My name is Kristen, and I’m a freelance illustrator who currently lives in Northern Virginia, just outside of DC. I specialize in painting fantasy and sci-fi subjects, and especially love bringing strange creatures to life. I majored in graphic design at Virginia Commonwealth University, but my first love is illustration. While in school, I continued to draw and eventually started freelancing, which led to my first job as an illustrator with StarCityGames.com (2012–2016) and later with Pilot/Yellowfly Agency (2016–2022) in Boston. My father was in the military and I had the opportunity to live on both coasts of the United States as well as overseas in Japan and Europe. This introduced me to cultures and beliefs outside of my own, and helped me foster my love of art from a young age. As for hobbies — I currently keep a few species of poison dart frogs (along with a bunch of tropical and aquatic plants), and love to hike and garden. I’m also big into retro gaming, especially weird 90’s Japanese imports. Thank you for checking out my portfolio, and I look forward to continuing my illustration journey.