I wrote a bit about nose art a few months back, from that post:

"... the sheer size of the air force also meant no shortage of talented artists ranging from the formally trained (Don Allen graduated from the Cleveland School of Art), formerly professional (Philip Brinkman was a commercial artist working with advertising agencies), or just talented amateurs (Tony Stracer, who painted the nose art of Memphis Belle, apparently discovered his talent after critiquing a mural and being told to go ahead and finish it if he thought he could do better)."

Jeffrey L. Ethell and Clarence Simonsen's The History of Aircraft Nose Art has a chapter with short biographies of a number of nose artists, along with numerous examples; the USAAF Nose Art Research Project also has a number of biographies amongst its resources.