poetry illustration for "Open Window" exhibition

Done for the poet Pamela Beasant (who is also my mother), for an exhibition in Orkney over the summer. The exhibition, "Open Window" paired 45 artists with poets, to produce works of art that were displayed in selected windows along the cobbled sreet in Stromness. Here's a link to an article about it here

some summer work

i'm very late uploading this stuff, but i have only just stumbled upon it!

blue birds

i saw some blue tits today out of the kitchen window - they were all fluffed up in the cold.

fancy bird

penguins

We went to the zoo at the weekend and it was fantastic! Though so cold that no sketching happened, but lots of photos were taken. I've tried to do a few vector sketches to make up for it. The penguins are easily my favourite animals in the zoo - so graceful and inquisitive.

lunchtime doodle

happy halloween!

and more...

I've been researching trows and orkney folklore - it's amazing the similarities between the old norse ('norn') traditions, and our own - i'll find some articles and post them soon. It's so interesting!

Trows were invisible to most mortals except special individuals and cats. They love to dance, play music and sneak into unsuspecting farmers kitchens. If you saw one you had to keep eye contact, or lie down and plarce a dagger at your head for magical protection. They live in the dead howe's/cairns, and are thought to have been originally undead spirits. Woe betide anyone who touched their dead howe. They turned to stone if sunlight touched them.

I think i'll pair my lonely trow with a cat friend and see what happens....

I feel a story coming on!

orkney trows

some more trows! i like them. Drawn with a splinted and possibly fractured right wrist, so please forgive the quality :S

here be trolls

some sketches of trolls....(there are a lot of them back home in orkney)

coffee shop lady

a very quick lunchtime sketch of a lady i saw in the coffee shop last weekend. She had a very distinctive style.

I'm aiming to life draw from behind a latte every weekend, so watch this space.....

last night's sketch....

...finished on my lunch break.

Inspired by Carole Lombard - she's a haunting actress, with an almost eerie, otherworldly beauty. I wanted to show this through my colour palette.

mad bird

this is what happens when i'm left alone with a blank illustrator document....

a wee doodle...

pregnant women are beautiful.

(my cousin's been having a few complications...but she seems to be healthily expecting now.)

Sketchy book stoof

Stuff i've been doodling inbetween taking calls and making tea for the office - apologies for poor scan....

one of those days

I'm trying to animate and it's not working, so this is the procrastination result:

New Updated 2011 Showreel

Alex Ashman Showreel 2011 from Alex Ashman on Vimeo.

work in progress...

bug

Another of my doodles, photoshopped to life.

savanna deer

I doodled this deer while bored at work, and she screamed for a photoshopping.

A Sweet Disposition

My artwork for the poster of m'collegues degree show film A Sweet Dispostion (Eleanor Affleck and Sarah Dargie) I'm really pleased with he outcome for once :)

syrup

more fig

fig and syrup

I am currently working on an amazing and very secret project for a very talented film maker in london. Here are two character designs i've been working on....

some b&w pics

a wee sketch

Some photo's from my travel to orkney

some animation

I did a wee bit more animation for Eleanor and Sarah http://a-sweet-disposition.blogspot.com/ For their 4th year film, "A Sweet Disposition". I basically just redrew all the arm movements for this scene:

First Draft of Scene 03 from Eleanor Affleck on Vimeo.

I'm going to be in an exhibition

I'm going to be in an exhibition, starting on the 5th of Feb:
Origins – Orkney’s Art Graduates 2009-2010
5 February - 12 March 2011

It's in the Pier Arts Centre in orkney, which is a complete honour, as it's affiliated with the Tate St. Ives and features art in it's permanent collection by artists such as Bill Viola, Eduardo Paolozzi, Sean Scully, Barbara Hepworth, Anthony Caro and Anish Kapoor.

I'll be showing a few of my animations, including a new one, as well as framed life drawings and my character designs and pre-production 4th year artwork.

Nervous doesn't even begin to cover it!

Pictures to follow - here's a link to the website: http://www.pierartscentre.com/exhibitions.html

tigers....

i like winged tigers now :)

cuppa...?

i have an exhibition coming up on the 5th of feb, so i am tweaking and reanimating some of my older stuff....here's my tea animation (not finished!!)

Untitled from Alex Ashman on Vimeo.

more characters

my brain was wandering artistically and i came up with this character....any thoughts...?