About the Artist

Hi, I'm MKO, the artist, monster lover, and general chaos maker behind Monsters and Monsteras.

I'm a self-taught outsider artist living on the edge of the forest, by the water, in Western Washington with my family and dog. No formal training, no rules, just paint, imagination, and a lifelong obsession with monsters.

It all started with Sesame Street. Something about those strange, expressive, a little unsettling, completely lovable creatures, got into my brain and never left. From there it was Jim Henson, Tim Burton, Bob Ross, every movie monster I could find, and the wild, misty forests of the Pacific Northwest. That's the world I live in, and that's the world I paint.

I work primarily in acrylic, but I'll reach for gouache, colored pencils, ink, charcoal — really anything that helps bring a creature to life. Each piece is original and handmade, born from a place where the weird is wonderful and the monstrous is beautiful.

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Rune Vale

Rune Vale is a fantasy RPG homebrew world that my husband has been building for years. The creatures — Bogtusk, Oakheart, The Mosslings, and many more — are dreamed up by him and our kids. I paint them and bring them to life. It's a true family project, and one of my favorite things I've ever worked on.

We're also working on an art book for the Rune Vale series, which will feature short stories about each character. More on that soon.

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Portraits of Misfits and Miscreants

Not every monster belongs to Rune Vale, and those are the ones that end up here. Clowns, zombies, mucus monsters, and all manner of delightful weirdos that don't fit neatly into any world except their own.

Some of these characters are finding their way into an untitled haunted carnival RPG we're developing, which will also have its own book. It's dark, it's strange, and we can't wait to share it.

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Thanks for being here. Whether you found us through a love of monsters, fantasy art, or just a very specific corner of the internet — welcome. You're in the right place.

— MKO