Name: Ashley Wood

Location: Perth, Australia

URLs:
www.ashleywood.com


Tell us a little bit about your background? where are you from originally, etc?
I'm originally from Perth W.A, not much else to tell.

What are you doing now? Where do you work, etc?
I'm currently back in Perth taking some time out to be with my family and rest up a bit before my next assault. That's not to say that I'm not working though, I've got a new ongoing series starting in December called Lore and another book coming out in December called Run. That's the comic end of things but I'm also simultaneously working on children's books and I have a property that's being developed in Hollywood.

What was it like going from Australia to living in the US?
At first it was a real culture shock but I also put some of that down to the fact that we hadn't decided where we wanted to settle at that point. Overtime you get used to it all and everyone else gets used to you and then you're just another human.

What were your reason for wanting to work in the US as opposed to in Australia?
There wasn't any particular reason other than I couldn't get work in Australia. I love Australia, I grew up here but the only people who were willing to give me work were in the U.K and the U.S but then again it can also be said that the industry that I originally aspired to work in only really exists in those places.

How do you think your illustration style developed?
Necessity and broadening my views about art

What are your main influences?
Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, John Singer Sargeant, Bob Peak, Bernie Fuchs.

What materials do you use to produce your work? How much is done on the computer?
Depends on the piece and what it's for. The painted pieces all start off as oil paintings, some I work until they're complete oil paintings, others are used as a step in a computer aided process. As for the materials that I use, a lot of oil paint, digital photography and tons of Staedtler Calligraphic Duo markers.

Your artwork is very dark and sometimes disturbing, is this a reflection of your personality or simply a style that you enjoy working in?
A commercial artist has to be almost like a character actor, if you look at my work some of it is horror, some of it is fun and sexy, some of it's just goofy. It just depends on the job. So I guess in answer to the question, no, I'm not a dark, morbid or disturbed person.

You seem to produce a large amount of work, how do you keep the ideas fresh?
Enthusiasm, I love what I do.

How do you keep yourself motivated and interested?
Admiring the work of my contemporaries and revelling in the unspoken sense of competition between us and also looking back over the work of the people who influence me such as Singer-Sargeant and Klimt and stretching myself in the hope that one day I might attain some of their skill.

Do you have any new projects coming up that you can tell us about?
The books I mentioned before everything else is NDA

What do you know about Australian design/designers?
Australian designers are as good as anyone else. The ones I know of are.

Any final comments?
Thanks for the interest

Thanks Ashley!