Hello, there!
I’m Abbigail Villescas, an illustrator, art historian, and picture book maker.
l use my pencils, paints, and words to craft distinctive, captivating, and emotionally resonant stories and illustrations that connect people to curiosity and wonder.
Learn more about my work below and feel free to say Hello!
About my Illustration Work
I create vibrant and atmospheric illustrations that connect viewers to the worlds of history, folklore, nature, everyday wonders, and imagination.
My work features anthropomorphic animal characters, plants, beautiful nature settings, historical details and background, and unique characters and their stories.
I use watercolors, ink, and colored pencils to make my illustrations. When not at my desk, you can find me walking in nature, reading speculative fiction and poetry, listening to music or books, and learning about new birds, plants, and how to crochet.
My art history background: Why I love research, details, color, and storytelling
I hold a BA in Art History from Arizona State University and graduated summa cum laude.
I love researching, analyzing, and communicating about art and visual culture and am passionate about bringing together art history and the humanities with storytelling, creative work, and working artists of today.
Art history is ultimately about stories and visual communication. My background in the field has nourished my long-running love for research, visual analysis, and understanding and using visual communication.
My studies in art history help me to create strong and meaningful illustrations that are often steeped in research and informed by history and design. I am also working to use my skills set to create visual resources about topics in art history, design, and illustration that will help engage other creatives and inspire learning.
In the future, I hope to create picture books (and maybe comics and graphic novels too) about artists, their lives, and the wonderful world of art history and visual culture.
Available for Illustration Projects
Picture book projects; Nonfiction and Fiction texts
Book Covers
Album art, posters, illustrated brand material
Licensing
Art Historical, Visual, and Design Research projects
Seeking Representation-If you’re an agent please feel free to get in touch with me, I’d love to hear from you!
If you’re interested in working together on a project, please feel free to contact me via my Contact page. I’ll be in touch soon. Thank you!
Join my Substack publication which is a kind of hybrid newsletter, blog, and all around amazing communication tool that we can use to stay connected. I share regular studio updates, stories about my illustration pieces, picture book projects, creative process, some art history tidbits, and a wee bit of my life. Hope to see you there! Sign-up is in the little box down below!
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Thank you so much for visiting!