Taylor was an inventor, craftsman, artists, cartoonist, journalist and editor. He worked as an architect before focusing on art by the 1890s. He is most known for his cartoons in the Bulletin and London Punch. He was the first Australian artist to have his work accepted by Punch.

While doing poster work at John Sands he invented a way of casting posters in relief rather than having to print them. He patented his 'bagasse’ invention (a cement plaster) and won a gold medal for it at at the 1897 Queensland International Exhibition.

In 1898 he founded his own comic paper Ha! Ha for which he wrote most of the articles, drew the illustrations and engraved some of the blocks. When it end after three issues, he freelanced as a cartoonist for the Sunday Times, Melbourne Punch and other Australian papers.

A large number of Taylor’s drawings, mostly cartoons, were made into postcards.

Taylor was a Council member of the Royal Art Society (NSW) and he founded the Wireless Institute of NSW. in 1908 Taylor founded Building: the magazine for the architect, builder, property owner and merchant, later called the Construction and Real Estate Journal. He published many booklets and articles, including A History of Caricature. He wrote art criticism for Sydney newspapers and for London’s Studio magazine.

An epileptic, Taylor drowned in his bath.