[2][3] Mayer was born in Birmingham, Alabama and until the age of five, lived in a home built by his parents on the property of his grandfather.
[citation needed] The family would relocate to Memphis, where he first attended public school at Willow Oaks Elementary.
At the age of eight the family moved to Rochester, New York and Mayer attended Cobbles Elementary in Penfield.
[5] Mayer began attending the Ringling School of Art at age 19, and it was there that he met his future wife, Lee.
[5] Mayer's artwork has been commissioned by publications, institutions, and Fortune 500 corporations, and his creations have appeared in films, books, magazines, stamps, posters, advertising, and packaging.
His clients have included the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC and a series of posters for the Tour de France,[citation needed] corporations such as DreamWorks Animation, Cartoon Network, Mattel, and Hasbro, among others.
[2] In 1998, the US Postal Service released the Bright Eyes[6] stamps in which Mayer created his interpretations of a hamster, a fish, a dog and a parakeet, with designs by Carl Hermann.
[8] Beginning in 1997, Mayer established a long-running relationship with the Hartford Stage, in which he was annually commissioned to do the poster for their production of A Christmas Carol.
[15][16] Working with the design agency Needham, Harper & Steers, Mayer created original packaging illustrations for Big League Chew, in 1980.