If you’d like to learn more about my journey from teacher to illustrator, read on…

I graduated from Boston College in 2014 with degrees in Elementary Education and Art History. I started teaching right away. I began teaching 2nd grade. After a couple of years, I moved to a new school to teach 4th grade, and I later became the reading specialist. I taught for just about a decade - time flies!

Boston gets a lot of snow, and on many of the snow days, when school would be closed, I would break out my paints from the one studio art class I took in college. It was always invigorating and felt like getting back to my roots.

Then it was 2020 and school was closed for more than just snow days. I continued teaching from my home to my students’ homes, but after 3PM, there was no where to go. So what did I do? Buy new paints! After all, my oil paints from that one college class were now 10 years old! 

So I bought some watercolor half pans, new brushes, and splurged on some cold press Arches paper. I purchased a course on Domestika and learned how to paint Parisian buildings. I kept taking classes, and by 2021 I was signed up for Illustrating Children’s Books with Make Art That Sells. I never looked back after that class.

I knew this was exactly the answer: combining my background as a teacher with my love of art. 

Katie Stack Illustrates was launched in Spring 2021. Since then I have illustrated 2 books, designed over 50 greeting cards, completed dozens of private commissions, and had my products sold in stores. I joined the illoGuild, an international group of illustrators, and I am also a member of SCBWI.