When I was growing up in Brooklyn, New York I would spend most of my time drawing pictures.  My elementary school and high school did not have any art classes but I kept on drawing.  Sometimes I'd ask my dad to show me how to draw things but I wanted to learn even more so I started copying pictures that I liked.  Most of my favorite pictures were in comic books!  I loved to read and my favorite stories were adventure stories.  Comic books had adventure with great looking characters and settings.  I read about famous artists too, such as Michelangelo and I would study pictures of his work and even try to draw them.  Eventually I had a portfolio of drawings to show people.  My father arranged for me to meet Burne Hogarth, the illustrator of Tarzan and many drawing books,  when I was about sixteen years old and he encouraged me to keep drawing! 

When I was ready to go to college, Mr. Hogarth wrote a letter of recommendation for me to attend The School of Visual Arts.  That's where I learned about art and illustration.  Great illustrators such as N.C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish and Norman Rockwell became my inspiration to become an illustrator and to be as good as them.  I worked hard and practiced all the time.  Before I graduated I had already managed to get a couple of illustration assignments and my work was picked for the SVA Portfolio as some of the best of the graduating class.

I began illustrating magazine articles and eventually, picture books, my favorite thing to illustrate.  I've illustrated over sixty books and won awards such as The Parent's Choice Award, Ben Franklin Award, School Library Journal Selection and one of my books was the featured book on the Reading Rainbow television show.  I continue to illustrate picture books and am working on illustrating stories that I've written too.  As an artist I love the chance to share my work with others, especially young audiences, in picture books.  I guess all my hard work at the beginning is paying off!   

• Here's an illustration of me as Max !  Maurice Sendak is one of my favorite illustrators!  I always look at children's books to see what other artists are doing and besides that, some of the best artwork can be found there.  Charles Santore and Jerry Pinkney are among my favorites!  I'm always trying to learn something new from other artists and from experimenting with new media.  Hey, art is hard work but it should be fun and interesting too.