Gigi Murakami
Watercolor
My name is Gigi Murakami, I’m an award-winning manga artist & illustrator, and content creator at the intersection of horror media, Japanese manga and anime, and alternative and nerd culture. My work overall blends Japanese manga art, vintage grind house poster art, and pulp comic aesthetics, while thematically focusing on the dark, dramatic, fantastical, and often introspective.
Colloquially known as “Queen of Horror Manga,” I have a handful of both traditionally published and self-published works, but am most recognized for my supernatural horror manga, RESENTER, which had a one-shot published with Viz Manga.
I’m currently working as art lead and executive producer with the anime company, NLite, on their sophomore film “WEBE”, operating my membership program, Midnight Cult, online store, Gigimurakami.store, and creating content on my social media.
Some fun, notable achievements:
In 2025, I received the Cartoon Crossroads Columbus Emerging Talent Award, presented by Bone creator Jeff Smith and partner Vijaya Iyer. I’ve also worked with numerous brands for social media campaigns, including VIZ, Kodansha, Wacom and more. Another cool thing was being able to be a judge for the Brooklyn Horror Film Fest and facilitate a giveaway between BHFF and Kodansha for lovers of both horror film and manga, like myself.
What was your favorite book as a child?
Probably Corduroy by Dan Freeman. It was actually quite scary for me as a child, but I loved it so much. I think Are You My Mother? by P.D.Eastman is the same for me as well.
What is your favorite food?
I really love Unagi Don–sweet eel over rice! I’m a sucker for fries as well!
Who or what inspires you the most?
I’m highly inspired by mangaka, such as Naoki Urasawa, Junji Ito, Katsuhiro Otomo, and Satoshi Kon. I find all of these creators to be fantastic. Their work has completely blown me away and has pushed me to create better stories.
Available for School Visits:
I’ve mostly been to Art Colleges. I went to the School of Visual Arts a few times, Parsons and the Queens Library. I’m always available to talk to schools and, especially, libraries–libraries were my sanctuary growing up.
Awards and honors:
SPX Ignatz Award 2024 (Nominee)
Cartoon Crossroads Columbus Emerging Talent 2025
Harvey Awards 2025 (nominee)
ALA Outstanding Graphic Novel for Children Awards 2026 (Honor)
Creative Process:
My process for making manga / comics involves creating a short outline of the story. From that outline, I’ll use a Japanese writing structure called “Ki Sho Ten Ketsu” to organize the main beats of the story and thats about as much as I’ll do for the writing process. I have hyperphantasia (vivid mental imagery), so I want to get to the draw stage as quickly as possible so I don’t lose the scenes (and hype) that I created during the outlining stage.
Everything in this part of the process is done in Clip Studio Paint. Once the writing is done, I’ll create a few sketches of the main characters and get their designs settled before moving onto storyboarding. I create the dialogue, character blocking, panels, and panel composition all at the same time— just trying to transfer what’s in my head onto the storyboards. During this process, the whole comic is thumbnail size, but is large enough to cleanly add dialogue and everything else I need. Once I finish, I’ll screenshot each of the pages onto my large size, manga work file, and just trace over my initial sketches and finalize.
My process for illustration is roughly the same, minus the story outline.
What do you love to do for fun?
I enjoy watching movies, reading manga, gaming (although, I don’t have so much time to game these days), and traveling.
Location:
Brooklyn, NY
Published books:
The Sinister Sisters and Other Terrifying Tales – Are You Afraid of the Dark? Graphic Novel #2 (Abrams, 2024)
RESENTER (VIZ, 2024)
Hello Darkness #16 (Boom Studios, 2025)
RAZORBLADES (Tiny Onion, 2025)
Paroxysm Vol V (Mysto Press, 2025)
Forthcoming books:
Mediums:
I started my career primarily using traditional tools, but now use mostly digital tools, such as Clip Studio Paint with my 24-inch Wacom screen display for making manga and comics. For illustrations, I move between digital, watercolor, or Copic markers to get the job done.
Specialties:
Advertising, Black & white, Book Covers, Character design, Graphic novel interior art, Horror, Illustration, Inking, Manga, Middle Grade, Mystery, Packaging, Penciling, Sci-fi, Writing, Young Adult
Visit Gigi at:
Published Books
Dusty Higgins
Watercolor
Dusty Higgins is an award-winning cartoonist and illustrator who began his career working in newspapers as an editorial cartoonist, illustrator, and graphic designer. He’s worked in branding and marketing, as a professor of digital media, and as an animator/director (Star Forest). He fell in love with storytelling at an early age, drawing comics in elementary school, later writing and drawing three different comic strips four days a week for his college newspaper.
Higgins’ debut graphic novel, Pinocchio Vampire Slayer, was a 2010 Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens from the Young Adult Library Association. Higgins has a Masters of Fine Arts in Animation from Savannah College of Art and Design, although that’s not nearly as impressive as his homemade pizza, cultivated from years of practice. When he’s not creating or cooking, he enjoys spending time with his wife, two children, two dogs, and a Venus fly trap named Vinny.
What do you love to do for fun?
I grew up waterskiing on the lake with my dad, who did so with his dad, and I happily take my children to the lake to sling them across the water as I continue that tradition.
What cool travel spots would you most highly recommend?
The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery in Hong Kong is a treasure I’m happy to have been able to visit. The stairway up the mountain to it is lined with a hundreds of uniquely posed golden Buddha statues, and it was an inspiring place to visit.
Available for School Visits:
I enjoy talking with kids and giving them a behind the curtain reveal of what professional artists do, talking about ideation and explaining how artists start with sketches to create a blueprint, and what that work goes through next. Basically explaining to them why that how to draw books starts with circles and squares to make a bear, and how even people like me still do that. I like to bring in examples of work that I’ve done to show how things get made and what they look like in early examples versus and then show them what the final product that they see actually looks like. I’ve done this both with graphic novels as well as animation. I like to end the presentations with a group exercise, usually letting the students help me ideate a character or a short four panel comic, depending on how much time we have.
Visit Dusty at:
Website: https://dustyhiggins.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dusty_higgins
Bluesky: @dustyhiggins.bsky.social
Creative Process:
I once had an older, and wiser, colleague who taught painting describe to me how they would teach students the process of painting using a projected image over time. They began by projecting the image completely out of focus, so that the students would only see blurry shapes. The initial paintings would be abstract forms. But every so often, this professor would tweak the focus, slowly bringing the image into a sharp perspective. Each time, the abstract forms would be rendered to a finer degree, before the students finished their painting. My approach to each project I work on is much the same. I work in digital media, traditional mediums, in motion and static, and even in writing. The method works for all of those mediums, and can even inform a different approach to the medium. Begin simple and broad, then I analyze, refine, and repeat until it’s done.
Awards and honors:
2010 Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens, Young Adult Library Services Association
2015 Junior Library Guild Selection, Junior Library Guild
2017 Junior Library Guild Selection, Junior Library Guild
Specialties:
Action-adventure, Animals, Black & white, Board books, Book Covers, Branding, Character design, Coloring, Concept art, Editorial, Fantasy, Graphic novel interior art, Humor, Illustration, Indie comics, Inking, Lettering, Middle Grade, Mystery, Non-fiction, Penciling, Picture books, Sci-fi, Slice-of-life, Spot art, Storyboarding, Typography, Writing, Young Adult
Who or what inspires you the most?
Nature. One of my go-to things to do when I’m feeling uninspired is to grab some gouache and my art travel bag, and find a nice spot for some plein air painting.
Published books:
Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer (SLG Publishing, 2009)
Pinocchio Vampire Slayer and the Great Puppet Theater (SLG Publishing, 2010)
Knights of the Living Dead (SLG Publishing 2011)
Turok, Son of Stone Volume 1: Aztlan (Dark Horse 2011)
Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer Volume 3: Of Wood and Blood part 1 (SLG Publishing, 2012)
Pinocchio Vampire Slayer of Wood and Blood part 2 (SLG Publishing, 2012)
Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer: Complete Edition (Top Shelf Publishing, 2014)
Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape: Attack of the Alien Horde (Simon and Schuster, 2015)
Valkyrie Beer Delivery (Stela Publishing, 2017)
Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape: Rise of the Robot Army (Simon & Schuster, 2017)
Forthcoming books:
Location:
Bryant, AR
Mediums:
digital, ink, watercolor, gouache
Published Books
Sarah Cathcart Anderson
Watercolor
Sarah Cathcart Anderson is an artist, writer and creative director living in the Pacific Northwest. She has spent many years collaborating with big and small brands, ad agencies and non-profits. Sarah is a graduate of Stanford University, with a theater major, and an alum and former instructor in the Art Center College of Design’s Advertising program. As an illustrator she works both digitally and in ink, pencil and watercolor, creating work that explores the magic and absurdity of the everyday world. When she’s not telling stories and making art, Sarah spends her time detangling her son’s wildly long hair, hanging with her dogs, and eating amazing food cooked by her husband, Food Network personality and Today Show regular Mark Anderson of The Grill Dads. Her family is thrilled she does so little cooking herself.
What was your favorite book as a child?
I loved so many! One of them was definitely Alexander and the Magic Mouse. The illustrations and characters were so vivid for me, and I loved the idea of being trapped in a rambling house reading sea stories and drinking tea with talking animals while a storm raged outside for 30 days and 30 nights. I still do.
Who or what inspires you the most?
My kiddo. He’s brilliant and wild and completely unique. He inspires me every day.
Mediums:
watercolor, ink, pencil, digital
Specialties:
Creative Process:
For me, everything starts with some kind of narrative spark: sometimes it begins with an image, sometimes with words, sometimes with an emotion or experience I’m trying to articulate. Then I grab whatever is nearest—scraps of paper, my notes app, an actual sketchbook (if I’m lucky)—and start scribbling. If I’m starting with words, my next step is to get to my computer and expand on the thought, trying to find the form in the narrative. If I’m starting with a visual, I draw some rough sketches on paper or on my tablet and get to know the new idea a bit. Either way, my next move is to really nail down the manuscript and then draw a loose storyboard so I can see how the story moves and breathes. Then I’ll play around with character design and choose a key moment to explore visually in more depth. I try obvious stuff, weird stuff, go down tangents, and then get to work drawing a more refined version on paper. I usually rough in with a light pencil, then come back with watercolor, then colored pencil, and then scan it into my tablet and noodle around with it in Procreate. At that point I’ll probably bounce back and forth between paper and tablet. Whether I’m writing or illustrating, a really important part of my creative process is to stop at different points and step away—when I come back with fresh eyes, I always find I bring something new to the work.
Location:
Boise, ID
Published books:
Forthcoming books:
Awards and honors:
Available for School Visits:
Visit Sarah at:
Jade Vaughan
Watercolor
Howdy, I’m Jade! I’m a comic bookworm currently based in Virginia. You can often find me lost in a library or forest somewhere. For the past few years I have worked multiple part time jobs (the hustle is real y’all) and as the creative director for Kids Comics Unite, a team passionate about fostering community and providing opportunities for kids-ya comic creators.
My fascination with storytelling is rooted from multicultural experiences I had growing up as a traveling military brat, a love for magical girls, and a deep appreciation for worlds you can sink yourself into to go on good ol’ fashion adventures. In my free time I enjoy baking, spilling tea with friends, and dreaming of one day owning a mango tree.
What is your favorite food?
Mangos! In fact, my content is rated M for Mangos. They’re amazing, 12/10.
What inspired you to make comics??
I didn’t think I could make comics for a long time, because I thought they were mostly stories of superheroes in the west or manga in the east. It wasn’t until I found Jen Wang’s Prince and the Dressmaker misplaced on a shelf at a Barnes & Noble, that I realized graphic novels were a thing in the U.S and GASP what — exploring topics like crossdressing in a positive way??
This was during a time when I was figuring out my own queerness, and it was genuinely life changing. It made me realize that creating these kinds of comics was something I absolutely could do!
Mediums:
I primarily use digital, however I have experience with watercolor, ink, and graphite. I would love to use analog tools for early reader comics, picture books, or illustration assignments.
Creative Process:
I usually approach characters first, followed by their world, and what medium (story length & type of art tool) best suits it. I try to grasp a very specific scene in my mind, and everything goes towards getting to that scene! How I get there is part of the fun.
As for coming up with ideas and getting inspired – I like to go on walks, research locations, or sit at a park or forest. They all add to the creative soup. I also like to stick large pieces of paper on the wall and write/tape stuff on it. It’s good to have a tangible vision board to go back to.
Location:
Virginia, US
Awards and honors:
Visit Jade at:
Published books:
Forthcoming books:
Specialties:
Action-adventure, Black & white, Book Covers, Branding, Character design, Coloring, Concept art, Fantasy, Graphic novel interior art, Humor, Illustration, Indie comics, Inking, Lettering, Manga, Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Penciling, Picture books, Slice-of-life, Spot art, Storyboarding, Young Adult
Available for School Visits:
I have not yet presented at a library or school but would love to! I’d happily give presentations on how to make four panel comics, my process making a book or zine, or even give an entire monologue on an ode to the mango while wearing a mango costume.
Coco Ouwerkerk
Watercolor
Coco Ouwerkerk (1992, known online as Colourbee) is a comic artist/animator, born and raised in Arnhem (Netherlands). Studied two years at ArtEZ Comic Design and three years at HKU 2D animation and obtained her HBO diploma there.
She has published “Small Press” comic books since 2016, including: Colourbee in de Pocket, L.O.C.O, The Meeting, together with two friends the manga Oyasumi. In 2023 there was a successful kickstarter for a small press along with 4 others with 18+ comic shorts called Sticky Pages.
Her debut album, Acception #Losers, was released in December 2017 by Uitgeverij Syndikaat.
This album was nominated for “Youth Album of the Year” in 2018. Since January 2019, Acception has been published together with WEBTOON as a digital comic, which can be read for free in English, French, and Spanish on the WEBTOON app. With more than 900k followers, Acception is Coco’s greatest success yet. You can now read 6 seasons on WEBTOON and there will be more to come. In the Netherlands, Volume 1: #Losers, and Volume 2: #Friendship, are now available as Dutch comic albums. In 2025, volume 1 and 2 will also be released in the USA by Publisher WEBTOON UNCROLLED. Volume 3 and more will appear at a later date in both Dutch and English.
What do you love to do for fun?
Watching anime, reading comics, big fan of Nintendo games and playing TCG like Pokemon/Digimon/Yu-gi-oh.
Making Japanese snacks like onigiri and takoyaki.
Staying in and playing games with my boyfriend or going for a walk in the woods or city together.
Do something with friends. Drawing, watching movies, playing video games.
Who or what inspires you the most, and why?
Animals and nature inspire me a lot. A lot of fashion elements in Acception can be traced back to something animal or nature related. These things inspired my favorite shows like Pokemon, which uses animals as inspiration. Or Bluey, which uses every breed of dog. Or Myths, which uses reptiles to imagine dragons, etc. I love fantasy animals based on what we see around us. It makes you feel more one with nature if you see art inspired by it. It’s something we are all familiar with.
Awards and honors:
Nominated for youth comic of the year 2018 (Netherlands)
Location:
Mediums:
Creative Process:
Art Process for personal comic projects:
I make clear character designs. Colouring moodboard. Design the overall style. Write a finished story with clear genre for the target audience. With a somewhat open middle to be able to change stuff for the better if needed. But the beginning/middle/end is there. I thumbnail the pages. While making the pages I sometimes see better ways to illustrate the story and change small parts for better storytelling. I mostly work digital but for short comics I work with watercolor, copic markers, ink, pencils. When my comic is finished I print it and sell it on markets and online. I’ll make sure to promote my comic before it’s finished.
Art Process for assignments:
I first want to call or in real life meeting with my project partners/client to make a clear plan. I also would like to set up either an app or group discord to contact for quick questions if needed. If the assignment is only for a few illustration or a small project I’ll handle that with emails and calls. I will let the client know the steps I take and ask what steps they want to see from me. I always show sketches and ideas first. Then the finished black and white and lastly the colored version. Every round I want feedback if needed so that there is no confusion in the project. And we don’t have to do changes in the end.
Specialties:
Action-adventure, Advertising, Animals, Black & white, Board books, Book Covers, Branding, Character design, Coloring, Concept art, Drama, Fantasy, Graphic novel interior art, Humor, Illustration, Indie comics, Inking, Manga, Middle Grade, Moving storyboard, Non-fiction, Penciling, Picture books, Romance, Sci-fi, Slice-of-life, Storyboarding, Toy design, Writing, Young Adult
Visit Coco at:
Colourbee.co (still working on the website, nothing to see yet)
Instagram: Colourbee4 https://www.instagram.com/colourbee4/
WEBTOON creator profile: https://www.webtoons.com/p/community/en/u/colourbee
Forthcoming books:
Published books:
Acception Volume 1 & 2 (DUTCH) (Syndikaat, 2017)
Acception Volume 1: Losers (ENGLISH) (Webtoons Unscrolled, 2025)
Acception Volume 2: Friendship (ENGLISH) (Webtoons Unscrolled)
Available for School Visits:
I have visited highschools for presentations about how I got to becoming a Webtoon artist.
I visit my old art school once a year to teach a comic project for a week. And also do presentations on how to start a webcomic.
I have been asked to do some art-related workshops, from coloring for kids to making your own button to model art workshops. Or presentations about my work to comic-related events. Been on 2 different panels, one at Dutch Comic Con and one in Rotterdam Comic Con.
I’m not really open to do them much because I’m really busy with my Webtoon work so sometimes I have to say no. But once every few months is fine. I like to be around people so I try my best to make time.
Published Books
Jonathan St. Amant
Watercolor
My name’s Jon, and I like to draw wizards, monsters, derpy chubs, pinups, and ninjas. By day I’m a middle school art teacher, and by night I’m a dad/graphic novelist. I’m also an amatuer beekeeper and hobby aquarist. I’m inspired by video game RPGs, fantasy movies and novels, science fiction and outer space, manga and anime, my students, and the ills of society.
After receiving my BFA in Drawing and Painting and Art Credential from Long Beach State, I moved away from the fine art world and dove headfirst into the warm and supportive communities of cartoons, comics, and kid lit. I love to consume and create unconventional stories with relatable themes, but my absolute favorite thing is character design. I live in Southern California with my wife (who collaborates with me on stories), my two boys, two cats, a bunch of fish, and bees.
What do you love to do for fun?
I love hiking, surfing, playing video games (especially RPGs), trying different foods, traveling, gardening, taking care of my aquarium, evangelizing about bees, collecting comics and graphic novels, and of course reading them.
What is your favorite book as a child?
One of my favorite books as a child was Richard Scarry’s What do People do All Day? I loved finding all the details in the backgrounds. If you were savvy, you could even find Lowly Worm.
Specialties:
Art Process:
Typically, I like to sketch out an idea in my sketchbook first. For references, I’ll use Google, my own photos, or Pinterest. When I’m happy with my sketch or layout, I’ll take a photo of it and import it into either Procreate or Clip Studio. From there, I’ll ink over the sketch on a seperate layer with my favorite digital brush (for Procreate it’s Maxpack’s MaxU Sable Inker Soft). After that, I add colors and other effects on different layers.
Awards and honors:
Teacher of the Year, 2011
Winner of the KCU logo/mascot contest 2021
Mediums:
Location:
Published books:
Critical Thinking: A Shepherd’s Guide to Tending Sheep, (Kendall Hunt, 2000)
Are You Mad? A Guide for Developmental Writers, (Kendall Hunt, 2001)
What a Trip, (Kendall Hunt, 2005)
Visit Jonathan at:
Available for School Visits:
I visit the same school every day (I teach middle school art), but I am also willing to visit other schools as long as I can use a sick day here and there. I like to do step-by-step draw-alongs.
Brian Schatell
Watercolor
I draw silly animals for a living. I am the illustrator of 16 books for children, mostly picture books, some of which I have also written. I taught children’s book illustration and writing for twelve years at Parsons School of Design, and for sixteen years served as chair or co-chair of the Rutgers University Council on Children’s Literature’s annual One-on-One Conference for aspiring authors and illustrators. I’ve also done extensive illustration work for the children’s educational market and for the children’s apparel industry. Aside from my career creating art for children, I have a long list of diverse and eclectic interests/hobbies for which I have great passion but not enough hours!
What do you love to do for fun?
Visit used bookstores and used record stores.
What is your favorite children's book?
Frog and Toad Are Friends, by Arnold Lobel. The greatest book ever written in the English language and everything that I aspire to as an author/illustrator of children’s books!
Mediums:
Specialties:
Advertising, Animals, Black & white, Board books, Character design, Editorial, Graphic novel interior art, Humor, Illustration, Picture books, Writing
Art Process:
For many, many years I’ve kept a small notebook in my back pocket. When inspiration strikes I’ll quickly sketch or jot down an idea, a character, a line of dialogue, a turn-of phrase. These stray bits and pieces accumulate over time until they gradually coalesce into a book concept with a beginning, a middle, and an end. It’s an organic process. I currently have folders full of these scrips and scraps at various stages of gestation.
All of my illustrations contain some kind of black line art, and all of them begin with me sketching by hand with pencil on tracing paper. Lots and lots of tracing paper! Then depending on how I want the finished product to appear, there are three ways I might proceed. I will either scan the pencil sketch into the computer and use it as a template to draw the final line art digitally, or more commonly, I will develop the sketch into an black ink drawing on paper and then scan the completed black line into the computer to color digitally. Or option three, where I don’t scan anything at all and just watercolor the line art. Whatever the method, I expend a great amount of effort to make sure that the final art retains the spontaneity of my original pencil sketches.
Though I specialize in drawing funny animals in funny situations, (I’m partial to cows and chickens) I’m nevertheless interested in stories that are character driven and that have emotional resonance – not a contradiction, actually. The most important attributes of children’s book illustration in my mind are character and emotion, balance and clarity, flow and pacing. My rule is that every little thing put on the page should be there for a reason.
Forthcoming books:
The Bumble Brothers: Frabbit: Birth of a Superhero! (Reycraft, 2025)
Published books:
Selected Titles:
Farmer Goff and His Turkey Sam (Lippincott, 1982)
Two Crazy Pigs (Scholastic/Cartwheel, 1992)
Pup and Pop (Scholastic/Cartwheel, 2003)
Owl Boy (Holiday House, 2016)
The Bumble Brothers: Crazy for Comics (Reycraft, 2022)
The Bumble Brothers: The Not-So-Secret Clubhouse! (Reycraft, 2023)
Location:
Available for School Visits:
I love to do school visits. I have a two-part presentation, geared towards younger grades. Part one covers authors, illustrators and the book making process, from initial idea through writing, sketching, final art and printing, with visual examples. In part two, the students are the authors and I am the illustrator, as I draw an impromptu story from audience suggestions.
Published Books
Ariel Rutland
Watercolor
Ariel Rutland is an award-winning designer and illustrator whose work focuses on themes of nature, curiosity, humor, and beauty in everyday objects. She grew up in a cozy central New Jersey suburb down the street from a great big house with a pond. Many weekends of her childhood were spent strolling the neighborhood with her Grandma, who would often take the train from Manhattan down to “the country.” She credits their endless neighborhood walks spent storytelling about the squirrels, birds, and rocks that crossed their path as inspiration for her art… and ability to (bring to her art?) view nature and the world through the wondrous eyes of a child…
Ariel graduated from University of Maryland with a degree in fine art and concentration in graphic design. She worked as a product designer at Martha Stewart, followed by lead designer at a boutique branding agency. Her artwork has been licensed to American Greetings, Minted, Target, and West Elm, being featured on greeting cards and home decor. She is currently illustrating a forthcoming children’s book. When she isn’t drawing and designing, she can be found playing in the backyard with her three young boys and husband in Yardley, Pennsylvania.
What was your favorite book as a child?
My bedtime book request was always Stellaluna. The illustrations completely transported me into the night sky. I now read it to my boys, who are equally as captivated and curious about these tender characters as I was.
Who or what inspires you the most, and why?
Watching my kids grow.
Mediums:
Specialties:
Art Process:
I start by asking questions and diving into the subject matter to find answers and (hopefully) discover hidden gems that I can weave into the illustrations. I want to fully immerse myself in the world that I am about to draw. Then I do a lot of loose pencil sketches on paper, continuing to iterate until I find what’s working. Next begins my back-and-forth dance from digital to analogue and back. After I’ve sketched on paper, I create a digital version so I can easily manipulate the pieces—move the tree a little to the left, add some birds, change the season. After I’ve created this digital foundation of flat shapes, I move back to paper and use various media like watercolor, ink, and cut paper—sometimes scribbles from my kids— to create textures and other hand-made marks that I will eventually scan and layer into the digital file. I love using the Procreate app on my iPad and Photoshop for final refinements. Whether I’m working purely digital or a combination, it’s important I retain a hand-made, “perfectly imperfect,” emotive quality to the final art.
Location:
Visit Ariel at:
Awards and honors:
Available for School Visits:
Not at this time.
Published books:
Do Bees Pee? written by Linda Booth Sweeney (Harper Collins, 2026)
Apart, Together written by Linda Booth Sweeney (Harper Collins, 2022)
Published Books
Katie Risor
Watercolor
Katie Risor is an illustrator, author, and graphic novelist making books for kids. In 2021, her illustrations for Month of the Military Child won a Texas Advertising Award, and her debut author/illustrator early reader, Welcome to the Forest: The Harvest Party, was published in August 2025, the first in a four-part series. Katie grew up in Texas, but now lives in New Syracuse, York with her partner, three cats, and the groundhog who lives under the porch.
Why do you like to draw creatures?
A lot of ingredients went into my brain and came out as my creatures. The true inciting incident is when I got The Neverending Story from Blockbuster when I was about ten years old. I watched that movie, and Falcor’s been flying up in my brain ever since. Before that, Snuffleupagus was my favorite Sesame Street character and I’ve always loved fairies, dragons, gnomes and such. But Falcor was life-changing.
Specialties:
Advertising, Animals, Black & white, Board books, Book Covers, Branding, Character design, Concept art, Editorial, Fantasy, Graphic novel interior art, Humor, Illustration, Indie comics, Lettering, Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Packaging, Penciling, Picture books, Slice-of-life, Spot art, Storyboarding, Writing
Mediums:
Location:
Syracuse, New York
Art Process:
Every project, whether it’s a single illustration or an entire book, starts with an idea. Ideas can pop into my head anytime, but whenever I want to get a new idea I lie on the floor, close my eyes, and wait. Lying on the floor with properly inspiring music will usually give me something.
Next is brainstorming and iteration. For a whole book, this means sketching and storyboarding. For a single illustration this means doing iterative compositional sketches. I want to choose a composition that effectively delivers information to the viewer but is also pleasant, surprising, or delightful to look at, something that goes beyond the main idea.
The best illustrations I do always come from ideas I can see clearly in my head and for which I have a solid execution plan. However, I do like to leave room in the process for playing around. I think that’s why I like traditional media so much; no matter how much you know about the medium, you can’t be fully in control.
Visit Katie at:
Available for School Visits:
I love teaching art workshops for kids of all ages, but especially youngsters. I showcase the design process and inspire kids to tap into their own creativity. I do demos on “what if” storytelling, comics, drawing fantasy creatures, and painting. And finally, I explain the book making process and what sort of jobs creative kids can go into.
Published books:
Welcome to the Forest: The Harvest Party (Andrews McMeel, 2025)
Welcome to the Forest: The Lake Trip (Andrews McMeel, 2026)
Forthcoming books:
Welcome to the Forest book 3 (Andrews McMeel, 2026)
Welcome to the Forest book 4 (Andrews McMeel, 2027)
Published Books
Leonardo Quiles
Watercolor
Leonardo Quiles is an author, illustrator, and educator. His career in computer generated visual effects for feature film and advertising laid the groundwork for his interest in sequential narrative. Visual storytelling inspires his interest in developing original content for children’s graphic novels, as well as animation, editorial illustration, and other comics work.
Leo studied Illustration at Parsons School of Design and holds a BA is Art History from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and an MFA in Illustration from the University of Hartford. He is an elementary school Visual Arts teacher working and living in the Berkshire Hills of Western Massachusetts with his wife, their two children, and their puppy Roxy.
Leo is the recipient of the 2021 We Need Diverse Books Mentorship with author/illustrator Mike Curato, Flamer, Henry Holt, 2021.
What was your favorite book as a child?
My favorite book as a child was Where the Wild Things Are. I remember wanting to draw like Maurice Sendak, even as a child. I would copy his characters, sometimes tracing them. I especially liked the griffin character from the Wild Rumpus scene. I imagine there is still an element of Sendak’s work influencing my own work today.
Visit Leo at:
Specialties:
Black & white, Book Covers, Branding, Character design, Coloring, Concept art, Editorial, Fantasy, Graphic novel interior art, Illustration, Indie comics, Inking, Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Packaging, Penciling, Picture books, Slice-of-life, Spot art, Storyboarding, Writing
Art Process:
I keep a sketchbook and I draw regularly. My design process always begins with drawing. My solution is found somewhere between my head and my hand. As I am cognitively working out the design problem, I am also visually problem solving on paper. Once I have a sketch I’m happy with, I’ll bring it into Procreate to clean-up, to finalize the composition and to set the scale for the final artwork. The sketch is then printed onto a heavy stock paper, like watercolor or vellum. If the final work is a comics page, I’ll ink the line work traditionally with steel nibs and paint watercolor for the fills. If the work is a more traditional illustration, I’ll paint the final steps in gouache.
Location:
Mediums:
Awards and honors:
2021 We Need Diverse Books Mentorship Award with author/illustrator Mike Curato, Flamer, Henry Holt, 2021.
2021 Practice Kindness, pencil, ink, watercolor on paper. Norman Rockwell Museum – permanent collection.
2019 Charmed, porcelain. 20-year anniversary show for Sienna Patti Contemporary, Lenox, MA. Museum of Fine Arts Boston – permanent collection.
2018 Murray Tinkelman Award for Excellence in Illustration.
Available for School Visits:
I am an elementary school visual arts teacher. In many ways, I feel as though I do a school visit every day!
For author visits, I read a passage from my graphic novel, HOME, then lead an activity where we create a “mini-zine” with 8.5×11’ paper and pens. I can also work with students to create a folded paper sculpture of a traditional folk mask, a vejigante, that they can color, cut, fold, glue and wear.
