Author Archives: amy

I love a good zine and Chelsea Ryoko Wong has made lots of them. I’ve always found zines to be a rambling (and intriguing) conversation of just one person, but with Chelsea’s zines, it’s almost like she’s inviting you into a little private party – hands outstretched.

She’s a featured artist at the San Francisco Art Comission’s PASSPORT event this week so if you’re in the area, be sure to pop by for a visit. A lot of her zines are sold out everywhere, but you can find a copy of Around the World over at Good Press Gallery in the UK.

Remember Malika Favre? She made these crazy sexy covers for Penguin’s Kamasutra and we get to see her behind-the-scenes process on how she came up with the idea that made the cut.

Read the article at Volcomunity!

I love receiving emails from up-and-coming illustrators, who write to introduce me to their work – it’s one of the highlights of going through my inbox.

But I have to confess that while I go through each and every one of them, there were some who I felt weren’t quite there yet. Now, I’m not saying that they’re not good enough to be written about, but at that particular moment, I felt that featuring them wouldn’t do them justice; especially when I thought they weren’t quite ready. I have full faith in them in that they’re still finding their way – it’s just not something I feel terribly excited about at the time. By now you would have deduced that for me, it’s either a HELL YEAH or a no. It keeps things simple around here.

Ashley Percival was one of them.

He wrote to me a few times over the past few years (and I can only hope that I did remember to reply his emails the best I could), sending me his links and updates – but I still found that there was something missing. I’ve decided very early on that I wouldn’t comment on other people’s work – especially the same people who so graciously sent me their links (unless they’re hiring me!) so I just left it at that.

But the truth is, I remember almost every single person who has contacted me. I sift through every link and make a mental note of the artist and their work. And I sometimes check back to see how they’re coming along – whether they’ve progressed, changed or just remained the same as they were when they touched base with me.

So when I checked back on Ashley, I smiled. Because I could see more of his personality in his work. I could spot some experimentation going on, which made me sit up and notice; and in between his detailed lines, patterns and animal characters, I saw a sense of humor that I felt he had held back years before. I particularly love the running theme he has with animals being weird or just plain awkward. And props. Who doesn’t like props?

It’s taken a few years Ashley, but here’s a HELL YEAH from me. 🙂

See more of Ashley’s work on his website, buy his prints on Etsy, and check out his Society6 shop for more animal weirdness.

Have a great Monday folks!