One day I started thinking about drawing a picture of a boat stuck high up in a tree. I was doing mostly editorial work and my illustrations appeared in magazines like Nickelodeon, Family Fun, and Disney Adventures. “For more than ten years I worked as a freelance illustrator specializing in art for kids. Eventually I started drawing cartoons and illustrations for the magazine and my career as an illustrator was born. First I was a waiter, and then I was offered a part-time job at a magazine for teenagers. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do. “After high school, I studied fine art at The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and graduated with a BFA in 1982. I had no idea back then that I’d end up writing and illustrating children’s books when I grew up. Seuss’ words and I was fascinated by the meticulous detail of Robert McCloskey’s illustrations. Seuss and Robert McCloskey were my heroes. My specialty was aliens, robots, and monsters. Another would draw animals so realistic you’d swear they were breathing. One of my brothers would sketch intricate war scenes. We didn’t have video games or computers to entertain us, so we drew instead. As a child, my brothers and I would spend hours drawing pictures. Chris Van Dusen writes: “I was born in Portland, Maine, on St.
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