Mr Ashley Potter
Profiles

Mr Ashley Potter

Lecturer in Illustration

School of Art, Design and Architecture (Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business)

Biography

Biography

Programme Leader BA Illustration

Qualifications

BA (Hons) Graphic Design - St Martin’s School of Art
Professional activities:-
Freelance illustrator / art director / production designer / animation director - working for a range of international clients in editorial, publishing, design, advertising, broadcast and cinema.
Founder of illustration studio - ‘the dairy studios’
Professional illustration agent (as Frank Love) www.eastwing.co.uk
Research activities:-
Devon Net Zero Visions - 'Time to Choose' animation director.
https://youtu.be/DmZg5PJaO8I?si=JghNXMAf_Sci9qlR

Exhibitions
Cardiff Animation festival - presentation exhibition of artwork from ‘The Miracle Maker’
Association of Photographers Gallery- ‘Camera to canvas’ group show.
European Illustration Annuals and exhibitions.
Images - Best of British Illustration annuals and exhibitions,London and touring nationally.
‘The Artist as Illustrator’ Central Saint Martins, London.
‘London’ Artbank Gallery, London.
Beijing International High Tech Show, Beijing.
‘Smau Digital Conference’, Milan
'50 Years of Penguin' Clarendon Gallery, London
Torture Gardens, London
Awards
Emmy - outstanding achievement background artist - ‘The Canterbury Tales - The Nun’s Priest’s Tale’
Bafta - best short animated film - ‘The Canterbury Tales’
Academy Award nomination - ‘The Canterbury Tales’ 
Advertising Creative Circle - Silver 
Images 9 Best of British Illustration 'Best Newcomer '
Images 18 Best of British Illustration 'Creative Review Award'
Images 31 Best of British Illustration Silver “Advertising section” 

Professional membership

Association of Illustrators

Roles on external bodies

External Examiner
BA Illustration Oxford Brookes University (Swindon)
Teaching

Teaching

Teaching interests

Specifically interested in narrative forms and experimental cross-overs between disciplines and approaches.

Staff serving as external examiners

External Examiner BA Hons Illustration and Animation at Anglia Ruskin University - 2015 - 2019
Research

Research

Research interests

'How People Communicate a Sense of Themselves" is my overarching research title. I've realised that my professional work and sketchbooks over the years have been concentrated upon people watching - a fascination with how people interact and hold themselves.Paper 'Girl & Bird– an investigation into visual inspiration and subsequent processes of development.' at the “The Birth of Images” conference in Dijon, April 2014.
'Ale Tales' South West Creative Network fund: Augmented Reality Interactive project with Dr Stephanie Black looking at the social interaction within the British public house environment.
Completed animation for the Net Zero Visions Devon Climate Emergency https://www.devonclimateemergency.org.uk
'Time to Choose' animation director.
https://youtu.be/DmZg5PJaO8I?si=JghNXMAf_Sci9qlR

Creative practice & artistic projects

various editorial and design commissions as freelance illustrator working for national and international clients. 
art director on various television commercials - national and international including:- 
McVitie's / Solpadeine / the Post Office / Kraft foods / Orange / Carling / Martini 
art director on music videos:- 
Mary Black / Erasure / Pierre Boulez 
art director and background artist on long form animation:- 
'Soho Square' - a BAFTA nominated experimental mix of dance, acting and painting 
'Carmen' - a 20 minute opera 
'The Miracle Maker’ - an animated feature film about the life of Christ 
'Care International' - an animated film charting the history of the charity 
'2020' - a treated live action film for the Royal Bank of Scotland
co-designer and art director 
‘Virtual Runner’ – Soho post-production company Framestore’s web and in-house interactive game 
director and designer 
‘The Canterbury Tales - The Nun’s Priest’s Tale’ - BAFTA 'Best Short Animation' & EMMY 'Background Artist' 
‘The Union Game’ - television title sequence for BBC Wales 
‘Boomerang’ - television station idents for Cartoon Network 
Publications

Publications

Journals
'Picture This:The Artist as Illustrator' editor Sylvia Backemeyer, Herbert Press

Designs
Lürtzer Archive Annual

Association of Illustrators Annuals - Images (various years)

European Illustration Annuals (various years)

3x3 Ill08

'Picture This:The Artist as Illustrator' editor Sylvia Backemeyer, Herbert Press

Other Publications
"The Canterbury Tales - The Nun's Priest Tale" Director, Art director, Background artistAcademy Award Nomination 1999

BAFTA Best Short Animation 1999

Emmy Background Artist 1999

Art Director on a series of animations for the London 2012 Olympics Committee alongside award winning director Mario Cavalli and author Michael Morpurgo.

Personal

Personal

Reports & invited lectures

"My work is based upon studying the idiosyncrasies of human behaviour and I like to draw wherever and whenever; on planes, trains, restaurants, music gigs, abattoirs, nightclubs and operating rooms – it’s a different experience than taking a photograph; you are more aware of yourself and others around you within an environment, whilst concentrating upon the drawing and trying to capture the essence of why you wanted to draw in the first place”. 

“The animation work that I’ve been involved within has mainly been quite experimental within commercial contexts, often mixing traditional animation techniques with treated live action. It’s a team effort and I love the thrill of working within a collective of creatives.”
Also work under the pseudonym Frank Love
@franklovehurts

Links