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Artwork created by Ashley Holohan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.
About the Artist:


Hmm, you really want to know?

Real Name: Ashley Holohan
Alias: Zannah
Location: East Coast, USA
Gender: Female
Status: Married
Age: 24

I was born and raised in New England, though I no longer live there. I've been drawing, or at least doodling, for most of my life. I took art classes steadily from first grade on (kindergarten finger painting doesn't really count =P), and always enjoyed them. Like most kids, I doodled in the margins of my notebooks, on scrap paper, on the paper bags I covered my books with, etc. It seems that when I wasn't drawing something, I was writing. Both have been best loved pastimes of mine throughout the years. When I was ten, my father was diagnosed with cancer, a malignant sarcoma that would claim his life two years later. It was at that time that my character "Zannah" was born. She was a coping mechanism of sorts, someone to draw and write about, whose life I could control because I had no control in my own circumstances. Soon I had her life, her family, and even her entire world created. Over the years the character and the things she's been involved with have grown, changed, and matured. She's still with me years later.

High school was your usual rocky road story. Needless to say, I'm well used to being the oddball and the outcast, and I have very little patience for cliques and drama because of it. I continued taking art classes all through high school and cemented my decision to major in it when I went to college. I was primarily interested in drawing anthropomorphic characters (and still am). I started paying a lot more attention to other artists and trying to figure out their styles. In the process I learned a lot and discovered I'm an excellent copyist in most cases. All this time my own style was beginning to emerge as well. I went to college and did indeed major in studio art. On the side I also kept up with my computer skills, so I ended up quite well rounded in that aspect. My freshman year I began selling my artwork at local conventions, and finally worked up the courage to start offering commissions. I've had varying success on and off, but in general my sales have been quite positive. Spring of that year I also upgraded from my crappy old geocities page to my own domain name, graciously hosted on a friend's server.

College was an excellent experience for the most part. I got connected with the local scifi/fantasy club, and even discovered there was a local furry club (whose founder is now my husband). I got involved with area conventions and went to Anthrocon with the friends I made. I've done quite a bit of the advertising and program book art for Technicon in the past few years, along with a few other local artists, and I generally do well on sales at the con. I was married on February 14th, 2004, and have remained happily so. I graduated with a degree in Studio Art and a minor in Art History in May of 2005, and shortly thereafter we bought our first house. I work for a family owned and operated art/architecture/design supply store in a town not too far from where I live, and I love it. I'm a fairly open and friendly person, so feel free to drop me a line, say hi, set up a commission, whatever. I only bite when I'm really excited or pissed off. =P

F.A.Q.

When did you seriously start drawing?
I really buckled down and started putting effort into my doodles early in 1999. Here's an idea of how far I've come since then. Everyone has to start somewhere. Don't be discouraged if your art isn't all that good to begin with. Mine wasn't, and I still have trouble with things even now. The key is to keep your ego in check and always be willing to learn.

I noticed you have a queue and a status indicator on your commission page. What do they mean?
The queue is to help me keep track of what I've finished, who's next, who I'm waiting on, and who I still need to get to. While I do use names or aliases to help me keep track, I put nothing more detailed than how many characters or pages I'm doing. The status indicator generally stays open, but will switch to closed if I feel I have sufficient commissions to keep me busy for awhile. I don't want to get bogged down and forget someone or make someone wait a really long time for their piece. I am notoriously bad about keeping the darn thing updated, unfortunately.

How did you get to where you are in drawing?
Years of art classes, helpful anatomy books and other references, studying the work of other artists, and most importantly: PRACTICE. I don't sketch things out nearly as much as I should, but I do sketch regularly to help refine my skills and keep them sharp.

Do you prefer to hand color or computer color?
I like both. Both have their merits and drawbacks. Currently, though, I have to say the prisma markers have edged out photoshop and taken the lead in this category.

Are you published anywhere?
I've been doing pieces for our local clubs and cons for over six years now, both for advertising flyers, websites, and conbooks. I designed the mascot for a local RPG group. I designed the main piece of work for the conbook and t-shirts for Rising Star 2006. The Society of Anthropomorphics has my express permission to use anything they want from my work for their website, which is a unique right I've granted them. I've designed one of the banners used by the VTDate website. I also designed a whole series of flyers for the Theatre department in my last semester. One of my pieces is pending to be published in Herd Mentality, and I was a contributor in the last EXtinctioners compilation. I painted one of the Hokie Bird statues that are all over Blacksburg, VA as part of the Gobble de Art project. I also had a show in the Herbert Gallery at Bluefield State College, WV.

Do you really think you're some Jedi fox chick?
What, are you kidding me? No. I'm human. I know the boundaries between fantasy and reality. I'm simply a very creative person, and a lot of that creativity comes out in my art/writing/roleplay/costuming. Imagination is a good thing. You should try it sometime.

Can I use one of your characters/your race?
Unless you have my explicit permission, the answer is NO. I hold the copyright on their likeness and race, and I want it to stay that way.

Does this mean I can't draw your characters unless I ask first?
Actually, that's the one "use" of my characters I don't mind you not having permission for. I love guest and gift art, and I'm not going to screech at you if you draw one of my characters.

Your art is cool! Can I post it on my own website?
Yes you may! All of my art is Creative Commons Licensed. It is not for commercial use. If you do repost my work, please do not change the signature, do credit me as the original artist, and link back to my site here.

Can I color some of your line art?
Yes, you may. You may also repost it saying you colored it IF you credit me as the original artist. Remember, none of my art may be used for commercial puposes.

Do you mind if I save you work on my computer/print it out/trace it to learn from it?
I have no problem with any of the above. Do not, however, take it, erase the signature, and claim it as your own work. That's very rude and copyright infringement. Learning is one thing. Outright theft is something else entirely.

Are you a "spiritually connected" furry/therianthrope?
No. I never understood nor saw much point in this. Apologies to those who do, but I just don't get it. I am a Christian, however. I won't preach at you because that tends to raise more hackles than anything else, but you can always contact me about it if you're curious.

Why is there nothing over PG-13 on your site?
Because my mother visits it and I don't want to be yelled at for traumatizing children.

Are you one of those weird people like in the MTV special/Vanity Faire article/CSI Episode?
No.

What's the difference between a "Furry" and a "Furry Artist"?
Depends on who you ask. I fall into both categories since I have a character/avatar, and roleplay as costume as that character. I suppose someone who would be purely a furry artist would just draw anthros. There's a lot of room for overlap here. Some people don't mind the lable, but others resent it. It really depends on who you're talking to.

You mentioned you love to write. Why don't I see any stories here?
Because I'm a good deal more sensitive about my writing than my art, because most of my stories revolve around my character's life and probably wouldn't interest most people, and because many of them are unfinished.

You mentioned you go to conventions. Do you costume/sell art there?
It depends on the convention, but I'm usually running around in one costume or another. I'm a big fan of spandex (which is a privilege! NOT a right), and working on building more elaborate costumes (Krystal from Starfox Adventures at some point) and finished my first real build not too long ago, in the form of Carnation, an original character. I also usually put at least a few pieces in the art shows of most of the conventions I attend. If you find me at a con, just ask. Or you can always email me ahead of time to ask if I'm going and what I'm bringing.

If I manage to find you at a convention, can I come say hi/give you a hug/get a sketch from you?
Feel free to say hi. I'm quite friendly unless I'm drop dead tired or starving. Hugs? Hmmm, maybe, but don't jump the gun. If you glomp me out of nowhere and I don't know you, chances are you're gonna get kicked/scratched/bitten/and possibly kneed in the privates. Rule here is Ask First. If you aren't a greasy cat-pee-stink fanboy, I'll probably have no problem with it. ^_^ Get a sketch? So long as I'm not busy helping out somewhere (I've ended up on staff for a lot of these), sure. Just track me down and hand me a sketchbook with an idea of what you want. I often don't have time to do things like artists' alley or dealer's room, so it�s best to catch me on the fly. Trades are even better.

Can I find you anywhere else online?
I have an AIM account, but I refuse to post the name publicly because I've had accounts spammed to death before. I'm a longtime Cast and Crew member of TrekWars: The Furry Conflict and usually visit the boards at least once a day. I'm on LJ and FA, FAP, VCL, YNA, and if you want to dig up ancient stuff, Side7 and Elfwood. Occasionally I wander around FurryMuck. I get on a few IRC channels sometimes as well. Recently you can find me on SecondLife as Zannah Marquez some evenings. I'm usually somewhere in FurNation's or Club Vixens' area.





All images and content is © Ashley Holohan. Do NOT use without permission!