Arts Thread

Cicely Ashford
Illustration BA (Hons)

University of Plymouth

Specialisms: Illustration / Printmaking / Drawing

Location: Bristol, United Kingdom

cicely-ashford ArtsThread Profile
University of Plymouth

Cicely Ashford

Cicely Ashford ArtsThread Profile

First Name: Cicely

Last Name: Ashford

Specialisms: Illustration / Printmaking / Drawing

Sectors:

My Location: Bristol, United Kingdom

University / College: University of Plymouth

Course / Program Title: Illustration BA (Hons)

About

I am recently graduated, UK based illustrator and adventurer. I aim to share my message and experiences through a variation of mediums and styles with focus on exploration, environmentalism and industrialism. The subjects I illustrate are almost all environmental studies of interesting and unique places, mostly based on places I have visited. These often have themes of isolation or solitude intertwined to create an element of emotion in artwork that does not include the human subject.

My more recent work has been influenced by written language incorporated into my illustrations to tell my stories, leading to my graduation project ’90 Days in Hokkaido’, a book I have written and illustrated about my experiences alone in Japan.

One of the strongest traits in my work is commitment and attention to detail.  This is seen across most of my work, such as in prints and digital pieces, but is more prominently seen in the drawings that involve traditional fine line.

The majority of my work is inspired by my experience of my exchange in Hokkaido, Japan. This was a sudden and lifechanging experience in which I was given the opportunity to attend Bisen, School of Art and Design. I was taught many ways of traditional Japanese painting, carving and drawing, and had adventures which has influenced all my work since.

During my 2nd year of Uni, I was given the unexpected opportunity to go on an exchange alone to Hokkaido, Japan. I had never travelled alone, and did not speak the language, but decided to be brave. While I was there I kept a diary and by the end of my trip I had written over 40,000 words documenting my stories and experiences, but never did anything with it. So as my graduation project I decided to illustrate these stories to create a book - '90 Days in Hokkaido'. These were illustrated in the form of many different mediums; watercolour, wood lithography, fine line, digital, photography and more.