Bryn Barnard has been illustrating since 1984, initially painting fantasy paperback covers for all of New York's mass-market publishers, as well as images for the National Geographic Society, NASA, PepsiCo, Mitsubishi, and the Far Eastern Economic Review.

Bryn's work, which he creates using primarily acrylics, oils, and Photoshop, are exhibited in several public collections, including those at Kennedy Space Center Florida, and Stennis Space Center Mississippi. He has received numerous awards, such as a Silver Medal from the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles, and a Design Arts Fellowship from the New Jersey State Arts Council. The Christian Science Monitor has called him "one of the masters of science fiction art".

Bryn began illustrating books for children in 1990. Among his children's books credits are Thumbelina, and Mother Goose Stories (Publications International, 1993), Bay Shore Park (W.H. Freeman, 1994), and In the Beginning (Time-Life, 1995), Currently he is working on childrenﾕs book projects for Time-Life and Scholastic.

A native of California, Bryn lived for five years in Malaysia and Indonesia, where he studied batik and was a member of a shadow puppet theater troupe. He speaks fluent Malay. Bryn received his bachelors degree from the University of California, Berkeley, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in studio art and Asian studies. He studied illustration at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.