Kevin Mercer

A headshot of Kevin Mercer against a neutral background
Faculty

Illustration (BFA)

Kevin Mercer is a multidisciplinary creative practitioner who covers illustration, design and fine art. He has taught in the Illustration program since 2012 and focuses on the overlap between design communication and traditional image-making.

Biography

Kevin Mercer’s design and illustration work embraces the vivid, tactile feel of printmaking, layering shape and drawing-based elements with hand-drawn and vintage type, collage, and digital elements. His background in modern painting and printmaking fuels his work with a considered sense of form, color and texture.

Experience

  • Mercer’s experience includes a decade of designing and printing limited-edition concert posters for local and national music acts, while delivering freelance illustration and design for a variety of clients, agencies and organizations.

  • His ongoing editorial work covers subjects including science, technology, social innovation, travel and personal narratives. 

  • His process balances subtle detail and graphic punch, using a blend of analog and digital drawing, painting and collage.

  • Kevin’s earlier poster work has been featured in a stack of books on contemporary design, including 

    • Paper and Ink Workshop, Rockport, 2013; 

    • 1000 Indie Posters, Rockport, 2011; 

    • Juxtapoz: Poster Art, Gingko Press, 2009; and 

    • The Art of Modern Rock, Chronicle Books, 2004. 

  • He has exhibited widely in basements, breweries, galleries, festivals, universities and museums.

Website

Explore Kevin Mercer’s website. 

Awards & Accolades

Mercer’s illustration work has been recognized by 

  • The Society of Illustrators, 

  • American Illustration and 

  • Print Magazine’s Regional Design Annual.