Ralph Steadman started out as a cartoonist and over time has become known as an artist, writer, sculptor, illustrator, satirical cartoonist and designer of labels for vintage wines.

Ralph Steadman was born in 1936 in Wallasey, Cheshire. He attended East Ham Technical College and the London College of Printing and Graphic Arts during the 1960s, doing freelance work for Punch, Private Eye, the Daily Telegraph, The New Statesman, the New York Times and Rolling Stone.

Steadman is known for his social and political caricatures and cartoons and also for his illustrations in picture books. He has won the Francis Williams Book Illustration Award for Alice in Wonderland, the American Society of Illustrators' Certificate of Merit, the WH Smith Illustration Award for I Leonardo, the Dutch Silver Paintbrush Award for Inspector Mouse, the Italian Critica in Erba Prize for That's My Dad, the BBC Design Award for postage stamps, the Black Humour Award in France, several Designer's and Art Directors Association Awards. He was voted Illustrator of the Year by the American Institute of Graphic Arts in 1979.

Steadman teamed up with American journalist Hunter S. Thompson, drawing pictures for several of his articles and books. As well as writing and illustrating his own books and Thompson's, Steadman has worked with writers Ted Hughes and Brian Patten, and also illustrated editions of Alice in Wonderland, Treasure Island, Animal Farm, Jelly Book (1967), The Yellow Flowers (1968), the Little Red Computer (1969), the Tale of Driver Grope(1969), Scar Strangled Banger (1988), and his autobiographical book Gonzo (1997).

Sources include:
bbc.co.uk
Wikipedia.org