Cowles was born in Rochester, N.Y. on November 3, 1961, the last of six children. His art career began at birth, it being the family business. His father, Hobart, was a Professor of Ceramics at Rochester Institute of Technology, and his mother, Barbara, was manager of Shop One, a Rochester gift shop heavy on the crafts. After graduating from Victor Central in 1979, Cowles audited classes at the local colleges for a year or so, but his actual education began when he landed a job at the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester in 1983. He began his freelance career two years later, and left the paper to work freelance full-time in 1991.

Cowles' 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, The New Republic and Vanity Fair, among others.

His first animated short Superfunk & Freaky-Dee won the Grand Jury Prize for animation in the New York Independent Film & Video Festival 2000. Cowles produced a pilot called Skitterville for Playhouse Disney in 2006. In 2007 he produced three videos for the They Might Be Giants' Here Come the 123s DVD, which comes out in February of 2008. He also produced a video for their song The Mesopotamians, which made it's web debut in 2007. Two of the TMBG 123s videos won ASIFA-East awrds in 2008.

He has two wonderful children, Clayton and Alison, and a lovely ex-wife, Laura.

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All images copyright © 2007 by David Cowles. All rights reserved.