Richard is a graduate of Central Saint Martins College in London where he studied Fine Art (Painting) and Illustration. In May 2017 he won the prestigious V&A Illustration prize, winning the Editorial Illustration award and the Moira Gemmill Memorial prize for Illustrator of the Year. In May 2019 he won the V&A award for Illustrated Journalism. Richard has won gold medals from the UK’s Association of Illustrators in their annual juried awards. He has also won gold and silver awards from the Society of Illustrators (LA) the Society of Illustrators (NY) and 3×3. He has been recognized by Communication Arts. A.Richard Allen’s picture book, ‘Apes-a-Go-Go!’ was published by Harper Collins/ Random House.

Clients include the New Yorker, the Folio Society, Plansponsor, New York Times, Washington Post, The Wall St Journal, The Guardian, the Financial Times, The Times, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, Esquire, Reader’s Digest, BBC Worldwide, Nokia , Siemens, Orange, and Greenpeace.
Richard also paints and in 2016 won the Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year.