I'm Alex.

I'm Lucy.

I'm Benny.

I'm Eddie.

And our dad is an artist.

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My name is Tim Read and I'm a children's illustrator and I get to make pictures for a living for kids.

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I get to work on the computer. I get to use a pencil and work on paper. I get to use markers, crayons, whatever it takes to make a very silly monster.

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I have a studio right here in my home where I can work and do all of my magic right here in Ames, Iowa.

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When creating monsters I have to decide how many eyes that monster is going to have, if the monster is happy or sad, simple things like does the monster have horns? My monster has horns today. Then I have to decide if he has legs or arms or tentacles. Today my monster has funny monster feet and he's having a good day so he's giving everyone a thumbs up.

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That's a silly monster.

I'd say the hardest part is when I really, really, really want to create something and I have a really, really hard time getting the ideas out onto paper or on the computer. But when it does happen it's pretty great. My favorite part of doing my job though is I get to be creative every single day. I get to use my imagination for a living.

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