Melissa Gardner

@artgardner.bsky.social

1824 Followers 2010 Following

illustrator/storyteller, psychotherapist, mom and maker of magic! 🏳️‍🌈& ND www.melissagardnerart.com Rep’d by @sandraproudman.bsky.social @galltzacker.bsky.social #kidlit #kidlitart #illustrator

A poster with illustrations of endangered animals that are partly painted, partly sketched, to give the impression that the animals are disappearing.

Photo of ‘hands off’ protestors holding signs and lining the street

Illustration of a ramshackle house on legs. It is wading through the ocean and has a child, grandmother and kitten dancing on the roof.

Cars driving over a bridge that is lined with hundreds of colorful protesters for the 2025 HandOff rally.

Illustration of an delighted alligator wearing a blue raincoat and holding a blue umbrella. He stands next to two yellow taxi cabs as it’s raining all around

Illustration of a child wearing a crow hat and protectively holding a kitten in a storm. The child faces the storm head on, with a defiant look on their face.

A photograph of a bluesky post from @brian-goldstone that reads: This is where we are now: an elementary school at Fort Campbell has remove all books from its library that so much as “allude” to slavery or the civil rights movement. The wholesale erasure of history in real time.
There is a link following the post to an article which gives more details.

3 women standing with papers in their hands, facing the camera. The awards for gold, silver and bronze are for the SCBWI NY winter conference portfolio showcase. All three women are smiling.

Painting of a hodge lodge of broken parts of houses stacked together into an impossible structure that is on feet and walking through deep water. On the tippy top, a child, older woman and cat dance.

Image for #kidlit4ceasefire auction, advertising a portfolio critique to bid on. Image is also showing a photograph of a middle aged woman with curly hair and a collage of her kid-friendly illustrations, including a horse, tiger on a bike, a fox wearing a jacket, foxes juggling on an elephant and more.

Monotone illustration done in blue and white. Three old bakers who all look related and are dressed the same with handkerchiefs in the hair and long skirts and aprons, are climbing an anthropomorphic tree as they try to grasp ingredients to bake a cake. All of the ingredients are labeled (like butter and sugar) but they all have legs or wings to get away from the bakers.

Kidlit 4ceasefire Auction advertisement for a Portfolio critique from Melissa Gardner with photo of Melissa and a collage of her artwork, including lots of animals and a few mini portraits of people.

Three old ladies climbing a tree that has a grumpy face. They are changing ingredients that will make a pie (like flour, sugar and butter)

One standard poodle and one standard golden doodle are sitting at attention, looking at the camera. Their hair is clipped short and they are staring very intensely.

3 dogs are curled up on a pink blanket on top of a couch. The smallest is looking at the camera while the other dogs are sleeping. They take up the whole couch, so there’s no room for anyone else to sit!

A showcase art card showing many different spot illustrations created by Melissa Gardner.
There are anthropomorphic animals, like a tiger riding a bicycle and a sly fox wearing a jacket, as well as people drawn in a semi realistic manner. There’s a huge assortment of random object and animals, like scissors, trucks, bugs, flowers, cats, dogs, bears, alligators, elephants and more!

An underwater scene that is full of plant life/water lilies. A crane is standing in the water but you can only see is lower legs and its face as it peers into the water at a fish.

Of a ramshackle house that has legs and is wading through the ocean. a child with a crow costume is sitting on the roof. The house was inspired by the work of artist Seth Clark.

The night the dreams didn’t come, the dream keeper sat on her perch, at a loss and a little bit peeved. Every night, at precisely 1:16 AM, the children’s dreams would float into the sky. The dream keeper would catch them and keep them so the children’s streams would never die. This night the sky was ominously quiet, and her bottle of dreams sat empty at her side.

Folktale week illustration of a anthropomorphic horse, sitting on a divan and talking on the telephone in front of some windows.

Watercolor and ink painting of anthropomorphic caterpillars in a garden.

An illustration of a badger wearing a sweater and red shoes holding a book entitled folktale week. This is an ad I made for folktale week coming up November 13-19.

Image that says: I’m hosting free, one to one Portfolio Chat to encourage diversity in the illustration industry

A young girl climbing a tree as a flock of colorful birds fly away