Mark Hatchard was born in Ascot, Berkshire, in the United Kingdom, on the 24th of July 1978.

From a young age Mark was drawn to art and design, attracted by both the aesthetic and technical aspects of various disciplines. As a child and teenager Mark was often to be found exploring the language of imagery through painting, illustration and the implementation of creative digital technologies. In youth Mark worked in a number of positions he sees key to his creative development, both directly as can be seen through the Ascot collection - the location of the shoot being within the grounds of a psychiatric care facility where Mark worked as a young teenager, and indirectly through varied life experiences, such as Mark’s work with Europe's music and contemporary arts festivals. The exploration and externalisation of these experiences has served as a primary motivator for his development in the field of visual arts.

After public education at Sandhurst school and sixth form, Mark studied at Farnborough College of Technology, Hampshire. It was whilst studying at FCOT that Mark began exploring the synergy between still and moving image, which in his words "I instantly fell in love with, each creatively fuelling the other". Following two years of study, and graduating with an AGNVQ in Media Production and Communication, Mark continued his studies at FCOT, enrolling to study for an HND in Multimedia, Broadcast Graphics and Animation. In 1999 Mark was selected by the college to collaborate with the Hampshire Constabulary in the production of a short film. Guy Wigmore, Richard (Tricky) Lee, and Robert Smith, collaborated with Mark, the team produced the film ‘Street Knowledge’. Street Knowledge opened in early 2000. It was while working on Street Knowledge that the beginnings of a creative effort, now HotBox Studios, began its evolution.

While working on Street Knowledge, Mark was faced with a turning point - Mark had been offered a position as a video editor, an area of media production Mark is highly passionate about, and was also becoming increasingly intrigued with 3D animation and visualisation, specifically the mediums unlimited capabilities for visual expression. Mark was directed towards the NCCA (National Centre for Computer Animation - part of Bournemouth University's internationally renowned Media School), applied, and was accepted onto their BA (Hons) in Computer Visualisation and Animation.

Alongside Mark’s studies he continued to work on a freelance basis under the umbrella of HotBox Productions, production consisting of 2D and 3D graphics, web design, photography, and video editing.

In April of 2001, Mark set-up a mobile live vision mixing suite, following this HotBox Productions could regularly be found projecting film, animation and live video feeds at events across the UK.

In September of 2001, The Random Dance Company became interested in working with students from the NCCA. Mark formed a small group of animators, (Working with him were: Edmund Kohen, Duncan Price and Ellie Korlander), who over a period of six months produced animation for The Random Dance Company’s 10 year anniversary production. ‘Nemesis’ has since toured internationally through more than 40 countries. Mark passionately developed the relationship with The Random Dance Company, directing small teams of students from within the department, on graduating from the NCCA in 2003, and having recently formed HotBox Studios Ltd, Mark had successfully directed four collaborative projects with The Random Dance Company.

Mark is currently a director at HotBox Studios, and works with music and contemporary arts festivals with DC Site Services and Festival Republic.

If asked to key in on his inspiration, Mark would say this develops through “the interpretation and expression of perception”.