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