Amy Runyen was born and raised in San Diego County, Ca. She was awarded a merit scholarship to attend the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Ga. She studied illustration for four years, winning awards in many student shows. In 1999, she graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration, and achieved the Outstanding Achievement in Illustration Award for her graduating class.

In 1999, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a fine artist. In 2003 her work caught the eye of Judy Chicago and she was included in the Envisioning The Future project in Pomona, Ca as a mural artist. She has shown her fine art work in galleries across the United States and internationally. She studied figure painting in Florence, Italy. She has been a guest lecturer at Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, Nevada and Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California. She completed her Master of Fine Arts degree in Drawing and Painting at California State University Long Beach in the spring of 2008.

In addition to her fine art career, Amy has authored and illustrated nine how to paint books for Walter Foster Publishing. Her love and knowledge of art history has led her to be a contributing author of art history on, The Daily Book of Art, 2009. Currently, she is an adjunct instructor in the foundation art department at California State University Long Beach and an adjunct instructor in the art department at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, CA.  She lives and works in her South Pasadena, Ca studio with her husband, fellow artist Nathan Rohlander .