Michele Phillips

Award-winning illustrator and artist Michele Phillips has been telling stories with art since she was just barely big enough to grasp a crayon. As a 5-year-old entrepreneur, she even sold small drawings to her mom’s friends (she was saving up to buy a Corvette–and a horse–not necessarily in that order). Since then, she’s honed her skills in many mediums: pencil, ink, watercolor, acrylic, digital and mixed media, encaustic wax, and skin. Childhood drawing sales aside, Michele’s professional career began after college, when she moved to Phoenix, Arizona for a tattoo arts apprenticeship under Jim Watson. It was her time as a tattoo artist that solidified her passion for great linework—a hallmark of her signature style. Through later work in commercial design, illustration and publishing, Michele has created many hundreds of illustrations and art pieces that have appeared on retail products, in magazines, events, galleries, murals, books for all ages, and people’s homes (and on their bodies). She is daunted by no surface and loves the challenge of bringing concepts and characters to life with art. Her work frequently draws upon the natural world of flora and fauna, and the mystical, magical and fantasy realms, and whenever she can, she’ll absolutely add a unicorn. A professional chameleon, Michele can create sweet and whimsical, or dark and mysterious – with equal mastery and aplomb. She is frequently sought out as an illustrator for her relentless obsession to detail, razor-sharp clarity of visual communication, and keen eye for art direction. Michele lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her saint of a husband, two grown kids (when they come back to the nest to visit), and a menagerie including that horse she dreamed of so long ago. The Corvette? That hasn't happened... yet.