Floyd Donald Cooper, Jr. was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on January 8, 1956. His mother, Ramona (Williams) Cooper, was a beautician of African American heritage. His father, Floyd Cooper, Sr., was a housebuilder of African American and Muscogee descent. Young Floyd and began drawing at an early age. Among various influences, including his mother’s storytelling, he recalled watching meteorologist Don Woods on KTUL-TV8 in the 1950s-1960s. To illustrate his forecasts, Woods sometimes drew “Gusty” and other cartoons on live TV and this was thrilling to Cooper.

Cooper and his siblings were raised in low-income neighborhoods on the north side of Tulsa. The family’s frequent moves caused him to attend 11 different elementary schools. However, his artistic talents continued to develop (Tolliver, “Meet Floyd Cooper”). After graduating high school, Cooper obtained a scholarship to attend the University of Oklahoma, where he completed a BFA degree in 1978. He then moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where he obtained a job at Hallmark Cards, updating and redesigning older card designs. His work, which involved erasing and filling in existing drawings, may have helped him hone his subtractive technique, described below, which became his signature style. 

In time, Cooper moved to New York City, but he struggled to find work that paid enough for the cost of living there. Fortunately, Cooper found opportunities through Kirchoff-Wohlberg, a company that collaborated with various children’s publishers around the city. It was through his work with the agency that he connected with Patti Gauch, the Editor-in-Chief at Philomel. She had received a manuscript for a new book by Eloise Greenfield and the author wanted an African American illustrator. Gauch believed that the "soft, humming kind of pastel" that Cooper produced would be perfect for a story about intergenerational family relationships (Gauch). After Grandpa’s Face (1988) was published, the American Library Association and the National Council for the Social Studies deemed it a notable book of the year, drawing more attention to Cooper’s abilities.  

Cooper’s special talent in portraying emotional depth and range among Black people was often mentioned by reviewers. Also, his sensibilities as an African American who had lived and witnessed some of the experiences he illustrated were important, especially given ongoing underrepresentation of Black people as characters, writers, and award-winners in children’s literature. These points are especially clear in his works that portray contemporary African Americans, such as Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea (authored by Joyce Carol Thomas, 1993) and Meet Danitra Brown (authored by Nikki Grimes, 1994), both of which achieved honors through the American Library Association’s Coretta Scott King Awards program. Max and the Tag-Along Moon (2015), which highlights a boy’s relationship with his grandfather, was selected as a giveaway item within Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program and freely distributed to thousands of children nationwide. It remained one of Cooper’s favorites. 

Cooper’s other projects focused on individuals and moments in Black and American history. For example, Coming Home—authored by Cooper himself in 1994—depicts the early life of poet Langston Hughes. I Have Heard of a Land (1998), authored by Joyce Carol Thomas, portrays Black participation in the 1889 Oklahoma Land Rush. Through a collaboration with Walter Dean Myers, Cooper created a biography of Frederick Douglass, The Lion Who Wrote History (2017), which contains an especially memorable image of a teenage Douglass defending himself against an enslaver. Unspeakable (2021), authored by Carole Boston Weatherford, addresses the 1921 massacre of African Americans in Tulsa, Cooper’s hometown. In these and other nonfiction books, Cooper did not shy away from depicting the violence that accompanied racism in the United States. However, his special genius was to highlight the psychological tolls on African American people, thus centering their perspectives in the narratives rather than focusing on the brutality of white perpetrators. 

Cooper illustrated approximately 100 books over the course of his career, but his technique seems to have remained consistent. He was primarily a painter and he typically began his work by applying a brown oil wash or chalk on the canvas—especially in areas that would underlie portraits of Black people. Next, he used erasers to remove and soften the paint or chalk. This subtractive technique was the basis for the dream-like, luminous quality that Cooper’s art continues to be known for. Then Cooper applied a bright palette of paints. Generally, he supplied the greatest detail and realism to faces while portraying surrounding scenery in a more abstract manner. This approach encourages readers to focus primarily on the emotional register and interactions of the characters.

Cooper readily shared his techniques with colleagues and the general public, notably through annual retreats for aspiring illustrators hosted by Highlights Foundation at its campus in Milanville, Pennsylvania. In these and other ways, he demonstrated great commitment to his calling. As Cooper explained to one interviewer, "books have a strong effect on the young. Through the lines that I draw I am having a cultural impact on society. This is one of the first ways to reach young people and send important messages to them. Books can help to shape their future and shape future generations" (Edmonds, "Illustrator Finds Joy"). 

In 2002, Cooper married Velma Hyatt who became his agent (Ancestry.com). The couple lived in New Jersey and raised 2 sons, Kai and Dayton. Around 2014, the Cooper family relocated to Forks Township, about 10 miles north of Easton, Pennsylvania. While it is unknown precisely why the Coopers made the move, generally northeastern Pennsylvania has become an enclave for those who are seeking more affordable or less congested communities while remaining near work and other opportunities in New York. While it appears that Cooper led a quiet life in the Lehigh Valley, he was a prominent participant in the Easton Book Festival and in Philadelphia’s African American Children’s Book Fair. In fact, Vanessa Lloyd-Sgambati, the organizer of the African American Children’s Book Fair, noted he that was "one of the stars" of the event (Hillel and Russ, "F. Cooper"). There are various news reports about his speaking engagements at other literary events and at elementary, middle, and high schools on the Eastern side of Pennsylvania. Thus, while Cooper came to Pennsylvania later in life, he was a positive contributor to regional educational and literary communities during the time he lived here.

When Cooper died from cancer in July 2021, he was so highly regarded that a coalition of children’s literature organizations designated May 6th (a date coinciding with an annual Children’s Book Week) as Floyd Cooper Day. As Carole Boston Weatherford explained, Cooper’s "legacy is that he was a storyteller who believed the greatest gift you can give is the truth. And he believed that children deserved the truth" (Vadakul). Cooper’s wife Velma emphasized her husband’s courage in illustrating the varied and difficult topics that he often did. As she explained, it was "his mission. He wanted to educate people about what really happened because they don’t teach this stuff in school. They don’t give the Black perspective" (Vadakul). By developing an artistic technique that optimally depicted the beauty and depth of Black people; by portraying contemporary African Americans in complex and loving ways; and by centering their experiences and perspectives in works about their and American history, Cooper left indelible, enriching marks on children’s book illustration in the United States.