Kate McMillan

Kate is an best-selling author and concept artist from Houston, Texas. She studied architecture at Yale and Norwegian boat building through the Mortimer Hays-Brandeis Fellowship, after which she made her way out to Los Angeles to work as a concept artist in animation. She has worked for studios including Disney, Dreamworks, and Roosterteeth in roles ranging from visual development to background design. She is currently a location designer at Disney TV Animation.

Her first middle grade novel, Maple’s Theory of Fun, written and illustrated with Ruthie Prillaman, was recently named a USA Today best-seller. Kate is also the author and illustrator of the nonfiction picture bookSustainable Structures,which was selected as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection as well as a National Science and Teach Association and Children's Book Council 2025 Best STEM book.

In her free time, she enjoys building furniture, biking around LA, and drawing wobbly buildings that look like they might fall down.

I have seven years or experience working as a concept artist for animation, videogames, and books, with a specialty in environment design.

Bachelors in architecture from Yale University