“Kinuko Craft is a Renaissance woman. By this I mean not that she paints like the Renaissance painters, but that she is an artist for all seasons, for all kinds of subjects, and in all kinds of styles. If you will survey her works, you will find little duplication in form, color or texture. She fits herself to her subject with charming ease and yet leaves herself free to remain herself. There is an air about all of her illustrations of one who is a true connoisseur of art, wide-ranging through all the countries of the world. One cannot help but think how delightful it would be to walk into gallery of her kaleidoscopic talents.”
-Ray Bradbury

Kinuko Craft is one of the most widely respected and well-known illustrator-fantasy artists in the United States today. During her career, spanning more than four decades, she has become known for meticulous attention to detail, careful research of subject matter and a passionate love and knowledge of fine art and art history. Her fairytale picture books are currently distributed in the USA, other English language countries, Europe, China and Korea. She creates paintings for the book covers of many well-known authors, and her art is widely licensed on calendars, posters, greeting cards and other consumer goods. Ms. Craft’s illustrations have won well over a hundred awards during her career, including five Gold Medals from the Society of Illustrators. Her original paintings are in public and private collections scattered around the world: The National Geographic Society, Time Incorporated, The Museum of American Illustration in New York City and other corporate collections.

Ms. Craft was born in Japan and is a graduate of The Kanazawa Municipal College of Fine and Industrial Art. She came to the United States in the early sixties where she continued studies in design and illustration at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for a year and a half. Subsequently, she worked for several years in well-known Chicago art studios. By the end of the decade her work was in wide demand and she had begun her long and successful career as a free-lance illustrator.