He has written that he was introduced to visual art by the witty illustrations in Saul Steinberg's book "All in Line" (1945). In 1957, encouraged by freelance art director Paul Arthur he came to Toronto, and found work as a freelance illustrator for Mayfair magazine, then joined the graphic art department of the Canadian Broadcasting Company, working there with Graham Coughtry and Dennis Burton under the direction of David Mackay, art director. His real start as an artist came in 1967 when he did a mural for Expo theatre in Montreal, he believed.