I connected online with Kelley, admiring her career in book cover art. Her work was everywhere I looked. We met in person in Seattle at a portrait workshop run by Muddy Colors Founder, Dan Dos Santos. I made sure to snag a seat next to her!
Since then, Kelley has worked on book covers for all the major publishers such as Abrams, Disney and Simon & Schuster, primarily using her Cintiq Wacom. She’s repped by one of the most well-known agencies in the biz, Shannon Associates. Kelley is married and is also a mother of three daughters.
Group photo from Dan’s TLC workshop
Kirbi: Kelley, thanks for being here. When I think of your work over the years, I’m struck by how consistent your work is. From sitting next to you at Dan’s workshop, I know your artwork is based on a solid foundational drawing background. You never shy away from an interesting perspective! Have you always drawn?
KELLEY: Thank you, that’s very kind of you to say! Yes, I’ve been drawing ever since I was little, so I think I was fortunate to bank my “10,000 hours” of practice pretty early on.
Kirbi: What are you working on right now?
KELLEY: Recently I’ve been working on romance/romantasy covers. This is a new direction for me, and getting to draw pretty people wearing pretty outfits is just pure candy! A lot of the work has been coming from German publishers, which is also new. I’m hoping that I can somehow work this into traveling to Europe as a “business expense.”
KIRBI: I think that sounds perfectly reasonable! Romantasy is getting a lot of attention lately. This is an exciting deviation for your career but certainly a natural expansion of your work in cover art. A lot of your cover work, has been for Middle Grade books. At a conference once, a speaker said that people who write for the Middle Grade audience usually connect with this part of their childhood. Do Middle Grade readers hold a special place in your heart?
KELLEY: Middle-grade books are the first books where I can remember really analyzing the covers, and sometimes wishing my favorite books had better covers! Some of my favorite books growing up were the Island of the Blue Dolphins, the Chronicles of Narnia, and the American Girl books.
KELLEY: The original American Girl books in particular were very beautifully illustrated and strongly historically researched, and I’m sure that influenced my art style today. I’m very honored to have had the chance to work with American Girl!
KIRBI: The American Girls Books are special to me as well, we are kindred hearts! Do you have a favorite? Kirsten’s Surprise Christmas sticks out as one of my favorites. I can remember, wrapping myself in bedsheets, and stealing candelabras for a prop. The Illustrator, Renee Graef can be found https://www.graefillustration.com/
KELLEY: My favorite was “Molly Saves the Day.”
KIRBI: Did you know we’ve illustrated for the same author? I just realized! Katherine Marsh – Nowhere Boy and I did the Myth of Monsters.
KELLEY: I did not know that! I haven’t read Myth of Monsters, but I should because Nowhere Boy was very good.
KIRBI: Nowhere Boy is one of my favorites of yours. It fits the genre well, but the composition and perspective you use confidently show here making it stand out on the shelf. I personally love an illustrator who isn’t afraid of a bike!
KELLEY: Oh I do fear bikes. Bikes and horses.
Kirbi: It certainly does not show in your work! How do you keep up both the creativity and professionalism needed to get the cover to the finish line?
KELLEY: Book covers can sometimes be a challenge because several people get to give feedback on it, usually the art director, editor, marketing, and sometimes the author. I’m always hoping that the response to my sketches is “Everyone loves it, go to final, no changes, you’re the best, Kelley!” And sometimes that happens! But sometimes the clients have a lot to say and the sketches need major adjustments.
KELLEY: I’ve learned to take those feelings of disappointment and annoyance in stride and dig into the sketches again. Often having to push myself a little more results in a better illustration.
KELLEY: One reason why I like working on covers is because they’re short-term projects. I’ve done a few large, multi-image projects and I find that I’m more prone to burnout that way. Having a variety of small jobs just works better for me, although it does mean having to find work more frequently.
KIRBI: In my post from 2018, I talked about only needing a few great clients to have a full career. Ranger in Time by Kate Messner series has been running since 2015-2020!
KELLEY: Okay, it’s going to sound like I’m contradicting myself here when I just said that I disliked large jobs, but the Ranger in Time series has 12 books, each one with 15 interior illustrations. (As historical fiction, it was research-intensive too.)
I worked on the books over 5 years, though, so it wasn’t a crunch. I had a little bit of a break in between each book. The Ranger in Time series was quite successful and it was very satisfying to see that it was helping children around the country enjoy learning about history. It will always be close to my heart.
Kirbi: It’s an excellent series and very well-loved. I think young readers are going to be talking about your depictions of Ranger the way we are talking about Rene Degraff.
I’ve listened to Kate Messner on a few occasions and she’s just brilliant! Did you get to meet Kate Messner?
KELLEY: No, I’ve never met her. I haven’t traveled or gone to conventions much for years.
KIRBI: How do you keep up with your clients, and nurture and maintain long-lasting relationships?
KELLEY: I try to keep art directors coming back by making their jobs as easy as possible, by communicating clearly, implementing feedback, and working quickly.
KELLEY: Some clients come back to me multiple times over many years, because they know they can rely on me. Other clients only hire me once and then I don’t hear from them again. Maybe the right project just hasn’t come up, or perhaps the book for which I drew a cover didn’t sell well and the publisher wants to try a different direction.
Maybe there’s just a lot of talented artists out there to compete with! As long as I know I did my best, I try not to take it personally.
Kirbi: Can you tell me about your workspace? Your comic is relatable.
Comic by Kelley
KELLEY: For most of my career, I’ve just worked whatever apartment corner I could squeeze a desk into. While traveling I worked with a laptop at Airbnb dining tables. That’s one of the advantages of digital, it can be compact and portable.
KELLEY: Now I have a home office that I share with my husband, who also works from home. To be honest the office is kind of a mess, not very inspiring! I’d like to take some time soon to paint the walls and give it more personality so I can film nice videos of myself drawing there. My agent told me that with the advent of AI, more people are interested in seeing the human process of illustrating!
Kirbi: Sounds like great advice. Perhaps helpful for art directors too who are searching for artists. We both have been pretty fortunate to have steady careers in publishing. We both have been online and have worked on a range of high-visibility projects! Compared to some of our contemporaries, I don’t think our careers were “made” online or with massive social media followings. Maybe a few “viral” moments here or there when things were more organic.
KELLEY: While I have found some work through social media, I’ve never been super popular online. I have to give a lot of credit to my agent, Shannon Associates, for bringing me work. For about ten years they’ve brought me jobs that would have been difficult to find on my own, such as advertising or educational publishers. Between my agent, repeat clients, and a bit of social media visibility, I’ve almost always had something to work on.
While it can be discouraging when my artwork gets very little engagement online, I also feel thankful that my entire career isn’t at the mercy of the algorithm.
Kirbi: I hear you, when I turn to my desk with work that pays the bills and fulfills me, the social media bummers tend to fade.
KIRBI: Before we wrap up, I wanted to ask you about your 2024 project, Illustrations for the fantasy murder mystery THE TAINTED CUP by Robert J. Bennett.
KELLEY: I don’t know if this was your experience, but as a newbie illustrator, I often heard the advice “art directors will only hire you for the kind of work in your portfolio.” But lately the folks at Del Rey have been asking me to draw things in unusual styles, and I’m really enjoying it. For THE TAINTED CUP they asked me to draw scenes from the book in the style of Edward Gorey. I became obsessed with channeling his style as closely as possible, and it was just such a refreshing change of pace!
KIRBI: You certainly aren’t afraid to switch things up. They are fantastic as is all your work from middle-grade, to cozy mysteries to super heros. I’m wishing you much continued success as your work spreads on wordwide. Thanks again Kelley.
Look for Kelley’s work at your local bookstore. More of Kelley’s work can be found on her website and on instagram
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