Daily Inspiration: Meet Hailey Stevenson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hailey Stevenson.

Hi Hailey, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Hi I’m Hailey! I am currently a student at ArtCenter College of Design. I major in the Illustration Entertainment Arts track. I started out believing that it wasn’t possible to become a successful artist because I grew up in a family that believed art-related activities were more of a hobby and shouldn’t be taken that seriously – especially because careers in the arts don’t have a great reputation to make a lot of money. I was taught that the “real” jobs were in STEM.
When I eventually grew the courage to commit to pursuing art, my parents were not very enthusiastic. At the time, AI was increasingly becoming more effective and prevalent with each passing day, so going to college to study Illustration didn’t seem like a wise choice to them. What my parents didn’t know was that art was one of the only things that made me feel sane. It was also the only activity that I could spend hours working on tirelessly.
Despite both of my parents working in business and technology, I had been creating artwork independently since elementary school. I knew that it was something I was willing to work hard at no matter what, and that still applies today.
I am two years into college now, and can gladly say that I was right to go down this path. Not only have I stayed motivated to keep making art, but I have also found an abundance of new inspiration. Even though the journey has been difficult, I love and appreciate art so much more now. I can’t imagine what my life would look like if I had not chosen this path. I know for a fact that this is what I was meant to do and I’m so happy that I didn’t give up on myself.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
One of the biggest struggles I’ve had since coming to ArtCenter has been dealing with imposter syndrome. I chose to attend one of the top art schools in the country, yet I was bewildered by the absurd amount of talent surrounding me. A lot of my classmates have grown up in the art world and went to specialized schools for art before coming to ArtCenter. I never had any experience like that. In fact, I had never even met a professional artist prior to coming to ArtCenter.
I had only recently decided to pursue art before committing to ArtCenter, so I quickly realized that I was at a disadvantage. It’s really easy to doubt yourself when everyone around you seems objectively more skilled or experienced. On top of that, some people I look up to also questioned whether I belonged there. One of my closest friends told me I should’ve never come to ArtCenter with my lack of skill and experience. They told me and others that I was lazy and ambitionless. One of my professors asked me if I was sure about going into Entertainment Arts because my perspective drawing wasn’t good enough. Another teacher told me they were disappointed in my work.
All of that happened in my first year of ArtCenter despite working as hard as I could and trying my best to make work that everyone could value. Soon after, I had a difficult time because I lost confidence in myself and my work. I found it really hard to trust myself to work on projects that I genuinely cared about, and as a result, my work suffered.
From this experience, I learned that it’s best not to focus too much on what others are doing or what people are saying about your work because every artist’s journey and body of work is unique. I also know that there will always be a higher standard to attain, no matter how ‘good’ I get. There isn’t much use in punishing myself if I’m not where I want to be yet.
My mindset was able to change after I reflected on my old work from grade school and compared it with the work I’m doing now. In my older work you could tell there was so much heart involved in my work. In some ways, it was a lot stronger than the work I’m creating now. Nevertheless, the work I’m doing now has improved remarkably and it has far surpassed my expectations from when I first came to ArtCenter.
I am doing much better than I ever thought I could be. I realized that I didn’t give myself enough credit for what I was accomplishing. It is incredibly hard to try and pursue this especially under my set of circumstances, so now I actively choose to be proud of myself. All that matters is that I try my best and believe in myself, because that’s how I’ll know if I’m improving or not.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am currently an Illustrator based in Pasadena. Right now, I’m working as a student at ArtCenter College of Design, but I am especially interested in working in production design or visual development. I would say most of my strengths lie in traditional painting and drawing, but I enjoy using different mediums and trying new things. I am most proud of my most recent project where my team and I created a proof of concept for a visual novel-rhythm game inspired by Taiwanese culture called “Dance, Dragon, Dance”. I am most proud of this project because I never worked on a serious creative project with a team of other artists before and it turned out to be successful. It also made me realize that I want to work in production design in the future, so I’m grateful for that. I believe what sets me apart from others is how much I love working with other people and sharing creative ventures with them. It is such an enjoyable experience for me and my last project made me realize that I’m good at facilitating, supporting, and communicating within a team. As a result of that, I’m confident that if there were to be any challenges in projects with other people, I would be able to handle them with ease.

How do you think about luck?
I believe luck plays a role in my life by allowing me to go to art school. I am aware that, in a lot of ways, art school isn’t always worth it because of how expensive and inaccessible it is. Therefore, it’s not a good option for lots of people. However, I do believe that its value widely depends on what an individual puts into it. It’s unwise to assume the school is going to provide everything for you.
I am incredibly fortunate that my family is able to support my tuition. Many aspiring artists don’t have that convenience. Conversely, I do believe that anyone with any background can become a successful artist. It depends on the artist and how much they are willing to work towards it. Today, there are also more affordable high-quality options to learn and advance artistic skills, so art school isn’t the only road to success. Many professional artists come from different backgrounds, and a lot of them don’t have art degrees.
Another thing that I’ve learned so far as an artist is that it isn’t always a good idea to create artwork solely around what other people enjoy. Catering to other people is hard because it can be unpredictable and it can cause you to lose your individuality as an artist. Having individuality is a good thing because it’ll help you stand out and get noticed more. When you create things that you are interested in and passionate about, your work tends to shine more distinctly. As a result, there will likely be people who connect with and enjoy your work as well.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @hail3y_draws
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hailey-stevenson-161549332