John Pirtel was raised in North Branford, Connecticut, United States. He began drawing around the age of five and from then on he knew he wanted to draw forever.

Influenced by the comic strip art of Walt Kelly, Charles Shultz, Hank Ketcham, Rick Fletcher and the illustrations of Norman Rockwell, NC Wyeth and Norman Bridwell, John continued to draw all the way through his early school years.

John studied art at Colorado State University and the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Arts. It was at the Kubert School where he encountered some of the biggest influences on his art and development as an artist. John left the Kubert School in 1986 and entered the work force... drawing comics for publication and working the overnight shift in a pre-press house creating proofs.

By 1990, John was working steadily as a freelance artist; carving out his niche in the licensing and comics industries. During this time period, in 1993, John developed and created an AIDS awareness poster for the Ryan White Foundation. The poster was distributed nationally and made it's debut on the Phil Donahue talk show. By 1997 he was drawing many well known characters for some of the top companies in the business including some of the earliest licensing art of Thomas the Tank Engine. It was in that same year that John began a two year relationship as in-house art director for the Nipper Group, creating premiums and toys for the food industry. During this time, John continued his relationship with Disney, DC Comics, Marvel, Henson, and Mirage contributing artwork to a variety of projects including Pocahontas, Superman, Batman the Animated Series and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

In 1990, John was honored with having his licensing art for Batman the Animated Series as part of a Batman retrospective exhibit at the Words and Pictures Museum. He also guest lectured on the art of licensing at the museum. In 1999, John worked as an assistant to Guy Gilchrist on the 'NANCY' comic strip.

Since 2000, John has been enjoying his dual career as an illustrator and graphic designer. In 2004 , John added teaching art at the Green Street Arts Center, a project of Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, to his schedule.

Recenty, John has worked on projects which include a juvenile graphic novel about Helen Keller, storyboards for Phillip Morris and new collateral literature for USTA New England.