Drawing is my preferred way of communicating with the world. Telling intricate stories through compositions and being able to denote messages through imagery has the unique ability to lift me out of the monotony of everyday life and to immerse myself into a world of creating.

Illustration by Aalia Ashraf featuring mechanical-like birds soaring through the sky with a little girl on one of their backs

The variety of projects I work on range from character design, to children books and to illustration for products.

Much of my time is happily spent exploring and utilising familiar traditional techniques, such as gouache or ink and pen.

Illustration by Aalia Ashraf featuring various whimsical and dream-like characters all following a little girl as they set off on an adventure

However, drawing digitally on Procreate, a programme that I have learnt to use fluently in my own time, has allowed me to gain more of an insight into the technical aspects of illustration and its digital limitations.

Illustration by Aalia Ashraf featuring the main character dressed in traditional Hanfu clothing with a snake wrapped around her hair
Illustration by Aalia Ashraf featuring a fox, pufferfish, sphynx cat and monkey character with very distinct outfits and personalities sitting on the subway
Illustration by Aalia Ashraf featuring a frog wizard character sitting on a log