Sara Kipin author page

Sara Kipin biography

Sara Kipin is an illustrator and visual development artist whose work appears in children’s and young adult publishing. A graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), she is noted in publisher materials for fantasy imagery influenced by early animation and romantic painting traditions.

Kipin illustrated Leigh Bardugo’s collection The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic (Imprint/Macmillan, 2017), providing the page-by-page ornamental art and full-spread illustrations that frame each tale. She later served as the artist on the DC Comics young adult graphic novel Poison Ivy: Thorns by Kody Keplinger (DC, 2021).

Her additional credits include cover art for the Dark Horse anthology Avatar: The Last Airbender – Team Avatar Tales (2019). Kipin also contributed illustrations to Amy Ratcliffe’s reference title Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy (Chronicle Books, 2018), which profiles female characters across the franchise.

Publishers and author pages describe Kipin’s portfolio as centered on strong, self-empowered characters and narrative-driven compositions suited to classroom and library audiences. Alongside book projects, she maintains an active practice in character design and personal illustration, with selections exhibited and compiled in art-book formats.