He spent most of his youth drawing, and after attending the Alberta College of Art and Design he began to submit his work to Marvel and DC Comics.

He continued work on various Marvel and DC titles and is best known as the first artist for the new Conan the Barbarian series (written by Kurt Busiek) at Dark Horse.

[2] His Valiant Comics debut was alongside writer Robert Venditti for the newly re-launched X-O Manowar series in May 2012.

[3] In 2015 Nord brought inner illustrations to the core rulebook of a role-playing game, Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of, first published in 2016 by Modiphius Entertainment.

2004 Eisner Award for Best Single Issue or One-Shot (for Conan: The Legend #0, with Kurt Busiek; tied with Eric Powell for The Goon #1)[4]