I was born in Rochester, N.Y. on November 3, 1961, the last of six children. My art career began at birth, it being the family business. My father, Hobart Cowles, was a Professor of Ceramics at Rochester Institute of Technology, and my mother, Barbara Cowles, was manager of Shop One, a Rochester gift shop heavy on the work of local craftsmen. After graduating from Victor Central in 1979, I audited classes at the local colleges for a year or so, but my actual education began when I landed a job at the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester in '83. I began my freelance career two years later, and left the paper to work freelance full-time in '91.

My work has appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Vibe, Time, Newsweek, Playboy, People, The Village Voice, Money, Worth, Fortune, Fast Company, Los Angeles Magazine, New York Magazine, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, and Vanity Fair, among others.

My first animated short "Superfunk & Freaky-Dee" won the Grand Jury Prize for animation in New York Independent Film & Video Festival 2000.

I have two wonderful children, Clayton and Alison, and a lovely ex-wife, Laura.