We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashley Dowell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ashley below.
Hi Ashley, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
Imposter Syndrome is a big one for me, and to be honest, I can’t say that I have completely overcome it. I believe that my feelings of being an artist “imposter” more than likely stemmed from growing up in a low-income family with limited resources for art supplies or art education. I was homeschooled until 10th grade, attended a very small highschool, and went to an even smaller college. Not having a classical/university level art education made me feel like I was so behind for many years. No matter how hard I tried or how good people thought my art was, I didn’t have the other business/marketing type know-how to promote myself. It was very frustrating. It seemed career artists had all the opportunities and connections that I didn’t have. Overcoming imposter syndrome is a process, but here are the steps I am taking that have greatly helped me to move forward: I first had to acknowledge that it is possible to be a successful “self-made” artist. I am under the impression that since I had to do it all on my own, my work is highly original. I didn’t have a computer to copy other artists from the internet or teachers from a classroom. I learned through trial and error and just putting the pencil to the paper all the time.
Secondly, I was advised by a mentor that there is always someone who will like your work, the first person being yourself. So paint for yourself! This has helped me so much because I do find it difficult to paint in certain styles for people or take commisions outside my niche (that I haven’t had the chance to learn). There is nothing worse to feeling like an imposter than trying to paint/draw someone else’s style. Make yourself a digital portfolio and refer to that with every commission. If they say, can you paint this like so-an-so, just say no! It’s not worth it.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Art has always been a major part of my life. It is how I make sense of my world. When I was young, I would draw myself and make a lot of different outfits that I could wear since I couldn’t have them in real life. I would also create my own paper dolls in place of dolls that I might never get. Not that poverty was constantly on my mind, I just made things that I wanted. My favorite subject to draw was my family and friends. They always asked me, and still do, to make them into their favorite fantasy characters or do family portraits. When working in call centers, I would create all of my coworkers and myself as Star Wars characters, somehow allowing us to escape the cubicle when we looked at it. Although I had a great highschool art teacher, the majority of my art education was self learned in a world without Pinterest and YouTube if you can believe it! My magic carpet into the children’s book illustration world happened when I volunteered to help a homeless friend illustrate a coloring book to bring awareness to homelessness. She spread the word and I received another freelance job for a fully color illustrated children’s book. I had no idea what the official illustration process was, but I did as much research as I could and since then I have delved head first into the world of children’s book illustration and book publishing as a whole. Since starting my first book in 2015, I have since had the opportunity to illustrate nine published children’s books and publish many more regular books under my own hybrid publishing house, Dowell House Publishing, all of which can be found on Amazon.com and at many other bookstores and libraries. I have been blessed to work with such lovely authors from ghost writing, writing mentoring, story editing, illustrating, book/cover design, and publishing. Making books is a blast!
I also have a Master’s degree in Teaching and Art Education and spent several years teaching Elementary Education in the school system and online. Now, I am able to stay home with my children and have more time to take fledgling writers and illustrators under my wing. My current Dowell House Publishing business is in the process of expanding to create a safe social space for aspiring Christian women writers, editors, illustrators, etc, to come receive a thorough education and make quality books together.
My personal book is called “Watch” by Ashley E Dowell and it is available on Amazon.com along with many other books if you search Ashley E Dowell. The Dowell House Publishing website (www.dowellhousepublishing.com) is currently under construction to update all of our publishing services and books store, but can still be viewed.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The first quality you must have as a freelance artist or any other growing career field is a Growth Mindset. It is easy to think, especially if you were born with some kind of artistic talent, to give up when things get too hard and pigeon-hold yourself as not being born with it. Your brain is amazing! Even if you are like many and “can hardly draw a stick figure” you can still learn to make art. You can grow and get better if you keep practicing and enjoy it!
A helpful skill to have in my line of work and others is the ability to learn quickly and implement what you have learned correctly. The field of business marketing, digital art tools, AI, publishing standards, etc. is always changing. It is important to be able to expand your offerings as you gain interest. It is a lot easier to become good at things when you are interested. This is how I have been able to add professional writing, teaching, publishing and editing services to my portfolio.
Lastly, the areas of knowledge that I would HIGHLY recommend when starting in the children’s book illustration/publishing/or freelance art business is really beefing up your marketing knowledge. This is an area that so many people are lacking in. If you are looking to get published, build a freelance art business or get your name out there as an illustrator it is so important to start building emails lists and a fan following on any platoform to build your brand. This is how the market works today and it is a mistake to dismiss this knowledge.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I have been actively searching for a business partner to assist in the project management side of our publishing services business. Right now, I do have several people who assist in the creative areas, but I find it difficult to be both CEO and project management. Another marketing friend told me that there are Dreamers/Planners and then there are the organizers and doers. I feel like I could do one or the other, but for the most part I am always dreaming and making ideas, but would love to have a partner to help build and grow the business side of things. It is hard to do both at the same time and it is difficult to find someone with the same passion to run alongside me.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.dowellhousepublishing.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dowellhousepublishing/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dowellhousepublishing/
Image Credits
Shirley A. Franklin (Author of One Hand to Build, One Hand to Fight); Jenice Owens (Author of Coco Brown).
