J.A.W. Cooper was born in England and grew up in Africa, Sweden, Ireland, various other locations throughout Europe, and California. Cooper's love of drawing and curiosity toward the natural world evolved naturally as she traveled around the globe. Inspired by forms found in nature, curio cabinets, fashion photography, the grotesque, alien, and flawed, Cooper makes a living as a freelance illustrator, gallery, and sketch artist and currently lives and works in downtown Los Angeles, California.