Lives in Brooklyn, New York. Nelson received a B.F.A in illustration from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Additionally, he studied portraiture and figure painting at the prestigious Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Nelson received an M.F.A. from the New York Academy where he studied with Martha Erlebacher, Vincent Desiderio, Jack Beal, Alfred Lesley, and Juan Cardenas. Donovan is a professor/teacher of Art at various institutions and has showed in several galleries throughout NYC, including Welencora, Dorsey Art gallery, MOCADA and The African American Art Museum, New York, just to name a few. His works has been published extensively in the Brooklyn magazine Art & Culture Breuckelen.