We were lucky to catch up with Alyssa Alley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Alyssa, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The most meaningful project I have worked on so far was my college junior project. At the beginning of the semester, each person in my class pitched an idea for our own 3-minute short film. Each presentation was wonderful, and our professor had a difficult time choosing, but mine was one of two picked to be made. My idea was set in a forest long in the future, and revolved around a distant and disgruntled wolf with his new puppy-like robotic companion. The two go on an adventure where the wolf slowly opens up and begins to enjoy the little one’s company, only for disaster to strike. The short ends on a warm and fuzzy note, as the two set off on their next adventure.

The two directors–being myself and one other–took our concepts and developed our storyboards. From there, our teams brought our projects to life. I got the opportunity to lead my group, and along the way I learned an immense amount that changed my creative workflow for the better. We collaborated flawlessly, and were each excited about the project. I had every one of my teammates place at least one of their ideas in the story so we would all feel more attached to it! All of the work we did was worth it in the end, and our 5-minute short film became the first BEA “Best of Fest” animation for our college (along with several other awards)! We put in our best efforts, bonded, and are still proud of what we have accomplished.
After such a wonderful project, I have since gained a large amount of confidence as a leader and storyteller, and to this date added two more director roles to my name– hopefully with more to come!

I’m so appreciative of the experience I had while working on the junior film, lovingly titled “Tobeus and Toby”. The team I was blessed to work with was full of the most capable and enthusiastic workers I’ve met, and each one of them has been an inspiration to keep moving forward on my own artistic journey. I’m so thankful for their time and the opportunity that was given to me, and I will never forget how wonderful those months were, nor how much they changed me for the better.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Alyssa Alley, and I am a professional character artist and animator. My artist pseudonym on media platforms is The Shadows Ally.

My artistic journey began when I was in middle school, and I have since graduated with my Bachelors in Science and Animation from Huntington University Arizona, leaving with several director roles and festival awards under my belt.
I currently work as a digital media arts assistant while I gather my portfolio together with my eyes set on the video game industry. In the meantime, I do freelance work for small businesses and individual commissioners. Both allow me to grow as an artist and try different things, as well as bring characters to life for people who aren’t artists themselves but still have fantastical ideas.
I have a comic semi-realism style and have a knack for science-fiction storytelling. Recently I’ve taken a liking to 3D sculpting as well, so I’m able to translate directly from a 2D concept to a 3D space, and animate from there. I also enjoy live-action work, and directed/acted in one of my projects just earlier this year!

Character designing is what I consider my strongest ability, as I enjoy plotting out what each and every little colour, quirk, and style of a character means. A character’s design isn’t just their clothing; it’s how they move, what they feel about certain things, and what items they hold onto. What colours do they wear and what does that say about them, or what gestures do they tend to do when standing idly? There is so much to creating a character that it’s easy to get lost down the rabbit hole, but it’s so satisfying to see the end result, especially once they get to start moving on screen!

My passion is to create worlds, bring characters to life, and pose ideas that are sometimes overlooked through creativity. I’m proud of where I am, how far I’ve come, and I look forward to the future!

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

In short, I believe society should seek to broaden their perspectives of what “art” is, and how many different mediums and sub-categories exist under such a wide umbrella term.

Whenever I meet someone new, and they ask me what I do, I tell them, “I’m an animator”. The first thing they always think of are kid’s cartoons. “Oh, like Dora the Explorer?” Or, “Like Spongebob?”

These people tend to categorize your artistic skill based on their limited knowledge of the creative world–and without even seeing your work–which can be frustrating. I believe that mature and important stories can be told through animated shows, movies, games, AND comics that tackle elaborate concepts aimed towards any age group. Animation in the West became popular through comedic cartoons, and there isn’t a problem with that; however, the notion that ALL animation is purely for children is what tends to grind my gears. The adults that I explain the industry to become dumbfounded at how much work goes into everything, and they invision the animation industry as “Simple” because it’s “for kids”. Even the aforementioned shows have an immense amount of planning that go into them, but people are all too quick to dismiss things that they don’t understand. They also forget about how much animation goes into things like movies or video games– it isn’t all just 2D television shows.

It’s been a joy for me however to see that recently, animation targeted towards older audiences (that isn’t just comedy based) is beginning to make a movement, and I hope to continue to see it grow!

My hope is that adults will continue to open up to the idea that animation is general animated media, not just “kid’s cartoons”. Animation can be enjoyed by all ages and introduce ideas to anyone through all sorts of mediums!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being creative?

Living as a creative person is interesting, because when you look around, you assume everyone thinks big like you do. If you really like a franchise, maybe you sometimes daydream about what it would be like to live there; what faction would you be, what powers would you have, what would you be fighting for? But as we grow older, some people lose that extent of an imagination, and so it is up to the creatives to make sure they still get to experience the wonders of these other worlds.

It is our job to make new universes for people to escape into, to get attached to fun characters or spark abstract ideas. We pose the “What if”s that inspire, or create moments that stir intense emotions; we create branches of interest between strangers, and hold a universal way of communication. Artists, moviemakers, and everyone in between are able to share a web of dialogue across the entire planet just through visuals, scripts, and imagination.
“A picture is worth a thousand words”.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://digitalartsalley.carrd.co/
• Instagram: Instagram.com/TheShadowsAlly
• Other: Linktr.ee/theshadowsally

Image Credits
The single image containing three monster forms is fan art for Resident Evil (labeled in the top right corner of the picture).