Nigel Cooke was born in Mirfield, West Yorkshire in 1960. He joined the Merchant Navy after leaving school and subsequently has held a number of jobs on the road to becoming a full-time artist.
Nigel Cooke sold his first painting at the age of 14 and joined Butlins as their resident caricaturist and entertainer in 1992. He later went on to open caricature concessions on Blackpool's Central Pier and Pleasure Beach, in the Trafford Centre Mall in Manchester, and at Alton Towers. During this time he completed well over 10,000 hours of live drawing and painting.
Nigel Cooke has also worked as a character designer for the Hong Kong based C.I.M International and remains a member of the National Caricature Network in the USA, a body he joined in 1996.
From his caricature background Nigel Cooke has evolved his art into iconic cityscape paintings, capturing the mood, energy and atmosphere of the cities he paints. He is swiftly becoming one the UK's most sought after artists.
