Meet Ashley Pinnick | Artist, Art Director & Game Developer

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

Hi Ashley, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
My work-life balance has changed radically in the last few years. For most of my life I was driven by perfectionism and that led me to overwork myself tremendously. My perspective had been built upon a belief that I needed to do more than everyone around me in order to earn a seat at the table or be seen as competent. As my career has gone on I’ve learned how damaging and untrue that is. I gave years of my life to overwork and experienced burnout, anxiety and creative stagnation. My creative work and quality of life both improved a lot after I decided to challenge my anxiety and define what a sustainable creative process looks like for myself.

Since I decided to try to tame my perfectionism and imposter syndrome, I slowly come to learn that I do better work when I am rested, have a sane schedule, and make an effort to take care of myself in all aspects of my life. My daily routine, what media I choose to absorb, who I spend my time with or if I am spending enough time outside, it all contributes to my ability to be creative. If I don’t have balance in my life, my work will suffer. If I don’t have balance in my work, the rest of my life will suffer. It has become non-negotiable for me to have work-life balance.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am an Artist and Art Director who makes video games and VR! I love to meld art with technology, and create inviting, strange and colorful worlds for players to be a part of. I love to explore different styles of art and genres of games in my work.

My journey to being a professional artist has been a long, winding path. I grew up in a small town of 3,000 people in rural Arizona. My family lived in a retirement community and I spent a lot of time by myself or in the company of adults needing to keep myself busy. I used to spend hours in my room drawing, reading, or drawing designs for a robot who could be my best friend. I was fascinated by science fiction, technology, and silly, creepy things — paranormal stories, interesting creatures and abandoned places, for example. You can still see these interests in a lot of the work I make today.

As I got older, I became interested in comics, animation, physics and music, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study more seriously. I spent some time working retail and exploring different subjects in community college before settling on studying Illustration at ArtCenter, where I graduated from in 2015. In my last year of school, I fell into making virtual reality through wanting to make my first game. I bought a headset off of Craigslist and begged my teachers to let me try to make something for my graduating project. After bringing people into the world I created and seeing how they connected with what I had made, I knew I wanted to pursue making games.

I got my feet wet after school working for film clients at an ad agency, where we created a few small games and VR experiences. After that I found myself at Google working on a virtual reality painting program called Tilt Brush, which was a really special experience. I worked with some of the smartest, most creative people I’ve ever known on that project! I also was able to hone more of my technical skill, work with artists who made art with Tilt Brush, and find my confidence as a creative person.

Since then I have been enjoying focusing on making games with a lot of lovely people. In the last two years I’ve been freelance for the first time in my career, which has given me wonderful flexibility to work with folks in many different places! In fact, this year 3 games I worked on shipped — Cosmonious High by Owlchemy Labs, Color Space VR by Lighthaus Inc, and Slimeball! with my friends Drew Skillman & Patrick Hackett.

I am excited for how the continued evolution of games will challenge me to make new worlds that players can enjoy and connect with.

One thing I’ve learned is that the same interests you may have been insecure about growing up can be incredibly useful working professionally. I can draw upon my skills and what I find inspiring to set myself apart creatively — whether that’s making environments based on the open, desolate spaces I spent time in growing up or designing a creature based on insects and microscope photography.

I’ve also learned that trusting the creative process is important. Oftentimes, the first idea or first prototype isn’t the best one. Trusting that you will make the right decisions while being open minded enough to change course quickly is a constant balancing act, but it pays off in the end. You just have to allow yourself to get there!

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?
There’s no way to narrow it down completely! I love Los Angeles for all of its co-mingling of cultures, ideas and people. There is always something more to see and enjoy.

Day 1
* Morning hike at Devil’s Gate Dam in Upper Arroyo Park, Pasadena
* Breakfast and tea at Copa Vida Cafe, Pasadena
* Leaf through the $10 book nook at Pasadena Antique Center
* Lunch at Fiore Market Cafe, South Pasadena
* Explore at the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena
* Dinner at India Sweets & Spices, Atwater Village
* Evening drinks at Bigfoot Lodge, Atwater Village

Day 2
* Breakfast and tea at Goodboy Bob, Culver City
* Exploring Museum of Jurassic Technology, Culver City
* Walk down the street to the Bhagavad Gita Museum, Culver City
* A fancy lunch at Plant Food + Wine, Venice
* Drive up the PCH to the Getty
* Dinner at The Butcher’s Son, Los Angeles
* Catch Jon Brion at the Largo, Los Angeles

Day 3
* Breakfast and coffee at Jones, Pasadena
* Spend most of the day at Huntington Library, Pasadena
* Dinner at My Vegan, Pasadena
* Catch a movie at iPic, Pasadena

Day 4
* Take the Metro to Union Station, Los Angeles
* Breakfast and tea at G&B Coffee, Grand Central Market, DTLA
* Sightsee Downtown LA: Bradbury Building, Angel’s Flight, Millennium Biltmore Hotel, St. Vincent Court, Clifton’s and everything in between
* Lunch back at Grand Central Market (Sticky Rice is my favorite)
* Thumb through the used records at The Last Bookstore
* Explore the downtown LA Public Library
* Shop the Public Library’s excellent gift shop
* An afternoon pick-me-up at Aquarela Coffee in the lobby of the Cal Edison Building

Day 5
* Breakfast and coffee at Kitchen Mouse, Highland Park
* Leisurely shopping on Figueroa — Sunbeam Vintage, Gold Line, Gimme Gimme Records, posing with Chicken Boy!
* Pinball at Revenge Of, Glassell Park
* Lunch at Green Leaves Vegan, Los Feliz
* Explore the mausoleums at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale
* Evening puppet show at Bob Baker Marionette Theater, Highland Park

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are so many folks I have been incredibly lucky to know throughout my creative journey. Chad Godt, my community college art professor who helped me hunker down and create a portfolio worthy of admission to art school during a time in my life where I was struggling. Dana Duncan, my friend and former teacher, who always encouraged me to follow my inner compass despite the many strong opinions I was surrounded by in art school. Gayle Donahue, who expected more from me than I realized I could give. Drew Skillman, who gave me my first full-time job as a Tech Artist and always demonstrated how to treat yourself and everyone around you with kindness. And lastly but absolutely not least — my partner Antonio, who has always been incredibly supportive of every scary decision I had to make, regardless of whether or not I believed in myself at the time.

Website: www.ashleypinnick.com

Instagram: @ashleypinnick

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleypinnick/

Twitter: twitter.com/tvdinnerdev

Other: (Projects mentioned in article) Tilt Brush: https://tiltbrush.com/ Cosmonious High link: https://cosmonioushigh.com/ Color Space VR link: https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/2702419963135346/ Slimeball! link : https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/5673983899278394/