Jess Gilliam is a California Bay Area based artist and illustrator, and the maker behind the shop Dancing with Cats. She makes handcrafted treasures and art pieces with a strong focus on using thrifted and recycled materials. Her style is rooted in handmade craft, childhood nostalgia, and a deep love of animals, vintage treasures, and the strange and playful.

With a background in Visual Communications from FIDM and over a decade leading creative at GIPHY, she brings a design-forward sensibility to every project — whether that's a picture book, a greeting card, or a paper maché puppet.

Her work embraces diverse mediums including recycled paper, fabric, clay, and mixed media illustration. She is passionate about the spirit of play and the joy of making things by hand.

She loves drawing your dog, perusing party supply stores, finding vintage & possibly haunted anthropomorphic objects, puppets, and her favorite day of the year is Halloween.

She is currently illustrating her first children’s book written by one of her best friends, Romy Saplicki.

Available for: children's book illustration · editorial · licensing · commissions · art workshops · creative/brand consulting · production design/props fabrication

For inquiries, reach her at hellojessgilliam@gmail.com.