Creatures and beasties from another world is how you might describe Kristin Parsons‘ whimsical creations. Whether the creatures are fish-like, frog-like or totally unlike anything you’ve seen, kids seem to love these illustrations. Kristin worked as an inker at an animated cartoon studio in Barcelona in the mid 60’s and has continued to create work inspired by the little ones in her life over the last 60 years.
Over the years she’s had gallery shows, both group and solo, in the United States and Europe and has illustrated a couple of books. You could certainly imagine a picture book full of these critters. Each creature starts as hand drawings and then are scanned in and digitally manipulated to achieve the colorful finished product.
My favorite item from my Etsy shop is “Flower Inspection,” because it reminds me of my grandson, who’s four and always busy figuring out how things are put together.
An artist at heart, Kristin has been creating since she was 2 years old. While she has been selling her work offline for some time now, she’s just recently started selling online after discovering it as a way to share her work with potentially thousands of people every day.
A recent Florida transplant, she is currently only selling online. Kristin comes from a long line of artists – both her grandfathers and an aunt were artists, and, like them, she started drawing from a very early age. Growing up, she lived in three countries in Europe and stayed for art school.
She has one daughter with her husband, and a grandson who is a constant source of inspiration (and I gather from her conversation with me, pride). Her shop is truly Freshly Made, she’s only been listing for a few days and is working on adding more creative creatures. If you know of a kiddo who would love these funny fellows, make sure to check out her shop.