Kirsten Ulve is a New York–based illustrator and designer known for creating bold, concept-driven visual worlds that translate across editorial, campaigns, products, and public spaces. Her work combines graphic clarity with narrative warmth, often balancing wit, symbolism, and strong compositional structure.

Her illustrations have appeared on magazine covers, in international advertising campaigns, on Broadway marquees, in animated shorts and television commercials, and as large-scale installations in hospitality and public environments. Kirsten’s practice spans editorial and conceptual illustration, fashion and beauty, caricature and character development, and visual systems designed to live across multiple formats and scales.

Her work has been featured in the American Illustration Annual, the 3×3 International Illustration Annual, and in Taschen’s 100 Illustrators, recognizing the most influential illustrators working today. She has exhibited prints in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and beyond, and has a permanent oversized installation on view at Inside by Meliá Hotel in New York City.

Selected clients include:
The New York Times, Vogue Japan, The Los Angeles Times, Moderna, Adobe, The Wall Street Journal, The Harvard Business Review, USPS, La Poste (France), Meliá Hotels, and the Guggenheim Museum.

Kirsten lives and works in Manhattan.

Representation:

Tim Mendola: tim@mendolaart.com • Mendola Artists, New York (USA)

Miyuki Kurata: m.kurata@cwctokyo.com • CWC Tokyo (Japan)

Bert Dijkstra: bert@shop-around.nl • ShopAround (Netherlands)