Ashley Wood is an Australian artist known for his work in comics, traditional drawings and paintings, and toy designs. I was first introduced to his work through his striking traditional paintings while I was in college.

I love his use of shapes and expressive mark making in his traditional pieces. I think he has a really good understanding of how to design shapes to make interesting characters. His pieces often have a pretty simple composition and background with incredibly designed characters and silhouettes taking the spotlight. There's something so bold and confident about his decisions that really make his work impactful.

Another aspect that amazes me is how he is able to describe form with very little mark making. It's crazy how he can paint very round and formy looking faces with a few brush strokes. He's also really good at knowing where to add form and where to keep things simple and flat. The contrast between these two levels of detail augment each other and make the formy areas look more rendered and the flat areas more impressionistic.

All of these techniques really come together in Wood's story telling. Not only do the characters feel real and full of life, but also his compositions and gestures make me imagine a story behind each piece. It's almost like I'm looking at a still frame from a movie and I can imagine what kind of adventure these characters are on.

Ashley Wood has been getting into collectibles in the past few years and I am here for it! He has produced insanely cool collectible toys through his UNDERVERSE brand. He has also collaborated with many artists to bring their artwork and characters into the tangible world.

Here are some of my favorite toys from him.

He also recently collaborated with another artist I love, Entei Ryu, to make one of her characters into a toy.

If you are ever at Comic Con or Designer Con, I have seen UNDERVERSE with a booth where you can see some of these beautiful figures so definitely go check it out. It's incredible to see these figures in real life!

I don't currently own any of his toys or work, but it's on my list to try and get one of his toys!

Did you know about Ashely Wood and his work? Let me know what you love about him in the comments!