Donovan Nelson was born in Manchester, Jamaica, WI and in 1982, he relocated to the U.S. In 1995, Nelson received a B.F.A in illustration from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Additionally, he studied portraiture and figure painting at the prestigious Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Nelson received an M.F.A. from the New York Academy where he studied with Martha Erlebacher, Vincent Desiderio, Jack Beal, Alfred Lesley, and Juan Cardenas.
Nelson lives and works in Brooklyn, New York