Ben Zhu studied animation in high school and illustration in college. After working in the video game industry, he founded Gallery Nucleus in 2004, an art gallery and bookshop devoted to illustration, animation, and narrative art with locations in Los Angeles and Portland. Ben has also worked as a freelance illustrator and was a story / vis dev artist on the animated film WISH DRAGON. Born in Beijing, he moved to the US at age 7 and now lives in Southern California with his wife, daughter, and extremely old pet chow chow. DESSERT ISLAND is his first picture book.
