Miller studied initially at the now-defunct Cooper School of Art in Cleveland before graduating in 1983 from the Cleveland Institute of art as a photography major.

In his paintings, Miller focused initially on dreamy agglomerations of cartoon-like creatures, animals, plants and humans, including men who sported a crewcut like the artist's own. More recently, Miller painted images of strange and eerie organisms that fused characteristics of plants and the human body.

Miller excelled at quick and fluent brushwork, enjoyed rich and often lurid colors and had a way of creating imagery that suggested a trompe l'oeil realism. Often, his creatures and organisms had pocked surfaces, as if they were scarred by disease.

Miller showed his work around the world, at galleries in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Key West, Fla., Toronto, Paris, Tokyo and Amsterdam.