Julian Keller-King of Fox Spirit Design is a genderqueer creative from the wildwood whose portfolio of mixed-media and digital works intertwines nature, narrative, and imagination. Learn more on their website.
“When You Know That Goodbye is Inevitable” digital illustration, 30″ x 40″
Preschool bookworm, student thespian, queer freelance creative: I’ve always inhabited the colorful margins of society’s expectations. Until I came to terms with being transgender, I struggled to find community and a sense of belonging in a youth spanning from southern California to rural Montana. Most of my time was spent having fantastical outdoor adventures and establishing friendships online.
“Here Comes the Breaking” digital illustration, 40″ x 30″
My lifelong love of the interplay between words and images in the human art of storytelling took root at age six. I discovered graphic novels and fictional travelogues at the library. I was immediately in love.
“Remember the Sound of Your Name” digital illustration, 40″ x 30″
I saw very little of myself reflected in society around me. Stories were the one place I really felt at home. I read books in crabapple trees and blanket forts, under my desk at school and while traversing hallways and sidewalks.
The artist Julian Keller-Kingat the Holter Museum of Art exhibit opening
Stories let me live countless lives by proxy, and the worlds in my mind were much larger than the small towns where I lived. I carried a creative grafting of sketchbook and journal wherever I went, a tandem record of the world I experienced and the things I imagined.
“To End Up Here with You” digital illustration, 40″ x 30″
It was only a matter of time before I began creating my own narratives: stories, hand-drawn maps, sketchbooks, illustrations on the brown-paper covers of my textbooks and in the margins of my classroom notes, elaborate temporary tattoos, and an endless stream of letters mailed in colorfully-decorated envelopes.
“November Stars” mixed media narrative illustration, 13×9.75”
My ongoing studies focus on skills related to these interests, like calligraphy, nature and figure sketches, art journaling, world history, and archetypes in myth. Stories and the way we tell them are a fundamental part of how we learn and grow from one generation to the next. The art of translating our individual experiences into mythic archetypes is a way to distill personal moments into symbolic essences, things we can learn from and share.
Work in progress, mixed media
My growing body of professional work is a reflection of my inner world and the things I love most. Seasonal shifts, wild creatures, human cultures, and the structure and symbolism of stories, with a touch of magic sprinkled in the margins. Whether painting digitally with light or using ink, paper, and whatever treasures I find in my travels, the act of creative expression reveals the deeper currents of my experiences reflected back at me in a clearer configuration; I know myself better by the end.
“Rising Molten” digital illustration, 40″ x 30″
Art is a fundamentally subjective experience everyone is invited to participate in, a thread connecting lives that share something in common. It is a celebration of the things that keep us human, and I feel deeply grateful to be able to call myself an artist by trade. I received certification in 2018 from the Montana Arts Council’s Artrepreneur Program (MAP) and began full-time work as an artist in 2021.
“Far From Any Hope of Harbour” digital illustration, 30″ x 40″
From mythical creature portraits to surreal narrative illustrations, my work celebrates natural cycles, open-hearted curiosity, and the intensely personal work of self-discovery.
Julian Keller-King invites you to follow on Patreon, Facebook and Instagram.