Colleen Kong-Savage
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kongsavage.bsky.social
Colleen Kong-Savage
@kongsavage.bsky.social
200 followers 120 following 130 posts
Write-handed Chinese-American illustrator in NYC. Picture books: PIANO WANTS TO PLAY, THE TURTLE SHIP. FORTUNE COOKIES FOR EVERYONE coming Oct 2025.
And a Teaching Artist!
CKongSavage.com
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kongsavage.bsky.social
So delighted to present character design workshops to help kick off @qplnyc.bsky.social ‘s Dog Man Reading Challenge. Behold! A few heroes, villains, monsters concocted by kid artists!

#edusky #teachingartist
November 7, 2025 at 4:50 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
So delighted to present character design workshops to help kick off Queens Public Library’s Dog Man Reading Challenge. Behold! Heroes, villains, monsters concocted by kid artists!

#edusky
November 7, 2025 at 4:43 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
Painted Eric Carle’s beloved BROWN BEAR, WHAT DO YOU SEE? into a mural at Lexington School for the Deaf? Thank you, Lexington, for welcoming Plushie and me w good vibes❤️.

Made possible thru Queens Arts Fund, presented by NYFA & NYC DCLA, & materials fr Thrive Collective. #edusky #kidlit
Horizontal mural of painted animals from Eric Carle’s book BROWN BEAR, WHAT DO YOU SEE? Purple cat, orange fish, green frog, blue horse, giant brown bear, white dog, yellow duck Artists pose with Lexington staff Two women crouched before outlines of mural, ready for volunteers to paint.
October 26, 2025 at 8:15 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
“At Home in the City” is up at Queens Public Library, Central! Me n my crew of 3-12 yo artists made this for ProjectArt at Forest Hills QPL. This is what my art looks like when I wear my 2 hats at same time—collage as kidlit illustrator, collaboration & big scale as community muralist.
#edusky
Artist stands in front of freestanding wall panels with collage of colorful buildings
August 24, 2025 at 7:38 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
First time i got a mural wall all to myself 😊 to paint whatever I wanna

Hester & Eldridge Streets in NYC

#mural
July 2, 2025 at 1:47 AM
kongsavage.bsky.social
Watercolor experiments w 4-12 yos. What happens when you sprinkle in salt? Can we move paint w no brush (maybe not great idea to blow paint around w straws in cold/flu season but gosh that was fun)? Began dioramas fr watercolor swatches.
So much fun. And mess. 🤪
#EduSky #teachingartist
Gray n blue speckled watercolor paint w child’s ghost drawing Student with glasses peeking through a frame with speckled green hill and tree Vibrantly colored swatches Watercolor field of green yellow and blue. On it a child’s drawing of a rectangular bumble bee
January 24, 2025 at 8:17 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
This ART habit, which suited my introverted self as a kid, now pushes me out and about in the world as an adult. It has become the main way I connect with new people. Here's some images from 2024—kid lit art, murals, collages, and exploration in procreate. #artvsartist #kidlit.
January 2, 2025 at 11:28 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
And a Happy New Year.
Wishing you peace and love 💗

#kidlitartpostcard
Collage of Polar bear embracing girl in turquoise against snow and frosty blue sky
January 2, 2025 at 6:44 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
The Year of the Snake is almost here. I’m designing a kids’collage workshop to go with my book visits to schools and libraries. Test driving processes. Hmmm… What’s the best way to collage a snake with a crowd of elementary students, big n little?

#kidlitart #edusky
Patchwork of green and blue bits of paper make a snake against an orange background. Little mouse in the lower corner has a fright. Collage of 3 red snakes, one with white polka dots of various patterns, another with stripes, the other a general patchwork of decorative papers, slithering over a flat purple background. Collage: Simple orange snake—colored over with crayon—fills the solid purple page.
December 27, 2024 at 11:35 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
Savoring raspberry chocolate from a student, I thought how the best part of any gift is knowing that someone thought of you and that they thought of you with kindness.

#kidlitart
Polar bear leaning back against a squat slightly misshapen snowman. Bear is contemplative as it munches on raspberry chocolate.
December 26, 2024 at 5:49 AM
kongsavage.bsky.social
If you see this, post some cat art 🐈‍⬛
Paper collage of fluffy gray cat laying with its white belly up. Torn paper texture emphasizing the softness of fur.
December 15, 2024 at 7:06 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
Exploring Japanese American history as I illustrate FORTUNE COOKIES FOR EVERYONE by @pragmaticmom.bsky.social. During WW2, US govt imprisoned 120K civilians of Japanese descent—2/3 US citizens—in the name of national security.

Red Comet Press, 2025

#picturebook #kidlitart
Paper collage scene of crowd lined up to board bus. Their belongings are piled in the foreground. San Francisco buildings in red hues are in background.
December 14, 2024 at 2:50 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
😳I’m looking at this and wondering ‘what was I thinking, choosing to illustrate a whole book this way?’

This is for Mia Wenjen’s @pragmaticmom.bsky.social FORTUNE COOKIES FOR EVERYONE published by Red Comet Press.

#kidlitart #picturebook
December 14, 2024 at 1:51 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
If you see this, post a bird 🐦‍⬛
#kidlitart #illustration
November 19, 2024 at 1:09 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
Illustration in progress…Details from San Francisco Japanese Tea Garden for FORTUNE COOKIES FOR EVERYONE by @pragmaticmom.bsky.social
#kidlit #picturebook
October 17, 2024 at 6:32 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
I always wanted to paint a street mural! Presenting STORIES IN FLIGHT on Doyers Street, NYC, commissioned by Chinatown BID, and painted with a lot of help from volunteers including some amazing artists. Thanks, Abby Walsh teaching artist extraordinaire, for joining me.
#publicart #chinatownnyc
September 17, 2024 at 5:29 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
Getting ready to fly. STORIES IN FLIGHT is a mural for Doyers Street, Chinatown, Manhattan. Artists Abby Walsh & Plushie & many volunteers are helping me paint 4800 square ft in 4 days next week. Wish us good weather and a smooth flight!

#streetmural #publicart
Artist looks through orange scissors as she sits on wooden floor with a giant swirl of Kraft paper piled around her Artist sits in center of giant 12 x 15 foot stencil as she reinforces delicate area with blue tape Giant simplified shape of bird in Kraft paper Mural design of yellow and red birds along turquoise street
August 29, 2024 at 12:28 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
Another mural painting intensive with NYC youth come and gone. This year we were At Queens Family Court. This was for outside the children’s center.
Mural detail of animals on a swirling purple subway train “Mural” hanging on brick wall outside children’s center
August 22, 2024 at 8:08 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
If you see this, quote reply with something summery from your portfolio! 🌞

#illustration #kidlitart
Radiating sun composed of textured yellow and orange papers with silhouette of blue seagull in foreground
June 23, 2024 at 3:46 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
Look! I made a painting last week for Ottomanelli’s in LIC’s Gantry Park in Queens NYC. Springtime outdoor painting w good friend, beautiful views—yes please.

#nycartist
Long horizontal painting of purple pigeons against deep yellow sunset. Behind painting is manhattan skyline. Pic of artist and friend posing over their painted boards in progress
May 20, 2024 at 1:04 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
So excited to have my first library visit for PIANO WANTS TO PLAY at Brooklyn Public Library along with PS21’s most awesome 2nd-4th graders.

#authorvisit #kidlit
Tiny woman figure standing triumphantly w book over her head in front of imposing entrance, massive w golden ornate details.
May 19, 2024 at 9:01 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
Drop something Yellow from your gallery! 💛
April 6, 2024 at 4:12 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
Thrilled to be illustrating FORTUNE COOKIES FOR EVERYONE by Mia Wenjen @pragmaticmom.bsky.social , published by Red Comet Press. Discovering all kind of history baked into the creation of this little cookie that started in San Francisco. This is gonna be a tasty project.

#kidlit #illustration
Pizza Rat peers into a fortune cookie, with book deal announcement peeking out.
April 6, 2024 at 4:08 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
Look at what I made for my picture book PIANO WANTS TO PLAY 😁🤩. My first window installation ever at Books of Wonder. It was a lot of work 😅 but I’m so pleased with how it turned out. #kidlit
March 23, 2024 at 7:51 PM
kongsavage.bsky.social
Thank you Books of Wonder—my favorite indie kid lit store—for hosting a WONDERFUL launch event for my author-illustrator debut PIANO WANTS TO PLAY and THIS WOLF WAS DIFFERENT by writer @kslivensky.bsky.social and illustrator Hannah Salyer.

#kidlit #picturebooks
March 12, 2024 at 3:02 PM