![\"Ashley](\"http:\/\/www.pikaland.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/50372.jpg\")
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I love receiving emails from up-and-coming illustrators, who write to introduce me to their work<\/a> \u2013\u00a0it’s one of the highlights of going through my inbox.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0I have full faith in them in that they’re still finding their way \u2013 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<\/span> YEAH<\/span> or a no<\/a>. It keeps things simple around here.<\/p>\n Ashley Percival<\/a> was one of them.<\/p>\n 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 \u2013\u00a0but I still found that there was something missing. I’ve decided very early on that I wouldn’t comment on other people’s work \u2013 especially the same people who so graciously sent me their links (unless they’re hiring me!<\/a>) so I just left it at that.<\/p>\n 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 \u2013\u00a0whether they’ve progressed, changed or just remained the same as they were when they touched base with me.<\/p>\n So when I checked back on Ashley, I smiled. Because I could see more of his personality<\/strong> 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?<\/p>\n It’s taken a few years Ashley, but here’s a HELL<\/span> YEAH<\/span> from me. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n See more of Ashley’s work on his website<\/a>, buy his prints on Etsy<\/a>, and check out his Society6 shop<\/a> for more animal weirdness.<\/p>\n![\"Ashley](\"http:\/\/www.pikaland.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/50352.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Ashley](\"http:\/\/www.pikaland.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/50382.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Ashley](\"http:\/\/www.pikaland.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/50332.jpg\")
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