Meet Hailey McLaughlin: Illustrator and Cartoonist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Hailey McLaughlin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Hailey, how do you think about risk?
I usually don’t think about risk in the moment. Often my mindset is: wow, that could be fun! And it’s not until I’m in the thick of something that I think “hmm maybe I should have come up with a better game plan.” But things end up ok 90% of the time. I wanted to move to Los Angeles but couldn’t afford it, so I took a risk and moved to Boyle Heights and volunteered with a Catholic religious order for 9 months. I was completely out of my depth but from there I was able to find a permanent home in Los Angeles, make wonderful friends, and make my way into the animation industry.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My modus operandi is “get the goof:” all I really want to do with my art is make people laugh. I always thought that I had to draw with so much detail or figure out every last nook and cranny of perspective and anatomy to create “good art” but honestly I’ve had more fun and more opportunities when I focused on drawing the precisely dumb enough face of a frog enjoying taiyaki. I love bright colors and happy art work: I like to think I’m finally creating the artwork that 6 year old me would have been hyped about. My artistic process has been a bit of a rollercoaster the past few years: the LA animation industry has pushed my work farther than I thought it could go, and I feel like I’m finally hitting a stride of goofiness that I’ve always wanted. I spent a lot of time trying to develop an artistic voice for other people, you know “oooh, I should draw in this style so then I have a likelier chance of being hired by this studio, et cet.” Experimentation is fun, but when I was doing it for the sake of a job application, illustration started feeling like a chore. When the pandemic hit I had time to work on my own projects that I had put off for so long: I opened up a print and sticker shop, I’m writing and illustrating a children’s book, and starting in April I’m launching an autobiographical webcomic documenting my experiences as an Autistic person. For the first time in a long time, art is fun again.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Oh golly! Well first off, we are heading to the Getty Museum! I volunteered at the Getty Center as a docent and it is truly one of the most astounding art museums in the world, and one of the most beautiful places to visit and overlook Los Angeles (did you know the Getty Center is constructed from 1,200,000 square feet of travertine?). Don’t forget to visit the Getty Villa if Greco-Roman-Etruscan art is more your jam. The next day we can spend in Little Tokyo: we can get conveyor belt sushi at Kura and then walk around the various shopping centers there and visit the Japanese American Museum.. A hop, skip, and a jump away is the Arts District, where we can wander through the Hauser & Wirth art gallery and admire the neighboring restaurants herb garden and chickens. If you’re a weirdo like me and like spooky stuff we can head to the Mystic Museum and the Bearded Lady Vintage and Oddities in Burbank. If you’re not my parents then we’ll definitely have to make a stop for the night life in West Hollywood. After some steady partying and shenanigans we have to get the best tacos in LA, so 1 expensive rideshare later we will be at the corner of 4th and Breed in Boyle Heights (just outside the Smart & Final) ordering our weight in tacos from El Texano Taco Truck. If you are my parents then instead we’ll head to Pasadena for arepas and hot chocolates from Amara cafe, visit the Huntington Botanical Gardens and then get pupusas from El Buen Sabor in Montecito Heights. If we have time, we can unwind at my favorite board game cafe, the Game Haus in Glendale. Before I drop you back off at LAX we can grab some boba tea from Holly’s Donuts in North Hollywood.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My shout out goes to the coolest kids in the world: the children attending the Salesian Family Youth Center in Boyle Heights. When I first started volunteering I was told that working with you guys would be harrowing, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. You were some of the funniest, craziest, kindest, sweetest, smartest, most creative children I’ve ever met, and Boyle Heights is one of the best neighborhoods to be in. Some of my favorite memories include our extremely chaotic and often disastrous baking lessons; going to the beach with Natalie and Stephanie; discussing Naruto and Kpop with Debbie; playing D&D with Logan, Jorge, and Brandon; reading with Quetzaly; laughing with Bridget; pretending to be Pennywise to scare Matilda, drawing with Alia; trying to figure out Grecia and Ethan’s toddler gibberish; learning to read with Johnny; going to Disneyland with Kevin, Juanito, and Alec; and creating a giant “water park” with all of you on the last day of school. I could be having the worst day possible and all I had to do was show up for work and you would greet me with your smiles and give me hot-cheetoh-dust-and-Chamoy hi-fives. I would not have made it as far in my career without you. And to my brothers and fathers: Juan Pablo, Armando, Julio, Reegan, Jesse, and Jimmy.

Website: www.haileymclaughlin.com

Instagram: personal: @haileytjmclaughlin webcomic: @noballoonsallowed

Twitter: @haileytjmclaughlin

Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/HaileyMcLaughlinsArt