALR for the next 3 years. However, she never obtained her college degree.
While in college, she got a job at a graphic design company and lived in Little Rock for 8 years before following her husband’s job and moving to “the top of a mountain” in Colorado.
When she first moved to Colorado, Taylor found herself with an uncomfortable amount of free time. With the extra time she had while her husband was at work and her kids at school, Hubbard found a new interest in calligraphy and hand lettering. After that, she also became interested in watercolor painting and its techniques. These two new hobbies are what would lead Taylor to writing her first book; A Very Woodland Winter.
Taylor says she was inspired to write the story after she saw that children’s Christmas books basically all follow the same plot. She wanted her story to be whimsical, yet a year-round positive message for kids, not only at Christmas time. Taylor illustrated and wrote the entire book herself; all of her illustrations are in hand-created watercolor, a hobby that she obviously mastered.
She scanned and uploaded each piece of artwork into her computer and then used her graphic design skills to manipulate the images to fit a certain way on the pages. Then, using her prior graphic design experience from designing her daughter’s yearbook, she set up the layout for the book.
Hubbard’s self-published book then went on sale on a pre-order basis, selling over 200 copies. Since the first book was so successful, she created a sequel that was released in February called A Very Woodland Spring. Taylor encourages anyone to never say no to any idea you have, and do whatever it takes to get your skills to the next level.For more information about Hubbard’s books, visit www.TheCreativeHubLR.com.
