Chris Babcock Art

What makes Chris Babcock Art special?

Chris Babcock is a published children’s book author of No Moon, No Milk! Random House/Scholastic,​ illustrator and professional portrait artist who has taught thousands of children and adults how to draw and paint since 1994. She and her team of teachers use an inspiring combination of soothing humor and loving encouragement to teach students ages 5 and up how to interpret images using a wide array of the finest professional grade acrylics and water soluble oils on archival, museum quality papers.

The result is each student produces paintings that look surprisingly good.

So good that most people immediately frame the paintings and hang them in prominent rooms in their home and office.This life changing learning experience gives Chris Babcock’s art students an enormous amount of self-confidence and lasting inspiration to continue expressing their thoughts and feelings through drawing and painting for the rest of their lives.

Chris Babcock (born July 25, 1963) is an American painter, illustrator, art instructor and published author. She attended North Texas State University where she earned a BA in Painting and Drawing and Creative Writing. She was a political cartoonist for NTSU Newspaper and the Editor and Chief of NTSU Literary Magazine. During her summer semesters, she attended Chautauqua Art Institute which was a major turning point in her life:

“The art instructors at Chautauqua Art Institute demanded all art students spend 8 am to 6 pm every day drawing and painting, and then come back in after dinner to the studio to paint and draw until it was time for bed. They told us these long hours are what real artists put in almost every day and this was how to find out if we really wanted to a professional artists. Eight hours going by felt like eight minutes to me. I was very inspired by all of my art teachers there; all professional artists themselves with larger than life personalities, patient, honest, funny; they were instrumental in leading me to reach my potential as an artist and as an art instructor.”

In 1994 while attending graduate school at The School of Visual Arts In New York City, Chris sold a children’s book to Random House and then to Scholastic called No Moon, No Milk! Her book sold over a million copies and was hailed as one of the top ten children’s books of the year by the New York Times, USA Today, and People Magazine.

In 1995, Chris used the royalties from No Moon, No Milk! to start her painting and drawing instruction and commissioned portrait business in Sun Valley, Idaho, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and San Francisco, CA. Chris developed and practiced her unique technical drawing and painting lessons using only professional art supplies at Pioneer Montessori in Sun Valley, Idaho, Rio Grande School in Santa Fe, New Mexico, The French American International School in San Francisco, School of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco and Atherton, CA., Marin Montessori in Corte Madera and Ross School in Ross, CA. Through word of mouth, Babcock’s custom portraits of children and families sell all over the United States and Canada.

After having her daughter Mookie Isabelle, Chris settled in San Francisco and taught her art classes in the private after school programs mentioned above in San Francisco and out of her home studio. In 2010, After her daughter Mookie turned ten, Chris decided it was time to open a storefront/gallery teaching space in San Francisco. She and her teaching team now teaches art classes to students ages 5 and up at CHRIS BABCOCK ART WORKSHOP at 5907 California Street in the Richmond/Sea Cliff.