My name is Colleen Kong-Savage—yes, as in King Kong was a Savage beast.
I have been a freelance illustrator and graphic designer since 2006. I live in NYC.

I have a sugar addiction, a driving phobia, and superior gingerbread cookie baking skills. As a child, I hopscotched about the globe—Philippines, Zambia, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia—then settled in New York City as an adult. Here I earned a masters degree in fiction-writing, a scholarship to the Art Students League, and a black belt in taekwondo. While I have the freelancer’s privilege of creating graphics for a wide variety of industries—food, fitness, health, arts—I do have a penchant for picture books. My work in kid lit has garnered an NCTAsia Freeman Honor (The Turtle Ship by Helena Ku Rhee) and the Ezra Jack Keats/SCBWI Showcase Prize for promising BIPOC illustrator. Since 2021, I’ve also been a teaching artist, guiding teens through the mural-making process and inspiring littler folk to explore mixed media. In March 2024 I make my author/illustrator debut with Piano Wants to Play, published by Page Street Kids.

Feel free to follow me on Instagram to see what else I’m up to.