Nigel Cooke

Born in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, Nigel Cooke joined the Merchant Navy after leaving school and subsequently has held a number of jobs on the road to becoming a full time artist. He sold his first painting at the age of 14 and joined Butlins as their resident caricature artist in 1992. He later went on to open caricature concessions on the Blackpool’s ‘Central Pier’ and ‘Pleasure Beach’, ‘Tafford Centre Mall’ in Manchester and ‘Alton Towers’. During this time he estimates the number of caricatures completed for live sittings to be in excess of 50,000. He 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.
“My art is mainly humorous figurative paintings of people interacting” he said. “Naturally this has its foundations in my lifelong dedication to portraiture. Caricature, humorous illustrations and character design.