Kevin and Kristen Howdeshell are the leaders of The Brave Union.
They are a husband and wife illustration team based in Kansas City that began collaborating 10+ years ago on their senior thesis stop-motion animation, “A Very Hairy Christmas.” (A werewolf Christmas story, of course).
Since then they’ve started a studio and taken on the freelance world of illustration working on projects for magazines, packaging, t-shirts, music album, educational and their absolute love, children’s books.
Growing up, kid Kristen spent many hours drawing the stories in her head in order to share the stapled pages with her family.
Meanwhile on the other side of Missouri, kid Kevin loved super heroes. He drew entire comics in order to give life to the world he imagined. But mostly Wolverine ripoffs.
The love of telling stories, although with many varying methods, has never felt more important to their now grown-up hearts. With three kids of their own, the tradition of the bedtime story, although in reality can be a bit hectic, has become absolutely important to their nightly routine. It’s become a time of bonding, sharing and affection.
They additionally believe that the time and the stories shared can be enjoyable for parents too. For this, they hold a high value to craft in their imagery, and partner with authors who have meaningful stories to tell.
As a team, they want to now focus on creating products geared for the family, and invite others who share this value to journey with them.
