Kevin Murphy is an illustrator, portrait painter, and teacher from The Bronx, New York. Largely self-taught, Kevin attended one semester at the School of Visual Arts in New York then painted on his own for eight months before approaching Dorian Vallejo—son of famed fantasy artist Boris Vallejo—to observe him paint (interview here). Starting his career as a commercial illustrator, Kevin completed nearly 250 published commissions in eight years. In 1999, Kevin transitioned from illustration into more classical avenues of traditional painting, primarily focusing on portraiture. In 2009, Kevin founded The Art Academy, an pre-University art school now with two locations in New Jersey.

Kevin’s video game illustration work includes box art for Elemental Master for the Sega Genesis (Renovation Products, 1993) and Slamscape for the Sony PlayStation (Viacom, 1996).  Kevin also illustrated the cover for Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game, a 1994 role-playing game based on the Street Fighter video game series.