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'Big Nose Drawing' as a friend calls it has always felt quite liberating to me. Few forms of expression can punch so far above their weight as a fast and loose cartoon carrying a potent metaphor. This facet of my art has been our perennial survival line, bringing in weekly commissions for most of my working life.
When radio network wars flared I'd be running hot doing zany portraits of their breakfast hosts. I did political cartooning for the Christchurch Star and a twenty year stint of that for M.G Business Magazine.


Caricaturing is an ingredient of the cartooning field which can provide an interesting challenge - and much satisfaction on those occasions when the subject is truly 'nailed'. My painterly 'Caricature Portraits', done to commemorate milestones in the lives of local residents has been my most positive area of interaction in our rural community.

Ashley's cartoon archive at National Library
http://natlib.govt.nz/photos?text=smith,+ashley

Happy & Glorious Birthday to You!

Happy & Glorious Birthday to You!

It's the first King's Birthday Weekend for quite a while.
I decided to celebrate with a festive flurry...
Year2023

Homeland Security

Homeland Security

I haven't done any pen and ink political cartooning for about 3yrs
but with so much zany stuff going on I had to uncap the 
Indian ink again. Felt good!


Year2020
Cheeky Monkey (excerpt)

Cheeky Monkey (excerpt)

Aren't sure really where to plonk this display...?
They're cartoons but were strung together ( with another 100!)
to make a 7min movie to back an item my daughter's band ( Mundi) played
in the Christchurch Arts Fest.

She wrote it after reading in National Geographic about monkeys descending
on a  Caribbean resort, once the tourists had nodded off, and cleaning up their cocktails
- with resultant mayhem.
Year2019