Melissa Dumas is a mostly self taught illustrator and surface pattern designer. Her interest in art and illustration came from going to art museums as a child, mostly from the Pop Art and Art Nouveau sections. Throughout high school, she worked mostly in graphite for commissioned portraits, while experimenting with acrylic paint, collage, and colored pencils.

After her short lived college career, she continued to explore different mediums including fabric, clay jewelry making, and watercolors. She developed a love for painting with watercolor due its vibrant colors and unpredictability. Her influences during this time graduated to reading graphic novels, interpreting dreams, horror movies and being out in nature, which still influences the art she makes today.

As an advocate for mental health, she aims to create pieces that spark emotion and healing by using different textures, colors and mediums. Most of her work is untitled as it not to say anything specific, but encourages the viewer to draw their own conclusions as to what it means.

Melissa currently lives in North Carolina with her partner, a cat named Skramz, and a lot of plants, records, and graphic novels.