Juan Pablo Zapata Cornejo was born on August 23, 1973 in Arequipa, Peru. As a child, he liked watching movies and pictures of animals, but he never thought that years later he would be able to draw and paint them.

A few years later, his dreams came true. When he was nine years old, he painted his first artwork and
named it "Aguila Real" (Royal Eagle). Although it was a rough work, it was the first of a series to come. He still keeps this very first artwork. After finishing school and not having painted for a long time, Juan Pablo travelled to Paracas Island (in the Pacific). After that, he decided to study Graphic Design at Thomas Jefferson Institute in Arequipa. During this time, he became interested in illustration and painting wildlife which years later provided him opportunities for his career in illustration.

After graduating as a graphic designer, he made illustration his career, painting with coloured pencils and an airbrush. He then started exhibiting his artwork in different places. His first presentation, but not the least important, was at the American Ambassador's home in Lima along with famous artists from Peru and other countries such as Fernando de Szyszlo and Victor Delfin among others.

With the desire of improving his art, this illustrator desires to attain the greatest detail possible in each one of his illustrations trying to achieve the greatest realism. To achieve this, he has concentrated on the skin, hair, fur, etc. and in a very precise way on the eyes of animals. And as someone told him in a presentation, "Your works seem to be looking at us." Now he is a teacher of Illustration at Thomas Jefferson Institute.

Juan Pablo tells us "We must take care of endangered species, they do not seem to be important for many. Daily problems make us forget the wonders of our world, a world that in spite of the abuse it suffers, is still beautiful. We, the artists, should support the wildlife conservation through our illustrations"