Mick Ellison studied art at the Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland and received his BFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art. He joined the staff of the American Museum of Natural History in 1990, where he is a scientific illustrator and photographer in the Division of Paleontology.

His work has appeared on the covers of The New York Times, Nature, Science, and Natural History Magazine. Other clients include National Geographic, Time, Newsweek, Discover, IMAX, Nova, BBC and CNN. Mick has also provided illustrations and photographs for a number of books, including Discovering Dinosaurs (Knopf), The Science Times Book of Fossils and Evolution (Lyons), and Unearthing the Dragon (Pi), a book he produced with Dr. Mark Norell about their experiences working together in China.