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, poetic, 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.

View Portfolio

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 also presented original research and a talk at the 2024 SUNY New Paltz Undergraduate Art History Symposium entitled: Messengers of Mystery, Shadows of Change: Tracing Depictions of Crows in Japanese Art Historical Tradition.

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.

My studies in art history and the humanities help me to create meaningful and visually resonant illustration work that is steeped in research and storytelling and is informed by history and design.

In the future, I hope to create illustrations and picture books 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!

Contact

I send out a brief, but colorful newsletter monthly via Substack. It just requires your email sign-up and is free. In these monthly newsletters I give some quick updates on my illustration projects and creative work and a small bit of some plants, colors, or seasonal things that are inspiring my work right now. Feel free to sign-up and hope to see you there!