Nicholas studied at Waltham Forest College, 1993-4, Ryazan Art School (Russia), 2002-6 and Wolverhampton Art School, 2017-19. He also has a degree in history and in cultural studies. He was born in Guildford, but moved to Africa as a baby, before returning to the UK in 1973. He lived with his mother and father in Peckham till 1977, then Blackheath, 1977-80, then Leighton Buzzard, 1981-87. He studied at Ampleforth College, 1987-89 and in North Devon College, 1989-1990, before leaving for East London in 1990 where he studied and lived for the next seven years before going off to Russia in 1997 to teach English. There he met some artists (icon painters) who told him he had talent but no training! So, after returning to the UK to do a teacher-training course in history and his probation year he abandoned teaching for Russia in 2002. He taught EFL and studied traditional drawing/painting in the ‘Russian school’ for five years.  

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Since returning to the UK in 2006 he worked as history teacher in North Devon and the West Midlands before deciding to try and quit teaching in order to pursue a career in illustration, but this has so far proved elusive...