Simón Silva was born in Mexicali, Mexico. He is the seventh of eleven children and grew up in the Imperial Valley near the Frontera. He describes his family as not having extra money for entertainment, which led him to began drawing. Wanting a better life for himself away from the harsh conditions of working in the fields, he decided to go to college and got his Associate Arts degree from Imperial Valley College. He then followed that with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Illustration from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Since then, Silva has made a career out of painting, public speaking, and writing.