Herbert Waters, a printmaker and wood engraver, was born in Shantou, China, where he completed his secondary education. He then came to the United States and graduated from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, followed by studies at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art in Philadephia, the Art Institute of Chicago, and Harvard University. He taught art in public school under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration's Federal Arts Project, and later at the University of New Hampshire at Durham, and at the Holderness School in Plymouth, New Hampshire. He died at Campton, New Hampshire.