Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Trail.
Hi Ashley, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a garage stuffed full of pipe cleaners, sequins, and craft paper. When we were still pretty little, my mom (an art director) had my sister and I making abstract paintings by dipping snails in finger paints, so I’d like to think that that’s where my creative journey started!
I loved art all throughout school (I was definitely known as “the kid who could draw”), and in high school I figured that that’d make a pretty great career. So, I applied to four Illustration programs at colleges along the West Coast and got into all of them. I ended up in sunny Southern California at Otis College of Art and Design, which I just graduated from in May! In the last four years, I’ve focused on drawing comics, printmaking, and storyboarding for animation.
The summer of Junior year, I got an internship through the Television Academy Foundation at Titmouse, where I worked as a Production Intern! It was an awesome experience, and for a while I really had my heart set on being a storyboard artist. I still love the animation industry, but life is weird and exciting! I recently accepted a job offer as a Junior Press Operator and in-house Illustrator at a letterpress / design studio called Genghis Kern in Denver, Colorado. It’s going to be wild to leave Los Angeles, but I’m excited for this next step in my career, and will always treasure the memories I made here.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
When it comes to creativity, I don’t think there is such a thing as a smooth road! I’ve been very lucky for very many reasons, but I think part of why I’ve done well here and there is because of an unfaltering determination to improve and a proactive attitude to make that happen.
I think it’s not only natural, but maybe necessary for artists to be dissatisfied with their work. Not so much so that you’re discouraged, but acknowledging that you’ll always be able to change what you do and how you do it. It means that you see where you have room to improve, and can address those points to better your work.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I think the best title to describe me is Illustrator. I love comics, storyboarding for animation, wood-carving and linocut, letterpress… I’ve got sort of a weird jumble of things that I love to do, but the exciting thing is that they all inform each other in some way. Everything is very narrative-driven, whether it’s a board for a fairytale retelling, or a standalone print.
Right now, I’m focusing on comics, and I’ll be leaning back into printmaking soon. For my senior thesis at Otis, I started a webcomic called FISHGIRL. I’d only made physical printed comics before, so working in a scroll format was wildly different—but I loved it! I’m still working on producing episodes, so go check it out on Webtoon!
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Just ask! It’s probably the dumbest advice because it’s so cliché, but seriously—a meteor is not going to drop from the sky and smash you flat if you ask someone for advice. When you do ask, though:
1. Always be polite.
2. Remember that they’re a busy professional, and might not have the time to reply or write you an essay.
3. Ask something specific to them! Not just, “Do you have any advice about this industry?” Maybe, “I really admire your use of color in X project, do you have any resources that helped you when learning how to color?”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://atrailartist.cargo.site
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atrailartist
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-trail-270b68232
- Other: https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/fishgirl/list?title_no=1048364
