Hi, I’m Stephanie Gillen — the creative mind behind Going Coastal!

I’m a multidisciplinary artist and illustrator, chaos-wrangling mama of two, soul-searcher, and certified coffee enthusiast. My work tends to dance across the line between whimsy and the macabre, finding beauty in anatomy, shadow, and the strange little corners of the human experience.

I originally trained as a massage therapist, drawn by a fascination with the body’s structure and story — a passion that still threads itself through the art I create today.

The Art Itself

I’ve been making art as long as I’ve been breathing — doodling in margins, sketching on scraps, and eventually evolving into full sketchbooks tucked into my bag at all times.

My creative influences pull from the worlds of tattoo art, zentangle, lowbrow, and pop surrealism. I began in black-and-white linework but have since fallen headfirst into the magic of digital art and rich, evocative color.

Colouring is my absolute favorite part of the process. There's a moment — just before everything blends, when the paint is still marbled and full of potential — where everything holds its breath. That’s the magic I chase every time I sit down to create.