Bayley was born on August 18, 1949, in
Singapore. She grew up in China and
Hampshire, England, and attended an English
boarding school. She originally planned to study to become a fashion designer. Instead, she attended
St. Martin's School of Art in London and studied
graphic design, focusing on illustration in her later years there under
Fritz Wegner and John Farman. After, she studied at the
Royal College of Art in London under
Quentin Blake. Publisher Tom Maschlerer noticed her final portfolio from the Royal College of Art and commissioned her to illustrate a book. This led to her first book, ''Nicola Bayley's Book of Nursery Rhymes'', being published by
Jonathan Cape in 1975. Richard Adams was inspired by Bayley's illustration for the
nursery rhyme, "Three Thick Thumping Tigers Taking Toast for Tea", and he subsequently wrote a
prose poem based on her work. The poem was turned into a book called
The Tyger Voyage, which Bayley illustrated. Released in 1976, it was Bayley's second book published by Jonathan Cape. In 1977, her book
One Old Oxford Ox was published, containing a collection of
tongue twisters. In 1984, she created the
Copycat series, which included the books
Parrot Cat,
Polar Bear Cat,
Elephant Cat,
Spider Cat and
Crab Cat. The 1990 book
The Mousehole Cat, written by Antonia Barber and illustrated by Bayley, won the
British Book Award for illustrated children's books. She wrote and illustrated the 1998 book,
The Necessary Cat. ==Style==