Born 1907, Dickens attended the Slade School of Art in London and became a free-lance commercial artist in the 1930s. Pin-up was just coming into vogue. Archie yearned to paint girlie art but needed to help support his family. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1937 and joined an advertising agency in Auckland. There he painted his first pin-up. In 1939, he went to Australia an worked for a studio in Sydney. His pin-ups were soon in great demand. After some time, he was compelled to join the Australian Army. so his art work was put aside for awhile. At the end of the war he married an Australian girl and moved back to London where he produced saucy pictures.