Erwin E. "Bud" Helbig was born in Butte, Montana in 1919. His early career began because of his enrollment in a Federal Art School correspondence course. Working for two years on a bridge building crew for the Milwaukee Railroad allowed for more schooling. He went east and attended art schools in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. World War II interrupted his art efforts and he then went to the American Academy of Art in Chicago, Illinois. From his art education, he worked for many years in the commercial field as an illustrator and art director. He moved back to Montana and soon after in 1972 became a member of the Cowboy Artists of America.

Source: "Contemporary Western Artists" by Peggy and Harold Samuels; Southwest Art Publishing, 1982.