Carmen Keys is a freelance children's illustrator and fantasy artist from the beautiful hills and woods of Northen California, and her artwork is collected all over the world. She has a giant orange and white cat named Kiba who supplies her with plenty of squishes and cat poses, and she enjoys being outside in nature for inspiration. Carmen has loved drawing and painting since her earliest childhood years, and is lucky to have an artist mom who allowed her to play with all of her good art supplies -- and ruin quite a few brushes!

Her favorite medium is watercolor, but she also loves acrylics and oils. She is greatly inspired and influenced by the illustrators of the Golden Age and times past, and aspires to create artwork that has the same kind of childlike innocence and timelessness.