Richard Krepel was born in Alton, Illinois. He earned a B.F.A. from the University of Arizona in 1964, a B.F.A. from the Art Center Design College in Tuscon, Arizona, in 1974 and an M.F.A. from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 1996. Krepel has worked as an illustrator on a national level for the past 30 years, and as a professor at SCAD for the past 17 years. He has enjoyed a wide range of assignments including cover commissions for Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report; poster and program art for the New York City Ballet; and corporate imagery for countless Fortune 500 companies. In 2005, Krepel completed 25 illustrations for Hallelujah, a collaborative book project featuring the poetry of selected hymns.

Krepel’s work has won awards in many of the nation’s top industry shows, magazines and annuals including: Applied Arts, Digital Design, STEP Inside Design, Step-By-Step, RSVP, Spectrum, American Illustration, Communication Arts, and the New York Society of Illustrators. He was singularly honored when his work was chosen for the cover of the New York Society of Illustrators 43rd Annual.