Meet Jaylen Hough

We were lucky to catch up with Jaylen Hough recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jaylen, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

constant inspiration, where that be from my peers, social media or just walking outside. I always have the urge to put out work that is inspiring me. I could just be listening to a song and a lyric can broadcast a image in my head. If im ever in a slump or having bad artist block, I find different outlets to push me, and i remember to have fun!

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I go by Turk or Turkeydied, Im a all around artist from newport news, Virginia. I started off young making small comics in grade school and that early praise is what got me where I am today. Im a professional Cartoonist/ Caricature artist, drawing people and events in my image has always been what made me stand out stylisticly. I strive to always grow and learn as a artist, it is what makes me happiest. Im currently working on my own comic to reawaken that childhood feeling of coming up with stories and capturing the very essence of my being through illustration and expression. I sell prints through my personal brand “Turkeydied”. i’ve always kinda been a isolated artist, but ive found so much success and support through coming out my comfort zone, not just artistically but as a person aswell. I only strive to grow and help the people around me know that our potential is limitless.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

putting my self out there was always the hardest. im sure for most artists this can be a hump, but when i realized that my art can effect people deeply. all that anxiety i had about being judged started to fade and turn into curiosity and made me more passionate. Ill say go to conventions, be around more artsist, and post your art!! Caricatures was the greatest skill i couldve learned in my journey of getting better in alot of ways. Line quality, exaggeration, and storytelling was definitely the highlight of that. It also forced me to draw everyday! Family and my friends were definitely a huge impact on me, I grew up with just my father and he’s always been my number one driving force since the beginning, having someone who can give ideas, critiques and just listen to all my crazy concepts is just awesome, also just being around the right people can just push you so far. Definitely realizing that doing what i do alone is very difficult and im extremely grateful for my environment.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

I am, I Love collaborating on anything, with anyone who has a shared passion for art. Honestly anyone can reach me through my socials and i would be automatically down for it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://turkeydied.com
• Instagram: @turkeydied
• Twitter: @turkeysinhell

Image Credits

Kristoffer nye