Bert Dodson received his BS in Graphic Arts at Arizona State University (1960).

After serving as a naval officer aboard the USS Constellation (1961-1964), he joined the staff of the Famous Artists School in Westport, CT (1965-1970) where he helped develop The Artists’ Course for Talented Young People.

He began his career in freelance illustration (1970 to present) by moving to Europe for a year of painting and drawing. Back in Westport, he co-founded a graphic arts and film company, Creative Partners, serving as president (1972-1975).

He taught illustration at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York City (1976-1977).

He wrote and illustrated Keys to Drawing (Northlight Books, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1985), currently in its 3rd printing and separately published in eight foreign language editions (over 100,000 copies sold to date).

In 1982 created the political comic strip NUKE, which ran in 15 newspapers and was included in the collection, America’s Best Political Cartoons (Mother Jones Magazine, 1987). The strip was published in book form as NUKE: A Book of Cartoons (McFarland and Company, Jeffersonville, NC, 1988), and NUKE II: Another Book of Cartoons (1990).

He co-authored, with molecular biologist Mahlon Hoagland, The Way Life Works (Times Books/Random House, 1995) (winner of the American Medical Writers Book Award, 1996).

He has illustrated over 70 children’s books.

He designed the animated sequences for a PBS series on microbes, called Intimate Strangers, and co-authored a companion book to go with the series.

He is a long-time contributor of illustrations to the magazine, Vermont Life.

He lives in West Fairlee, Vermont, and paints and exhibits in his Bradford, Vermont studio. He is currently working on a second drawing book, focusing on the creative process.