Richard Baker was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He completed studies in printmaking at the National Academy of Arts in New York, and at the school of visual arts he took classes in painting, filmmaking and editorial design. His first job was as a designer for the Boston Globe newspaper, working on the travel and living sections. He then moved to work on the Washington Post Sunday magazine – first as a junior designer but later he became its art director. Some years later he moved back to New York to art direct a new magazine called VIBE, a magazine primarily geared towards a young black audience. After leaving VIBE, Richard worked as a freelancer for the New York Times Sunday magazine and later went on to be art director for US magazine, a monthly publication about the entertainment industry.