{"id":278844,"date":"2018-06-26T06:06:43","date_gmt":"2018-06-25T20:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=278844"},"modified":"2018-06-26T06:06:43","modified_gmt":"2018-06-25T20:06:43","slug":"newest-walt-disney-cartoon-writer-is-from-saipan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/newest-walt-disney-cartoon-writer-is-from-saipan\/","title":{"rendered":"Newest Walt Disney cartoon writer is from Saipan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Amy Hudkins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Twenty-four-year-old Amy Hudkins, born and raised on Saipan, is making a name for herself as one of Walt Disney\u2019s cartoon artists in California. <\/p>\n

Hudkins is a writer and storyboard artist for Disney Channel\u2019s Big City Greens, a cartoon comedy and adventure series that focuses on a country boy named Cricket Green who moves to the big city with his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can watch [Big City Greens] on Disney Channel. Storyboard artists often wear a bunch of different hats, but the job is primarily one thing: To draw out a blueprint for what you see on screen,\u201d said Hudkins in an email to Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n

In animation, that also means drawing expressions, drawing the character acting, drawing where they are, what the scene is, and turning the story into something people can watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also write dialogue and jokes,\u201d Hudkins added.<\/p>\n

Hudkins finished high school at Saipan International School and took up animation at the Savannah College of Art & Design in Georgia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve really liked drawing for as long as I can remember, but I think animated cartoons on television are what really inspired me. I used to trace a lot of anime and manga to try and draw like it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Hudkins credits her high school art teacher, Nancy Provido, for sustaining her love of drawing. \u201cI grew a lot learning from her. She would also call me out on my weaknesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her mother, Merle Costelo-Hudkins, saw Hudkins\u2019 potential for drawing when she was just 7. \u201cShe started drawing anime when she was a child.\u201d She recounted that Amy\u2019s art teacher in high school saw her work and talked to her that Amy has talent \u201cand told me to encourage Amy to work on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hudkins said that working on the Big City Greens show was a matter of being \u201cin the right place and right time.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI got really lucky in terms of getting hired by the show. I took a storyboard test (at Disney) right before graduating college and they happened to really like my stuff. I feel grateful every day as I learn so much from the amazing people on the show.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Hudkins, the storyline of Big City Greens hits close to home because it is similar to her journey\u2014moving from island life on Saipan to a big city in California.<\/p>\n

\u201cChris and Shane Houghton, the creators of the show, based it around growing up in the country and moving to the city, which is kind of like growing up in Gualo Rai and moving to Los Angeles. The \u2018fish out of water\u2019 story\u2026is relatable to most people, not just \u2018country folk,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am grateful for my time growing up on Saipan and I’m grateful for my family, especially to my parents who had my back and supported me and my dreams. The show has a lot of heart and a lot of laughs so please give it a chance and watch it! You can find the first episode for free on YouTube or iTunes,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twenty-four-year-old Amy Hudkins, born and raised on Saipan, is making a name for herself as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":278845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[21712,21713,21714,67],"class_list":["post-278844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-big-city-greens","tag-disney-channel","tag-newest-walt-disney","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}