Now living in the U.S., Hillier was born in Buckinghamshire, England, in 1958 and grew up near Windsor Castle. Drawing and painting animals is something he has loved to do since he was a child. Hillier’s father was a museum designer who taught his son the rudiments of painting with watercolor, a medium Hillier used during his years as an illustrator, along with gouache. In recent years, when he made the transition from an illustrator to a wildlife artist, he also switched to acrylic because it involves a looser painting process.

The love Hillier feels for his subjects is evident in his work. He will, as he says, “paint anything that moves. I paint animals because I love animals, and part of loving animals is being concerned about what’s happening to species in the wild.