All About Ash

Ash Smith is an illustrator and comic artist who was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 2000. They graduated in December of 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in Art and Visual Technology and is currently living in Alexadria, Virginia. Their work consists of illustrations, comics, and zines both traditionally and digitally drawn. They create character-driven stories of mundane scenarios mixed with magical or spooky elements. When Ash began as an artist, they worked primarily in realism and life studies. Slowly, though, they started to loosen and find themselves in their work which coincided with a shift to digital creation. However, even as the focus shifted positively, they felt physically separated from my work. Recently, comics and zines have let them once again hold their work in their hands and feel like they have made something of substance.

Their comics represent aspects of themselves in large or small portions. Whether it be emotions they’re missing in their life, their fears, or their queer identity. Their art is their ideal; who they want to be, what they want to look like, and the type of relationships they want to have. The characters they create explore their genuine experience and through them, they explore more powerful emotions than they ever could as themselves. Ash’s art is very personal and vulnerable at its core, and it is this experience they seek to share.

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In 2022, they started selling their artwork at artist fairs and conventions, including Nekocon and Awesomecon. Their senior show premiered the first chapter of their long-form comic, Finding John Doe, which is currently in progress. In the future, they plan to continue making comics and zines as well as illustrations for stories.