John Anthony Jellico was born on June 26, 1914 in Koehler, New Mexico. He began drawing wildlife while in grade school, and after graduating from Raton High School, he studied at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and the Phoenix Art Institute in New York. He studied with Norman Rockwell. In later years, he said the Mr. Rockwell criticized the way he drew horses, and he told the famous artist that he didn’t know what horses looked like because he never lived in the west as he had. Later he wrote a book about how to draw horses. He passed away on May 20, 2004 in Denver, Colorado.