We were lucky to catch up with Ashli Hudson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ashli, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

I love making art that people are able to view and enjoy every single day, and it was certainly a huge decision to turn a hobby in a full fledged career path. It’s easy for a hobby turned professional career to lose the charm and enjoyment you had when you were able to just do what you did for fun. As an artist, and especially a professional artist, creative burnout is a real feeling you have to be able to recognize and combat. When art is just your hobby, you can freely step back to stop and take a break for as long as you need to and come back when you’re ready, but as an artist that has worked in game development as myself, if I feel I’m reaching a point of burnout, I just have to manage things as best I can, while still remembering I’m doing what I do because I love it.

With all that said, I do sometimes think about what life would be like if I didn’t pursue art and animation as my career path. Over the years I’ve had casual interest in human biology, human psychology, and astronomy. I imagine I would have likely built a career around one of those options. Aside from the obvious career change, my life would be completely different than what it is now, I’m certain I wouldn’t be living where I am since I would have attended a completely different college, and I would’ve missed out on a lot of the amazing people I’ve met due to my career path and interests based around my career. I’m genuinely very happy with where I am in life, and the people I’ve surrounded myself with, so it’s difficult to imagine that things would be better if I had not become a professional artist.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’ve always had an interest in drawing, anime, and video games since I was a kid. It just so happens that around the time I was in 8th Grade and about to enter high school, I realized that I could possibly make a career out of those interests. While I was in high school, I took the opportunity to take classes in graphic design and animation. Ultimately, I ended up wanting pursue the animation side of things, and more specifically animation for video games when it came time for me to pick my major and courses in college.

My primary focus is being a 2D Animator, but depending on what is asked for me, I am also a pixel artist and a character artist. From the projects I’ve been on, I’ve done a lot of work on character customization, which is essentially being able to create your own customized avatar in a game by choosing your own hairstyles, clothing, faces, etc. Growing up, when it came to me making characters in games, there would usually only be maybe 2 or 3 shades of darker skin tones, or maybe one generic looking afro or braided style for a hairstyle to represent myself. In some games, female characters wouldn’t even be an option at all! Nowadays, character customization and diversity has come a long way and greatly improved, but as an artist that has done a lot of work on that kind of thing, I’m proud that I’ve personally been able to help contribute to making character customization a little more inclusive, so more people can more accurately represent themselves.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect is being able to connect and interact with many other amazingly creative people. Between college, work, and even seeing and meeting other artists online, there’s just so much to learn and pull inspiration from. From my middle school days, I was one of the very few students in my class that could draw a bit more than a stick figure character, so I didn’t really every get a lot of creative peer feedback other than general art chat and advice from my teachers. As I got older, and had peers and instructors that were more specialized and experienced in being artists, I realized how valuable it is to surround yourself with those that understand what we do, and can give you advice and feedback from their own similar experiences. Though, this is not to dismiss the valuable perspectives those who aren’t familiar with creating art can provide as well.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I think it’s easy for a lot of people who don’t really create art to say that people that are good at art are just naturally talented at it. While some people may pick up on it quicker than others, there’s a lot that goes into nurturing and refining those skills. I’ve been drawing on walls, printer paper, and notebooks for longer than I can actually remember at this point, but even for me there was a point where stick figures or tracing drawings out of picture books was the best I could do, and I didn’t even consider I was “good” enough to do it as a job until I was already in high school.

If the interest is there, and it’s something you’d like to try, I don’t think it would hurt to just practice, check out some tutorials online, pull inspiration and study from other artists that you like! If you work towards it, it may very well pay off as a rewarding hobby, or career!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ashlihudson.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vexxcellent/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashlihudson/