Bob Hinton was born in Parkston, SD (1948) and  lived in Mitchell before moving to Britton in 1958. After a short time there he moved to Watertown, where he attended from 4th grade through high school (1967).   He attended Black Hills State College one semester before being drafted..   Following 18 months in Vietnam he returned to college at SDSU majoring in Dairy Science. He eventually worked as a federal food inspector for the US Dept. of Agriculture. He worked for the government for 9 years in Watertown, Fargo, Huron, Billings (MT) and eventually Sioux Falls (about 1978).

His interest in art started at age 4 when he "picked up a pencil and started drawing (and) found it easy and entertaining."  Hinton remembers starting drawing portraits in 7th grade and finding them "a challenge and enjoyable." Few classmates would remember him as an artist, however; he is better known as a football player and athletic type.

At Black Hills State College he made $10 each for portraits ($50 in a good week). He thought about becoming an art student but considered it an "unrealistic dream."  Several of the students in his dorm were taking Art 101 and had as the final test a portrait on newsprint with a black crayon (done out of class). He did three of these and received 2 "A's" and 1 "B."  He began to learn what the instructor was looking for: ability to retain a mental image in the mind and bring it back as a drawing.

There was little time for drawing in the military, although he felt a longing to "sit down and let myself draw something and be creative." After Vietnam he found himself much more mature and felt a need for something to stimulate himself.  So he bought a set of oil paints and started painting. The first one was "not bad" but the following ones were disappointing. He struggled, painting on and off for the next 7 years.

A friend told him about a theory involving the copying of a painting the artist likes and learning about the paints before trying to create another (original) painting. He copied a painting and sold it to a co-worker for $100. He copied 5 more from the calendar and sold them. He worked 2-3 hours per night and started to dream about becoming a professional artist.

The turning point in his art career was in 1980 when a friend published one of his works in a limited edition print. The first three years were "great" but the recession slowed him down in 1983. He took a $5/hour job with a sign company and lived in total depression for 3 months. He considered returning to a government job. But the economy got better and his works started to sell again.

Now he has discovered what he missed by not studying art in college: composition, light, color values. Much has been learned by critiquing at art shows ("not always kind").

Hinton has published over 50 limited edition prints.  His works placed second in the 1983 and 1984 South Dakota Pheasant Restoration Stamp contests.   He was commissioned to do paintings for Pheasants Forever national buttons in 1985 and 1989.