Reg Cartwright was born in Leicester in 1938, the eldest of three brothers. Determined not to go back to working in the shoe industry Reg managed to get a job in a small studio designing badges. From this humble beginning he moved into bigger studios, culminating in Frank Gayton Advertising, a large 30 man studio in Leicester. This was his art school, "I learned more there than any art school could have taught me". After six years he became an art director at Gee Advertising a larger agency in Leicester. Ten years later in 1976, he went freelance and became a full time artist.