Jerrod Maruyama was born and raised in San Jose, California, where he spent his early years underperforming at school, avoiding organized sports and drawing. He started out his career attempting to copy his older brother's drawings of war scenes and Godzilla, before eventually moving on to drawing things he was interested in like The Muppets, Star Wars characters and Garfield.

Jerrod went on to major in art at college, graduating from San Jose State University with a degree in Graphic Design/Illustration. While he learned a lot in school, he wasn't all that inspired and wasted a lot of time. But what he didn't learn in school, he learned hands on by working professionally as an art director and a freelance illustrator

Jerrod's work tends to be geared towards kid; there's a playfulness about his images. His work is very cute and accessible – rounded edges and smiling faces. Though he has experimented with drawing things that are more dramatic or dark in nature, that style is not quite authentic to his point of view. Jerrod believes the best recipe for success is to stay inspired; continue to love what you do and then everything falls into place.

He has been involved in character and commercial design for major corporations including Disney, Warner Brothers, Netflix and Target.