Ashley Nichols

Ashley Nichols (born March 11, 1993, San Jose, California) is a non-binary animator, voice actor, and content creator who uses she/they pronouns. She taught herself animation as a preteen using pirated Flash software and spent years in online fan art communities — the My Little Pony fandom in her early twenties, then Steven Universe fan animations in the late 2010s — before breaking into professional animation work.

Her Steven Universe fan animations caught enough attention that she submitted a demo reel to the Hazbin Hotel pilot team. She was brought on as lead cleanup artist, a role that gave her a close look at how an indie YouTube production was built into something that looked broadcast-quality. She went on to do cleanup work on Too Loud, Ollie & Scoops, the 2020 Animaniacs revival, and the Lackadaisy animated film, where she served as cleanup lead.

Her voice acting career launched with Zooble (and variant Bazooble) in The Amazing Digital Circus — a dry, easily irritated character whose delivery requires restraint to land. The role came through her existing connections in the Glitch Productions circle.

YouTube Channel and HuniCast

Ashley runs Ashley Nichols Art on YouTube, where she streams her animation process and discusses behind-the-scenes production work. The channel has grown to over 650,000 subscribers. Out of those streams came HuniCast, a loose podcast-style show she co-hosts with Michael Kovach, featuring artists and voice actors from the indie animation world. It has spawned a significant amount of fan-made animatics.

Far-Fetched

Alongside Dave Capdevielle, Nichols is co-developing Far-Fetched, an original animated series built around characters she first created in childhood (the project was originally called Hell Puppy). The current focus is a two-minute pilot proof of concept for a possible 20-episode run.

Background and Identity

Nichols is candid about her mental health and has discussed it publicly, including in a Wacom interview titled "I've Built An Empire Off My Own Suffering!" She has been a featured guest at animation industry conventions, including Zenkaikon. Her path — from pirated Flash software and fandom to lead cleanup work on professional productions to voice acting and her own original series — is largely self-taught and community-driven.