Laura Nichols graduated from Western Connecticut State University in May of 2002 with a bachelor of Art in Illustration. While at Western, she received the Celia W. Brown Memorial Grant for the Visual Arts, which gave her the opportunity to study oil painting with David Leffel for a week at the Art Students League in Manhattan. Laura also works intensively in watercolor and pastel and has sold several commissioned paintings in each of these mediums. In May of 2002, she won the Excellence in Illustration Award at WCSU. She hopes to someday illustrate children's books.